National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a miniature atom-based magnetic sensor that is capable to measure human brain activity at slightly less sensitivity compared to the “gold standard” for such experiments. On the other hand, it does have better portability and it costs less, and it could be used for biomedical applications such… »
Anonymously compiled Ancient Roman cookbook from the late 4th or early 5th century reveals that Romans used to mix unfermented grape juice (must) with ground mustard seeds (sinapis) to make “burning must” (mustum ardens) — hence the name “must ard”. Its production changed over time and researchers from University of Alberta (U of A) discovered… »
During the GM and NASA collaboration Robonaut 2 (R2) development, they had to engineer a dexterous hand that could use tools built for humans. That development served as groundwork for Human Grasp Assist device – a robotic glove that can be used to lower the fatigue in hand muscles after long use of tools, and… »
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a smart and easy-to-synthesize self-healing hydrogels that consist of linked chains of polymer molecules which are capable to self-heal in aqueous environment. This jello-like material’s ability to self-heal, bind in seconds and form a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching could find uses in biology, medicine,… »
As a part of DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program, with goal to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities, engineers from Boston Dynamics developed Cheetah – a robot named after the animal it got inspired from that managed to beat the previous land speed record for… »
Animals and plants living in snow and sub-zero areas have evolved all sorts of chemical tricks that allow them to live in these cold environments. There are various natural antifreeze compounds from such organisms, but researchers from RIKEN Advanced Science Institute at Wako focused on one called xylomannan – a natural antifreeze produced by the… »
Researchers from the University of Oxford managed to create a bio-inspired superglue with unmatched performance by engineering an unusual protein from Streptococcus pyogenes – a type of bacteria that can cause mild infections as well as some life-threatening diseases. The modified protein enables sticking molecules, proteins or enzymes together to build new structures on the… »
We already published several articles about studies where spiders served as inspiration for biomimicry and analysis, but the new study by the researchers from the University of Akron developed the new biocompatible synthetic material similar to a specific kind of silk spun by orb spiders. The material could be used as new kinds of medical… »
