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Bathed in dim morning light from a small window, the infant lies in a hospital bed at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Like a faint flame, a blood-colored birthmark engulfs the sleeping boy’s left eye and spreads up his pale forehead to lick his hairline.
Power-generating rubber films developed by Princeton University engineers could harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices. The material, composed of ceramic nanoribbons embedded onto silicone rubber sheets, generates electricity when flexed and is highly efficient at converting mechanical energy to electrical energy. Shoes made [...]
There’s a 3-D world in our brains. It’s a landscape that mimics the outside world, where the objects we see exist as collections of neural circuits and electrical impulses. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are using new tools they developed to chart that world, a key step in revolutionizing research into [...]
Edward Felten and Stephen Schultze use computers as flashlights. The Princeton computer scientists recently oversaw the launch of two Web-based technologies to illuminate the workings of government by making court records and the federal government’s “newspaper,” the Federal Register, easily accessible online. One of the technologies, dubbed RECAP, is an extension for the Firefox browser [...]
Hoping to help fix the Earth’s atmosphere, Catherine Peters recently found herself 4,100 feet underground. Peters, a Princeton associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, rode an elevator down a deep shaft into the Homestake Mine, a defunct South Dakota gold mine being transformed into an underground science laboratory. She toured the mine to plan [...]
Princeton researchers have created a Rosetta Stone for the human body, a website that offers clues to the role DNA plays in aging and disease by helping scientists make sense of the vast jumble of information emerging from genetics research. By mashing up genetic data from disparate sources and interpreting it with the help of [...]
An international team of researchers has taken a crucial step in mimicking the photosynthetic capabilities of plants, algae, and bacteria, raising the possibility of gathering energy from the Sun to create solar fuels (P Natl Acad Sci USA, 29 Jun 2009). The researchers modified algal chlorophyll to create a molecular structure similar to chlorosomes, the [...]
Researchers have uncovered a broad genetic diversity among members of a bacterial genus, using a cutting-edge “systems” approach that might one day help scientists choose the right microbe for environmental cleanups. Employing modern genomics and proteomics techniques, the researchers found that Shewanella, an adaptable genus of bacteria found both in the oceans and on land, [...]
Princeton engineers have developed a sensor that may revolutionize how drugs and medical devices are tested for contamination, and in the process also help ensure the survival of two species of threatened animals. To be fair, some of the credit goes to an African frog. In the wild, the African clawed frog produces antibacterial peptides [...]
A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has restored movement to paralyzed rats using a new method that they say shows the potential of embryonic stem cells to restore function to humans suffering from neurological disorders. “For the first time we have used stem cells to rewire part of the nervous system,” said Dr. Douglas Kerr, [...]