Tech & Engineering
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-May-2025 17:09 ET (24-May-2025 21:09 GMT/UTC)
UCF students’ AI system assists Orlando Health robotic surgeries
University of Central FloridaGrant and Award Announcement
A University of Central Florida (UCF) student engineering project that began with using artificial intelligence (AI) to track cafeteria forks transformed into a system that will help Orlando Health surgeons perform robotic surgeries more efficiently.
Laura Brattain, a UCF biomedical engineer, mentored six College of Engineering and Computer Science seniors, who developed the AIMS (AI for Medical Surgery) system that keeps track of surgical staples, enabling surgical teams to operate more efficiently, reduce waste and improve sustainability. The new technology was developed as part of the college’s Senior Design capstone course that encourages students to create a usable product before they graduate.
These structures shrink when pulled
AMOLFPeer-Reviewed Publication
When you pull something—like a rubber band—you expect it to get longer. But what if it did the opposite? What if it suddenly shrunk instead? In a study published on April 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from AMOLF and ARCNL have made this possible. They created structures that snap inward when pulled outward. This surprising behavior defies conventional understanding of materials and opens up exciting applications in soft robotics, smart devices, and vibration control systems.
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Amorphous Ni-Fe Oxide: A high-performance, low-cost OER electrocatalyst for AEMWEs
Industrial Chemistry & MaterialsPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Industrial Chemistry and Materials
New metric predicts the likelihood of amyloid presence and leads the way in early Alzheimer’s detection
McDougall CommunicationsPeer-Reviewed Publication
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 14, 2025)—Neuroscience technology innovator Cognivue®, today announced a scientific breakthrough with the launch of the Cognivue Amyloid Risk Measure (CARM)*, a novel metric that predicts the likelihood of the presence of amyloid—a key biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).1 Now available as an optional feature on the Cognivue Clarity® device (based on FDA-cleared technology), CARM represents a significant advancement in the early detection of Alzheimer’s by helping healthcare providers identify those at risk of cognitive impairment, even before symptoms emerge.
- Journal
- Neurology and Therapy
Dental flosser for at-home stress monitoring
American Chemical SocietyPeer-Reviewed Publication
Over time, stress and anxiety can build to a point where life’s challenges become overwhelming and cause physical effects. Now, in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers report a dental floss pick with a built-in sensor that could monitor stress as part of a daily routine. The device, which accurately senses levels of the stress hormone cortisol in minutes, could help users recognize when it’s time to get help.
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Sugar-coated nanotherapy dramatically improves neuron survival in Alzheimer’s model
Northwestern UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together in brain tissue. Scientists developed a new therapy made of peptides and a sugar that naturally occurs in plants. The therapeutic molecules self-assemble into nanofibers, which bond to the neuron-killing proteins. Now trapped, the toxic proteins can no longer enter neurons and instead harmlessly degrade.
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Funder
- Spanish Ministry of Science, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NextGenerationEU