This Touchy-Feely Glove Senses and Maps Tactile Stimuli

the glove with visible sensors
An MIT team of engineers has designed a new touch-sensing glove that can “feel” pressure and other tactile stimuli. The glove’s inside lining is studded with small, kernel-sized electrodes that can sense and map subtle changes in pressure.
Credits:Image: Courtesy of the researchers

The design could help restore motor function after stroke, enhance virtual gaming experiences. When you pick up a balloon, the pressure to keep hold of it is different from what you would exert to grasp a jar. And now engineers at MIT and elsewhere have a way to precisely measure and map such subtleties of tactile dexterity.

The team has designed a new touch-sensing glove that can “feel” pressure and other tactile stimuli...

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Lunar Samples Solve Mystery of the Moon’s Supposed Magnetic Shield

Three samples of lunar glass cast shadows on a white surface and dark background.
The lunar glass samples tested by Rochester scientists were gathered during NASA’s 1972 Apollo 16 mission. (University of Rochester photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Research may help inform a new wave of lunar experiments based on data that will be gathered by the Artemis mission. In 2024, a new age of space exploration will begin when NASA sends astronauts to the moon as part of their Artemis mission, a follow-up to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

Some of the biggest questions that scientists hope to explore include determining what resources are found in the moon’s soil and how those resources might be used to sustain life.

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, researchers at the University of Rochester, leading a team of colleagues at seven other institut...

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Brain-inspired highly scalable Neuromorphic Hardware

Single transistor neurons and synapses fabricated using a standard silicon CMOS process. They are co-integrated on the same 8-inch wafer

KAIST researchers fabricated a brain-inspired highly scalable neuromorphic hardware by co-integrating single transistor neurons and synapses. Using standard silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the neuromorphic hardware is expected to reduce chip cost and simplify fabrication procedures.

The research team led by Yang-Kyu Choi and Sung-Yool Choi produced a neurons and synapses based on single transistor for highly scalable neuromorphic hardware and showed the ability to recognize text and face images. This research was featured in Science Advances on August 4.

Neuromorphic hardware has attracted a great deal of atten...

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Frequent Consumption of Peanuts by Cancer Patients may increase risk of ancer Spread, study finds

A study by University of Liverpool researchers has identified new factors accompanying previous findings that frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients could increase risk of cancer spread.

The study, published in Carcinogenesis, shows that Peanut agglutinin (PNA) — a carbohydrate-binding protein that rapidly enters into the blood circulation after peanuts are eaten — interacts with blood vascular wall (endothelial) cells to produce cytokines.

The cytokines in question, IL-6 and MCP-1 are well-known promoters of cancer metastasis. The increased cytokine production causes other endothelial cells to express more cell surface adhesion molecules, making them more attractive to the circulating tumour cells and thus potentially promoting metastasis.

In an earlier study, Co...

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