**2021 Space Renaissance [Webinar Series “SPACE SAFETY”](https://spacerenaissance.space/event/webconference-on-space-…elopment/)**
Sunday December 13th 16:00 UTC
Live streaming on [Facebook Space Renaissance Initiative Group](https://www.facebook.com/events/3842711565750385/)
It’s not a stretch to say that stretchable sensors could change the way soft robots function and feel. In fact, they will be able to feel quite a lot.
Cornell researchers have created a fiber-optic sensor that combines low-cost LEDs and dyes, resulting in a stretchable “skin” that detects deformations such as pressure, bending and strain. This sensor could give soft robotic systems – and anyone using augmented reality technology – the ability to feel the same rich, tactile sensations that mammals depend on to navigate the natural world.
Despite early failures in the clinic, the idea of anti-aging therapies that purge the body of dying cells is gaining traction with a raft of startups now focused on senescence.
I didn’t even know we could eat jellyfish! 😃
According to a new study conducted by scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia, we should eat more jellyfish and less fish if we want to save the planet.
The research, published in Nature Communications, suggests increasing our jellyfish consumption worldwide to protect threatened fish species and guard marine conservation efforts. IUCN figures show that fishing is an ongoing threat to 96% of threatened fish species and the only constant threat for some.
Continue reading “How Eating More Jellyfish And Less Fish Could Save The Planet” »
Doctors can triage and monitor patients faster—and sometimes more accurately—with the aid of the pocket-size machines.
Drexel University researchers are one step closer to offering a new treatment for the millions of patients who suffer from slow-healing, chronic wounds. The battery-powered applicator — as small and light as a watch — is the first portable and potentially wearable device to heal wounds with low-frequency ultrasound.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the research team an estimated $3 million to test the therapy on 120 patients over the next five years. By using diagnostic monitoring of blood flow in the wound tissue, the clinical trial will also determine how nutrition and inflammation impact wound closure, making treatment customization a possibility.
Continue reading “NIH Funds Clinical Trial to Test Device That Heals Wounds With Ultrasound” »
Circa 2008
Three independent research teams have successfully performed organ transplantations that do not require the recipient to face a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection. Instead, the new techniques prevent rejection by training the immune system to recognize the new organ as its own.
The three studies, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, are preliminary and involve only a few patients. But if the techniques can be reproduced in a larger population, they could eliminate one of the most enduring scars of the operation: the need to continue taking sometimes-dangerous immunosuppressant drugs.
The organ-on-a-chip (OOAC) is in the list of top 10 emerging technologies and refers to a physiological organ biomimetic system built on a microfluidic chip. Through a combination of cell biology, engineering, and biomaterial technology, the microenvironment of the chip simulates that of the organ in terms of tissue interfaces and mechanical stimulation. This reflects the structural and functional characteristics of human tissue and can predict response to an array of stimuli including drug responses and environmental effects. OOAC has broad applications in precision medicine and biological defense strategies. Here, we introduce the concepts of OOAC and review its application to the construction of physiological models, drug development, and toxicology from the perspective of different organs. We further discuss existing challenges and provide future perspectives for its application.
