#breakthrough
UCLA bioengineers have created a flexible device that adheres to the neck and converts muscle movements of the larynx into speech.
Clinicians at Austin Health have implanted a nerve stimulation device in a Crohn’s disease patient to prevent post-operative inflammation.
Biotech has become a trillion-dollar industry with significant advancements in health, agriculture, and industrial production, building upon foundational recombinant DNA technology from the 1970s.
European researchers sent Antarctic rock-dwelling fungi to the International Space Station (ISS) to expose them to Mars-like conditions.
Users interacted with Replika in various ways, treating it as a friend, therapist, and intellectual counterpart.
An 11-year-old boy who was born deaf, had his hearing restored after receiving gene therapy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, marking a medical breakthrough.
Future Metals is exploring bio-mining as a method to source precious metals for jewellery making.
Researchers have developed a system called Mobile ALOHA for mobile manipulation tasks that require both hands and the whole body, aiming to improve robotic mobility and dexterity beyond simple table-top manipulation.
Up to five million Americans have heart failure but only around 2,000 donor hearts are available each year, creating a demand for artificial hearts.
The mRNA cancer vaccine by Moderna and Merck has continued to show a 50% reduction in recurrence or death from melanoma after three years.
Mechanical engineers Shervin Foroughi and Mohsen Habibi have developed a “direct-sound printing” technology that 3-D prints solid objects by using sound waves transmitted through a solid wall to solidify a liquid.
Epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord combined with preprogrammed patterns has previously enabled people with paralysis to stand and walk, but it required motion sensors and did not allow for natural, adaptive control.
Scientists created tiny robots, coined ‘anthrobots’, from human tracheal cells that have the potential to repair neural tissue.
Google has partnered with the startup Fervo to implement new geothermal technology capable of producing 3.5 MW of power.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) commonly employs a spatial resolution of about 3.0 mm, which is inadequate for capturing details of cortical layers and columns in the human brain.
Heirloom Carbon Technologies has launched the first commercial plant in the U.S. for direct air capture, which extracts greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Cell-based therapies offer potential for curing diseases such as cancer, regenerating organs, and even reversing aging, with CAR-T therapy already successfully used in 2011 to cure a pediatric cancer patient.
A combined treatment using CAR T cells and serial mRNA vaccine injections shows strong anti-cancer activity in genitourinary cancers, suggesting a new targeted treatment.
In the future, bioelectricity might be used to heal birth defects, injuries, limb loss, and possibly cancer by directing cells to regenerate.
The cure rate for lymphoma using CAR-T therapy is 45%.
Wolbachia bacteria-infected mosquitoes have been linked to a significant 97% reduction in dengue infections in three Colombian cities.
Startup AstroForge aims to mine asteroids for resources.
For the first time ever, we’ll explore an asteroid made not of rock or ice, but of metal. The mission will investigate planet formation and could be a building block towards asteroid mining.
Wi-Charge is beta testing a wireless power solution that transmits power using infrared. Essentially, an infrared laser beams energy onto a photovoltaic cell (like a solar panel).
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of sound waves to break down tumours in humans for liver treatment.