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2021

Superpedestrian Offering Cost-Effective Passes for eScooter Riders

Superpedestrian has launched its new 'Passes' in several of its European city locations. Designed to cut costs for riders who regularly use the company's LINK shared e-scooters, daily, weekly and monthly options are available, each netting savings for customers.

All About Eve: AI Model to Interpret Human Gene Variants

Researchers have designed an AI tool called EVE (Evolutionary model of Variant Effect), which uses a sophisticated type of machine learning to detect patterns of genetic variation across hundreds of thousands of nonhuman species and then use them to make predictions about the meaning of variations in human genes.

New Programmable Gene Editing Proteins Found Outside of CRISPR System

Within the last decade, scientists have adapted CRISPR systems from microbes into gene editing technology, a precise and programmable system for modifying DNA. Now, scientists have discovered a new class of programmable DNA modifying systems called OMEGAs (Obligate Mobile Element Guided Activity), which may naturally be involved in shuffling small bits of DNA throughout bacterial genomes.

Astronomers Create the First 3D Printed Stellar Nurseries

Astronomers can't touch the stars they study, but astrophysicists are using 3-dimensional models that fit in the palm of the hand to unravel the structural complexities of stellar nurseries, the vast clouds of gas and dust where star formation occurs.

Paving the Way for Small but Mighty Robots

An interdisciplinary team of roboticists, engineers and biologists have modeled the mechanics of the mantis shrimp's punch and built a robot that mimics the movement. The research sheds light on the biology of these pugnacious crustaceans and paves the way for small but mighty robotic devices.

Tiny Robot Earns World Record

The creator hopes his robots can someday be used to solve tricky engineering problems by emulating talented creatures like squid or mice that can seamlessly squeeze themselves like liquid into tight places. Biology, particularly insects, still surpass their robotic counterparts in almost every aspect, but he hopes to develop robots in the next decade that are significantly better at mimicking natural systems.

3D Printed, Biocompatible Graft Could Repair Damaged Ear Drum

The PhonoGraft device is a 3D-printed, biocompatible graft that could be implanted to repair a damaged eardrum. If its clinical development is successful, the PhonoGraft technology could mitigate the pain, drainage, and hearing loss associated with ear drum perforations that affect millions of individuals worldwide.

Low Cost Device For Consumers to Home Test Themselves for SARS-CoV-2

With the Delta variant wreaking havoc on unvaccinated populations and COVID-19 cases spiking around the world, the pandemic is far from over. Despite the impressively fast development of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests over the last year and a half, the vast majority of patient samples must still be sent to a lab for processing, which slows down the pace of COVID-19 case tracking. If a sample is to be tested for a specific variant of the virus, it must be genetically sequenced, which takes even more time and resources.

Swarm of Autonomous Tiny Drones Can Localize Gas Leaks

When there is a gas leak in a large building or at an industrial site, human firefighters currently need to go in with gas sensing instruments. Finding the gas leak may take considerable time, while they are risking their lives. Researchers have now developed the first swarm of tiny - and hence very safe - drones that can autonomously detect and localize gas sources in cluttered indoor environments.

'Soft' Graphene-Containing Electrodes That Adapt to Living Tissue

Researchers have collaborated on a pioneering project in bioengineering, producing metal-free, hydrogel electrodes that flex to fit the complex shapes inside the human body.

Face Masks That can Diagnose COVID-19

Most people associate the term "wearable" with a fitness tracker, smartwatch, or wireless earbuds. But what if you could wear cutting-edge biotechnology in your clothing, and it could warn you when you were exposed to something dangerous?

New Possibilities for 3D-Printing Human Tissue, Vocal Chord Repair

There is no replacement for the vocal cords when damage is severe or permanent. Now, a team of materials scientists has developed a soft material with promise of new treatments in the future. Their novel soft material, called an elastomer, is very stretchable and 10,000 times softer than a conventional rubber, matching the mechanical properties of vocal cords. The elastomer can be 3D printed for use in health care.

Battery Breakthrough for Electric Cars

Long-lasting, quick-charging batteries are essential to the expansion of the electric vehicle market, but today's lithium-ion batteries fall short of what's needed — they're too heavy, too expensive and take too long to charge.

Boréas Technologies

IDTechEx interviewed Simon Chaput and Stuart Nixdorff of Boréas Technologies at the time of their launch of a new reference design for haptics in wearables. This profile describes that launch and other company updates.

Slender Robotic Finger Senses Buried Items

Discerning buried items in granular material like sand is a taller order. To do that, a robot would need fingers that were slender enough to penetrate the sand, mobile enough to wriggle free when sand grains jam, and sensitive enough to feel the detailed shape of the buried object.

AI Pinpoints Local Pollution Hotspots Using Satellite Images

Researchers have developed a method that uses machine learning, satellite imagery and weather data to autonomously find hotspots of heavy air pollution, city block by city block.

A New Generation of Tiny, Agile Drones

The technology could boost aerial robots' repertoire, allowing them to operate in cramped spaces and withstand collisions.

CRISPR Treatment Cuts Cholesterol in Mice by Up to 57% in one Shot

The genome editing technology CRISPR has emerged as a powerful new tool that can change the way we treat disease. The challenge when altering the genetics of our cells, however, is how to do it safely, effectively, and specifically targeted to the gene, tissue and organ that needs treatment.

Peer-Reviewed Validation of Wireless Earbud for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Nēsos announced the publication of data from a pilot clinical study demonstrating the power of its e-mmunotherapy platform in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The data, published in The Lancet Rheumatology, focuses on a clinical study evaluating the Nēsos developed e-mmunotherapy treatment in a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Robotic Swarm Swims like a School of Fish

Fish-inspired robots coordinate movements without any outside control.

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