Battery-free skin-conformal wearable system can measure electrocardiogram signals

SNU researchers develop battery-free skin-conformal wearable system
Concept of body-coupled wireless power delivery for battery-free wearables. Credit: Science Advances

A research team led by Prof. Jerald Yoo from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) has developed a skin-conformal wearable health care system, “SkinECG,” capable of measuring electrocardiogram (ECG) signals without a battery. By combining energy harvesting with human body–coupled power transfer, the study presents a new solution to one of the most critical challenges in wearable devices: power supply.

The findings are published in Science Advances.

Wearable health care systems are emerging as next-generation medical technologies that enable real-time monitoring of physiological signals through body-worn sensors, allowing early ...

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How everyday devices could train AI faster while keeping personal data on-device

Irene Tenison, Lalana Kagal and Anna Murphy at desk with laptops
Caption:Irene Tenison, Lalana Kagal and Anna Murphy of the Decentralized Information Group (DIG) developed a new method that could bring more accurate and efficient AI models to high-stakes applications like health care and finance.
Credits:Credit: Adam Glanzman

A new method developed by MIT researchers can accelerate a privacy-preserving artificial intelligence training method by about 81%. This advance could enable a wider array of resource-constrained edge devices, like sensors and smartwatches, to deploy more accurate AI models while keeping user data secure.

The MIT researchers boosted the efficiency of a technique known as federated learning, which involves a network of connected devices that work together to train a shared AI model.

In federated learning, the model is broad...

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Designing in situ power stations for future Mars missions

Diagram depicting how the Martian atmosphere could be used for power generation on future human missions to Mars. (Credit: Yang et al. (2026))
Diagram depicting how the Martian atmosphere could be used for power generation on future human missions to Mars. (Credit: Yang et al. (2026))

You’re in the lab analyzing Martian regolith samples within your cozy Mars habitat serving on the fifth human mission to Mars. The power within the habitat has been flowing flawlessly thanks to the MARS-MES (Mars Atmospheric Resource & Multimodal Energy System), including the general habitat lighting, science lab, sleeping quarters, exercise equipment, the virtual reality headsets the crew use for rest & relaxation, oxygen and fuel generation, and water. All this from converting the Martian atmosphere into workable electricity.

While this scenario might be decades away, scientists on Earth are working hard to make this concept a reality today...

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Scientists recruit red blood cells to deliver genetic cargo with instructions to kill cancer

red blood cells
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Scientists have developed a way to turn the body’s own immune cells into cancer-fighting agents—without removing them from the body—by using red blood cells to deliver genetic instructions. Current CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) therapies typically involve collecting a patient’s T cells, genetically modifying them in the laboratory, and then reinfusing them in a process that can take weeks. The new strategy aims to bypass that step.

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers at Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine in Hangzhou, China, report that they used engineered erythrocytes, or red blood cells, to carry messenger RNA—mRNA—that reprograms myeloid cells into tumor-targeting cells inside the body.

“Engi...

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