University of California

Insect-Sized Robots for Search and Rescue

Many insects and spiders get their uncanny ability to scurry up walls and walk upside down on ceilings with the help of specialized sticky footpads that allow them to adhere to surfaces in places where no human would dare to go. Engineers have used the principle behind some of these footpads, called electrostatic adhesion, to create an insect-scale robot that can swerve and pivot with the agility of a cheetah, giving it the ability to traverse complex terrain and quickly avoid unexpected obstacles.

Bio-Inspired Hydrogel Protects the Heart from Post-Op Adhesions

A hydrogel that forms a barrier to keep heart tissue from adhering to surrounding tissue after surgery was developed and successfully tested in rodents. The team of engineers, scientists and physicians also conducted a pilot study on porcine hearts, with promising results.

Super Productive 3D Bioprinter Could Help Speed up Drug Development

A 3D printer that rapidly produces large batches of custom biological tissues could help make drug development faster and less costly. Nanoengineers developed the high-throughput bioprinting technology, which 3D prints with record speed--it can produce a 96-well array of living human tissue samples within 30 minutes. Having the ability to rapidly produce such samples could accelerate high-throughput preclinical drug screening and disease modeling.

CRISPR-Based Coronavirus Rapid Test

While the coronavirus pandemic has proven once more that the tiniest germ can upset global civilization, a team has responded by illustrating that ancient strategies used by bacteria to battle viruses can be repurposed into transformative technologies.

Researchers Are First to Create Sterile Male Mosquitoes Using CRISPR

Mosquitoes are one of humanity's greatest nemeses, estimated to spread infections to nearly 700 million people per year and cause more than one million deaths.

Ultrasound Stimulation to Reduce Inflammation in COVID-19 In-Patients

Researchers have begun a pilot clinical trial to test the efficacy of using ultrasound to stimulate the spleen and reduce COVID-19-related inflammation, decreasing the length of hospital stays.

System Helps Robots Better Navigate Emergency Rooms

Computer scientists have developed a more accurate navigation system that will allow robots to better negotiate busy clinical environments in general and emergency departments more specifically. The researchers have also developed a dataset of open source videos to help train robotic navigation systems in the future.

Multidisciplinary Team Developing an Immersive Avatar System

A multidisciplinary team developing an immersive avatar system that enables remote human connection has advanced to the semifinals for the $10 million ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.

Robotic Seafloor Survey Completed

An expedition led by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography mapped more than 36,000 acres of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast in a region previously found to contain high levels of the toxic chemical DDT in sediments and the ecosystem. The survey identified an excess of 27,000 targets with high confidence to be classified as a barrel, and an excess of 100,000 total debris objects on the seafloor.

Largest Solar Farm at an Australian University

The Microgrid at Deakin provides a unique opportunity to make a positive contribution in the collective fight against climate change while also conducting high-value research to benefit Australian communities.

Tiny Wireless Implant Detects Oxygen Deep Within the Body

Engineers have created a tiny wireless implant that can provide real-time measurements of tissue oxygen levels deep underneath the skin. The device, which is smaller than the average ladybug and powered by ultrasound waves, could help doctors monitor the health of transplanted organs or tissue and provide an early warning of potential transplant failure.

3D Printed Porous Carbon Aerogels for Space Exploration

Exploration of extremely cold environments, from Earth's polar regions to the moon and Mars, requires technology that can rapidly store and deliver electricity at ultralow temperatures. NASA's Perseverance rover, for example, needs heaters to keep the rover's battery system from freezing in Martian temperatures averaging about -81 F (-62 C).

Scientists Create Model of an Early Human Embryo from Skin Cells

In a discovery that will revolutionize research into the causes of early miscarriage, infertility and the study of early human development - an international team of scientists has generated a model of a human embryo from skin cells.

Merck KGaA (Cultured Meat)

Merck

Sewage-Handling Robots Help Predict COVID-19 Outbreaks

In earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, before diagnostic testing was widely available, it was difficult for public health officials to keep track of the infection's spread, or predict where outbreaks were likely to occur. Attempts to get ahead of the virus are still complicated by the fact that people can be infected and spread the virus even without experiencing any symptoms themselves.

Wearable Microgrid Uses the Human Body to Power Small Gadgets

Nanoengineers have developed a "wearable microgrid" that harvests and stores energy from the human body to power small electronics. It consists of three main parts: sweat-powered biofuel cells, motion-powered devices called triboelectric generators, and energy-storing supercapacitors. All parts are flexible, washable and can be screen printed onto clothing.

Weakness is Strength for this Low-Temperature Battery

Nanoengineers have discovered new fundamental insights for developing lithium metal batteries that perform well at ultra-low temperatures; mainly, that the weaker the electrolyte holds on to lithium ions, the better. By using such a weakly binding electrolyte, the researchers developed a lithium metal battery that can be repeatedly recharged at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius—a first in the field.