Robotic Hand can Identify Objects with just One Grasp

Photo shows a robotic hand holding a Rubik's Cube. Four insets shows colorful renderings of the hand’s sensors.
MIT researchers developed a soft-rigid robotic finger that incorporates powerful sensors along its entire length, enabling them to produce a robotic hand that could accurately identify objects after only one grasp.
Credits:Image: Courtesy of the researchers

The three-fingered robotic gripper can ‘feel’ with great sensitivity along the full length of each finger — not just at the tips

Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.

Many robotic hands pack all their powerful sensors into the fingertips, so an object must be in full contact with those fingertips to be identified, which can take multiple grasps...

Read More

‘Taffy Galaxies’ Collide, leave behind Bridge of Star-Forming Material

The Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, captured this dazzling image of UGC 12914 and UGC 12915, which are nicknamed the Taffy Galaxies. Their twisted shape is the result of a head-on collision that occurred about 25 million years prior to their appearance in this image. A bridge of highly turbulent gas devoid of significant star formation spans the gap between the two galaxies.

Gemini North captures sprawling aftermath of head-on colllision between a pair of galaxies. The Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, captured a dazzling image of UGC12914 and UGC312915, which are nicknamed the Taffy Galaxies...

Read More

Surprise finding shows that Neutrophils can be Key Antitumor Weapons

microscopic image
Biopsies from melanoma patients who were treated or not with immune checkpoint blockade were stained for neutrophil activation. Left: Biopsy of an untreated patient, with white arrow showing neutrophils. Right: Biopsy of a patient treated with immunotherapy, with yellow arrows showing activated neutrophils. 

White blood cells called neutrophils have an unappreciated role in eradicating solid tumors, according to a surprise discovery from a team led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

In the study, published March 30 in Cell, the researchers investigated how a T cell-based immunotherapy was able to destroy melanoma tumors even though many of the tumor cells lacked the markers or “antigens” targeted by the T cells...

Read More

‘Smart’ Bandages Monitor Wounds and provide Targeted Treatment

A larger version of the smart bandage rests on the back of a gloved hand
A larger version of the smart bandage.

Researchers have developed a flexible electronic bandage for use on chronic wounds, particularly in diabetic patients. The bandage monitors signs of inflammation, collecting medical data, providing medication as needed and stimulate tissue growth.

These kinds of chronic wounds are not just debilitating for the people suffering from them. They are also a drain on healthcare systems, representing a $25 billion financial burden in the United States alone each year.

A new kind of smart bandage developed at Caltech may make treatment of these wounds easier, more effective, and less expensive...

Read More