New York University

Robots Use Fear to Fight Invasive Fish

The invasive mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) chews off the tails of freshwater fishes and tadpoles, leaving the native animals to perish while dining on other fishes' and amphibians' eggs. Researchers engineered a robot to scare mosquitofish away, revealing how fear alters its behavior, physiology, fertility—and may help turn the tide against invasive species.

Which COVID-19 Patients Are Most Likely to Need Ventilators?

Researchers are developing a computational tool to help medical staff decide which patients will need the most extensive treatment for COVID-19.

Long-Term Vagus Nerve Implant for Bioelectronic Medicine Research

Researchers have developed a long-term implant model for vagus nerve stimulation in mice that successfully modulates heart rate and inflammatory proteins. The device and procedure may change the way preclinical bioelectronic medicine research is conducted and lead to alternative therapies for various chronic diseases, including Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis and heart failure, among others.

Electrics and Electronics Becomes User-Dedicated Smart Material

An important new trend is buying electrics and electronics you customise to function not just shape. See the new IDTechEx report, "Complete Electronics as Smart Material, User-Customized 2020-2040". Builders, textile manufacturers, those doing home improvement and others are starting to buy electrically-smart materials direct from materials companies, bypassing the electronics industry.

Building High-Efficiency Underwater Solar Cells

For the most part, solar cells have been limited to powering land- and space-based devices. While marine applications for solar cells do exist—for example, to power submerged autonomous vehicles and sensors—traditional photovoltaic materials like silicon cannot be used efficiently in deeper waters.

Fighting Hand Tremors: First Comes AI, Then Robots

Robots hold promise for a large number of people with neurological movement disorders severely affecting the quality of their lives. Now researchers have tapped artificial intelligence techniques to build an algorithmic model that will make the robots more accurate, faster, and safer when battling hand tremors.

Turbocharging Hydrogen Fuel Cells with Novel Ion-Conducting Copolymer

Renewed investments in hydrogen fuel cell technologies and infrastructure by companies like Amazon; nations like China; and automakers like Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai, are sparking sales and fresh interest in the vast possibilities of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. The fresh interest could revolutionize transportation and fill streets with vehicles whose only effluent is water vapor.

First Long Term Vagus Nerve Stimulation Implant in Mice

Previous preclinical VNS studies have been limited to short-term stimulation -- a timeframe of minutes to hours -- due to the surgical and technological challenges of implanting a stimulator small enough to fit a mouse nerve. In order to conduct mouse studies lasting weeks or even months, Feinstein Institutes researchers developed new techniques to deliver long-term electrical stimulation in mice.

Robots Appear More Persuasive When Pretending to be Human

Recent technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have made it possible for machines, or bots, to pass as humans. A team of researchers conducted an experiment to study how people interact with bots whom they believe to be human, and how such interactions are affected once bots reveal their identity.

DNA as Tool to Build Graphene Circuits

Graphene is a groundbreaking material in the nanotechnology field, but it has characteristics that limit its potential applications. A research team is investigating ways to incorporate DNA nanotechnology as a construction tool to assemble graphene in new ways that could make the material more useful in electronic devices, among other applications.

Mobile 3D printing robots could fix bridges on Earth, Mars

A multidisciplinary robotics team is designing autonomous systems for 3D printers on robotic arms attached to mobile, roving platforms.

Look out, invasive species: The robots are coming

Invasive species control is notoriously challenging, especially in lakes and rivers where native fish and other wildlife have limited options for escape. Using biomimetic robots to understand and modify animal behavior demonstrates how robotic fish can be a valuable tool in the fight against one of the world's most problematic invasive species, the mosquitofish.

Wearable motion sensors could save unborn babies

The thump, thump of a baby's heartbeat is a milestone in any pregnancy. Now, researchers have developed a technique that could allow expectant parents to hear their baby's heartbeat continuously at home with a non-invasive and safe device that is potentially more accurate than any fetal heartrate monitor currently available in the market.

Neural networks generate synthetic fingerprints

Fingerprint authentication systems are a widely trusted, ubiquitous form of biometric authentication, deployed on billions of smartphones and other devices worldwide. Yet a new study reveals a surprising level of vulnerability in these systems. Using a neural network trained to synthesize human fingerprints, the research team evolved a fake fingerprint that could potentially fool a touch-based authentication system for up to one in five people.