Using a new type of dual polymer material capable of responding dynamically to its environment, Brown University researchers have developed a set of modular hydrogel components that could be useful in a variety of “soft robotic” and biomedical applications. The components, which are patterned by a 3D printer, are capable of bending, twisting or sticking…
Researchers Create ‘Smart’ Material with Environmental Uses
Brown University researchers have shown a way to use graphene oxide (GO) to add some backbone to hydrogel materials made from alginate, a natural material derived from seaweed that’s currently used in a variety of biomedical applications. In a paper published in the journal Carbon, the researchers describe a 3-D printing method for making intricate and…
Study Exposes Security Vulnerabilities in Terahertz Data Links
A new study shows that terahertz data links, which may play a role in ultra-high-speed wireless data networks of the future, aren’t as immune to eavesdropping as many researchers have assumed. The research, published in the journal Nature, shows that it is possible for a clever eavesdropper to intercept a signal from a terahertz transmitter without…
Brown’s Student Satellite To Be Deployed From ISS Into Orbit
Friday, July 13, will mark a major milestone for current and former members of Brown Space Engineering, a student group that has spent the past seven years designing and building a small satellite. That satellite, dubbed EQUiSat, is set to be deployed from the International Space Station at 10:20 a.m. Eastern time Friday morning. Soon…
How Nanoscale Patterning can Decrease Metal Fatigue
A new study in the journal Nature shows how metals can be patterned at the nanoscale to be more resistant to fatigue, the slow accumulation of internal damage from repetitive strain. The research focused on metal manufactured with nanotwins, tiny linear boundaries in a metal’s atomic lattice that have identical crystalline structures on either side.…
Terahertz Spectroscopy Goes Nano
Brown University researchers have demonstrated a way to bring a powerful form of spectroscopy — a technique used to study a wide variety of materials — into the nano-world. Laser terahertz emission microscopy (LTEM) is a burgeoning means of characterizing the performance of solar cells, integrated circuits and other systems and materials. Laser pulses illuminating…
Research Makes Robots Better At Following Spoken Instructions
A new system based on research by Brown University computer scientists makes robots better at following spoken instructions, no matter how abstract or specific those instructions may be. The development, which was presented this week at the Robotics: Science and Systems 2017 conference in Boston, is a step toward robots that are able to more…
Researchers Flip the Script on Magnetocapacitance
Capacitors, electronic components that store and quickly release a charge, play an important role in many types of electrical circuits. They’ll play an equally important role in next-generation spintronic devices, which take advantage of not only electron charge but also spin — the tiny magnetic moment of each electron. Two years ago, an international team…
Sea Sponges Offer Clues to How Human-Made Structures Can Resist Buckling
Judging by their name alone, orange puffball sea sponges might seem unlikely paragons of structural strength. But maintaining their shape at the bottom of the churning ocean is critical to the creatures’ survival, and new research shows that tiny structural rods in their bodies have evolved the optimal shape to avoid buckling under pressure. The rods, called…
Quantum Obstacle Course Changes Material from Superconductor to Insulator
Researchers from Brown University have demonstrated an unusual method of putting the brakes on superconductivity, the ability of a material to conduct an electrical current with zero resistance. The research shows that weak magnetic fields — far weaker than those that normally interrupt superconductivity — can interact with defects in a material to create a…
Wrinkles and Crumples Make Graphene Better
Crumple a piece of paper and it’s probably destined for the trash can, but new research shows that repeatedly crumpling sheets of the nanomaterial graphene can actually enhance some of its properties. In some cases, the more crumpled the better. The research by engineers from Brown University shows that graphene, wrinkled and crumpled in a…
Study Finds Evidence For More Recent Clay Formation On Mars
Recent orbital and rover missions to Mars have turned up ample evidence of clays and other hydrated minerals formed when rocks are altered by the presence of water. Most of that alteration is thought to have happened during the earliest part of Martian history, more than 3.7 billion years ago. But a new study shows…
What Smacks into Ceres Stays on Ceres, Research Suggests
A new set of high-velocity impact experiments suggests that the dwarf planet Ceres may be something of a cosmic dartboard: Projectiles that slam into it tend to stick. The experiments, performed using the Vertical Gun Range at NASA’s Ames Research Center, suggest that when asteroids and other impactors hit Ceres, much of the impact material…
Even Healthcare Reform Won’t Break Link Between Money, Medicine
Even after centuries of earnest oaths and laws, the debate about whether money compromises medicine remains unresolved, observes Dr. Eli Adashi in a new paper in the AMA Journal of Ethics. The problem might not be truly intractable, he said, but recent reforms will likely make little progress or difference. “This is one of those things we have…
Researchers Predict Material with Record-Setting Melting Point
Using powerful computer simulations, researchers from Brown University have identified a material with a higher melting point than any known substance. The computations, described in the journal Physical Review B (Rapid Communications), showed that a material made with just the right amounts of hafnium, nitrogen, and carbon would have a melting point of more than…
A New Method For Making Perovskite Solar Cells
Research led by a Brown University Ph.D. student has revealed a new way to make light-absorbing perovskite films for use in solar cells. The new method involves a room-temperature solvent bath to create perovskite crystals, rather than the blast of heat used in current crystallization methods. A study published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Materials…
New Tech Makes Tissues, Someday Maybe Organs
A new instrument could someday build replacement human organs the way electronics are assembled today: with precise picking and placing of parts. In this case, the parts are not resistors and capacitors, but 3-D microtissues containing thousands to millions of living cells that need a constant stream of fluid to bring them nutrients and to…
Microchip Reveals How Tumor Cells Transition to Invasion
Providence, RI [Brown University] — Using a microengineered device that acts as an obstacle course for cells, researchers have shed new light on a cellular metamorphosis thought to play a role in tumor cell invasion throughout the body. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which epithelial cells, which tend to stick together within…
‘Melbourne Shuffle’ Secures Data in the Cloud
Providence, RI [Brown University] — To keep data safe in the cloud, a group of computer scientists suggests doing the Melbourne Shuffle. That may sound like a dance move (and it is), but it’s also a computer algorithm developed by researchers at Brown University. The computing version of the Melbourne Shuffle aims to hide patterns…
Graphene-Like Material Made of Boron a Possibility
Graphene, a sheet of carbon one atom thick, may soon have a new nanomaterial partner. In the lab and on supercomputers, chemical engineers have determined that a unique arrangement of 36 boron atoms in a flat disc with a hexagonal hole in the middle may be the preferred building blocks for “borophene.” Findings are reported…