An AI research collaboration led by EPFL professor Alexander Mathis creates a model which provides deep insights into hand movement, which is an essential step for the development of neuroprosthetics and rehabilitation technologies. In neuroscience and biomedical engineering, accurately modeling the complex movements of the human hand has long been a significant challenge. Current models often struggle to capture the intricate interplay between the brain’s motor commands and the physical actions of muscles and tendons. This gap not only hinders…
In-vitro Skin Makes Cell Reaction to Test Substance Measurable in Real Time. The EU has banned animal testing for cosmetics and non-animal alternative methods are preferable for the risk assessment of new chemical substances. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, a three-dimensional skin model has now been set up for the first time that directly displays the skin’s reaction to substances: The reporter skin. Thanks to the built-in reporter, the cellular response can be measured precisely…
Production of fine chemicals such as those used in pharmaceuticals is typically complex and laborious. An interdisciplinary team of Fraunhofer researchers worked together across different projects to devise a method modeled on a cascade, in which multiple successive stages of synthesis proceed without interruption. This is made possible through the use of novel catalysts in specially adjusted flow-through reactors. The new method makes the process of manufacturing drugs more efficient and conserves energy. In this way, the modular technology platform…
Fraunhofer researchers and their partners have developed an innovative and eco-friendly method of producing soda, essential for a wide range of industries, in the Green Soda project. The process is based on bipolar electrodialysis of brine. Ion exchange processes and the addition of carbon dioxide result in green soda. The technology will also help to strengthen manufacturing in Germany as an industrial location. Sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash, is an essential material used in many different industrial sectors….
First battery cell winding system of its kind. The further development and evolution of existing storage systems is a key prerequisite for the energy transition. The Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing (ZDB) at the Fraunhofer IPA and acp systems AG have joined forces to commission a winding system for cylindrical battery cells featuring flexible formats and design. It serves as an innovative research and production platform to test new cell formats and components along with tab designs and also…
Bonn researchers reclassify leading gene variants, a large proportion of them as benign. The genetic confirmation of a suspected diagnosis of “hereditary colorectal cancer” is of great importance for the medical care of affected families. However, many of the variants identified in the known genes cannot yet be reliably classified in terms of their causal role in tumor formation. Under the leadership of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, an international team of researchers has reassessed…
Despite being widely popular, moths are not always welcome in forests, parks and gardens. Some moth species constitute a real threat to forests when they appear en masse. In the past, they have stripped entire deciduous and coniferous stands bare in many places in Germany. Forest pest monitoring is consequently particularly important to track their reproduction and to protect forests from greater damage. Research scientist from the Fraunhofer IFF are developing a digital, automated pheromone trap together with the Nordwestdeutsche…
Everyday experience tells us that light reflected from a perfectly flat mirror will give us the correct image without any deformation. Interestingly, this is not the case when the light field itself is structured in a complex way. Tiny deformations appear. These have now been observed for the first time in the laboratory by researchers at Tampere University. The results confirm the prediction of this fundamental optical effect made more than a decade ago. They also show how it can…
Researchers from Jena Deliver Optics for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring. ESA’s CO2M space mission aims to find out exactly how many CO₂ -greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere is caused by human activity. Researchers from Jena have developed and manufactured what is probably the most important optical assembly for the spectrometers on board the satellites: the disperser. It allows high-precision measurements of greenhouse gases and their concentration. The first airworthy assembly has now been fully delivered. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide…
David Stanley’s interest in climate change led him to develop a program to improve how we gather data to study the inside of a cloud. The program simulated multiple satellites, collecting images of a cloud from many angles at the same time, which could help us to better understand what’s happening inside the cloud. “Normally, we can only see the outside features of a cloud,” Stanley said. “Computed cloud tomography gets its name from computed tomography which is like a…
Quantum squeezing is a concept in quantum physics where the uncertainty in one aspect of a system is reduced while the uncertainty in another related aspect is increased. Imagine squeezing a round balloon filled with air. In its normal state, the balloon is perfectly spherical. When you squeeze one side, it gets flattened and stretched out in the other direction. This represents what is happening in a squeezed quantum state: you are reducing the uncertainty (or noise) in one quantity,…
A new hand-held scanner developed by UCL researchers can generate highly detailed 3D photoacoustic images in just seconds, paving the way for their use in a clinical setting for the first time and offering the potential for earlier disease diagnosis. In the study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the team show their technology can deliver photoacoustic tomography (PAT) imaging scans to doctors in real time, providing them with accurate and intricate images of blood vessels, helping inform patient care. Photoacoustic…
Clinical study of microscope-integrated system lays groundwork for using OCT to define tumor margins and reveal subsurface brain anatomy. Researchers have successfully integrated a megahertz-speed optical coherence tomography (MHz-OCT) system into a commercially available neurosurgical microscope and demonstrated its clinical usefulness. This advancement represents an important step toward developing an OCT instrument that could be used to identify tumor margins during brain surgery. OCT is a non-invasive imaging technique that provides high-resolution, cross-sectional images of tissue that allow visualization of…
Mizzou plant geneticist Ron Mittler is finding ways to breed soybean crops that can handle heat, drought and water-logging stresses, improving yields under pressure. Ron Mittler is on a quest to create a smarter soybean. For years, mid-Missouri has withstood unpredictable weather patterns, including drought, heat waves and flooding — conditions that are known to hamper agricultural yields and make it difficult for farmers to produce. While we can’t control the weather, Mittler and his team are working to harness…
Thanks to New Machine Learning Method… Using smartly trained neural networks, researchers at TU Graz have succeeded in generating precise real-time images of the beating heart from just a few MRI measurement data. Other MRI applications can also be accelerated using this procedure. Medical imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is very time-consuming since an image has to be compiled from data from many individual measurements. Thanks to the use of machine learning, imaging is also possible with less MRI…
In a recent study, researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have shown how they can non-invasively and non-destructively investigate the growth and interactions of the green alga Ulva and its bacterial community using Raman spectroscopy. This method allows precise analysis of algae development without disturbing the sensitive processes. The study was published in the journal ChemPhysChem. Algae such as Ulva, also known as sea lettuce, play a vital role in…
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