If brain imaging could be compared to Google Earth, neuroscientists would already have a pretty good 'satellite view' of the brain, and a great 'street view' of neuron details. But navigating how the brain computes is arguably where the action is, and neuroscience's 'navigational map view' has been a bit meager. Now, a research team led by Eva Dyer, a computational neuroscientist and electrical engineer, has imaged brains at that map-like or...

  A ceramic-based mechanical pump able to operate at record temperatures of more than 1,400ºC (1,673K) can transfer high temperature liquids such as molten tin, enabling a new generation of energy conversion and storage systems.

A team of Georgia Tech researchers is bringing electronic design software and communications expertise to DARPA's new CHIPS initiative, which will enable future generations of integrated circuits to be assembled from plug-and-play modules known as “chiplets.” Reusing blocks of existing microelectronics technology could reduce the need to design complex monolithic chips from scratch for new applications.

  Despite the potentially severe consequences of illness and even death, only about 40% of adults in the United States receive flu shots each year; however, researchers believe a new self-administered, painless vaccine skin patch containing microscopic needles could significantly increase the number of people who get vaccinated.

The nation’s first remote robotics lab, and the nearly 100 machines that call it home, is now open thanks to a little help from its friends. The Robotarium held its grand opening on Tuesday in the Van Leer Building. Appropriately, a scissor-wielding robot (named Snips) cut the ribbon. Later, a researcher from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign skyped into the room to run a live remote experiment.

Anyone who has a rear-view mirror that automatically dims blue in reaction to annoying high-beam headlights glaring from behind has seen an electrochromic film in action. Now, chemists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new method to more safely and, by extension, easily produce these shear films, which change their colour with the help of a tiny electric current. This could make them available to many industries that ha...

Broad inadequacies in a widespread biological concept that affects cancer research could be significantly deflecting the aim of such targeted drugs, according to a new study. A team exploring genetic mechanisms in cancer at the Georgia Institute of Technology has found evidence that a prevailing concept about how cells produce protein molecules, particularly when applied to cancer, could be erroneous as much as two-thirds of the time.

A future android brain like that of Star Trek’s Commander Data might contain neuristors, multi-circuit components that emulate the firings of human neurons. Neuristors already exist today in labs, in small quantities, and to fuel the quest to boost neuristors’ power and numbers for practical use in brain-like computing, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $7.1 million grant to a research team led by the Georgia Institute...

Cities have been around for thousands of years, so urbanisation is hardly a new phenomenon — but it’s happening now at an unprecedented pace. In 1950 about 30% of the world’s population lived in cities, a number that shot up to nearly 55% by 2016 and is expected to hit 60% by 2030, according to United Nations statistics. This dramatic growth brings challenges on a variety of fronts, transforming 'smart cities' from a catchy...

Researchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University have created a device that makes walking up and down stairs easier. They’ve built energy-recycling stairs that store a user’s energy during descent and return energy to the user during ascent. The spring-loaded stairs compress when someone comes down the stairs, saving energy otherwise dissipated through impact and braking forces at the ankle by 26%.

A research team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a treatment to thwart metastasis by, in a sense, breaking cancer cells’ legs. Cancer cells often cover themselves with bristly leg-like protrusions that enable them to creep. The researchers have used minuscule gold rods heated gently by a laser to mangle the protrusions, according to study.

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a way to use 3D printers to create objects capable of expanding dramatically that could someday be used in applications ranging from space missions to biomedical devices. The new objects use tensegrity, a structural system of floating rods in compression and cables in continuous tension. The researchers fabricated the struts from shape memory polymers that unfold wh...

The key to balance is, in part, the ability to overpower your mind. Your brain possesses what some researchers call “common drive.” It wants to activate and relax all muscles in synchrony, including the opposing ones. It’s probably why you find yourself swaying while trying to balance on one leg. When you start to teeter, your mind drives all the muscles to stiffen at the same time. The problem: This drive contains muscle oscill...

A marimba-playing robot with four arms and eight sticks is writing and playing its own compositions in a lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The pieces are generated using artificial intelligence and deep learning. Researchers fed the robot nearly 5,000 complete songs — from Beethoven to the Beatles to Lady Gaga to Miles Davis — and more than 2 million motifs, riffs and licks of music.

A team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Notre Dame has created a computing system that aims to tackle one of computing’s hardest problems in a fraction of the time. “We wanted to find a way to solve a problem without using the normal binary representations that have been the backbone of computing for decades,” said Arijit Raychowdhury, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School ...

Combining a new hydrogel material with a protein that boosts blood vessel growth could improve the success rate for transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into persons with type 1 diabetes. In an animal model, the technique enhanced the survival rate of transplanted insulin-producing cells, restoring insulin production in response to blood glucose levels and curing these diabetic animals.

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have created a team of free-flying robots that obeys the two rules of the air: don’t collide or undercut each other. They’ve also built autonomous blimps that recognise hand gestures and detect faces. Both projects will be presented at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) May 29 – June 3 in Singapore.

Sudden cardiac death resulting from fibrillation – erratic heartbeat due to electrical instability – is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Now, researchers have discovered a fundamentally new source of that electrical instability, a development that could potentially lead to new methods for predicting and preventing life-threatening cardiac fibrillation.

An international team of scientists has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene – also known as ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon. By heating the ethene in stages to a temperature of slightly more than 700ºC - hotter than had been attempted before – the researchers produced pure layers of graphene on a rhodium catalyst substrate...

The traditional interface for remotely operating robots works just fine for roboticists. They use a computer screen and mouse to independently control six degrees of freedom, turning three virtual rings and adjusting arrows to get the robot into position to grab items or perform a specific task. But for someone who isn’t an expert, the ring-and-arrow system is cumbersome and error-prone. It’s not ideal, for example, for older peo...