PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Harvard and Cornell researchers develop untethered, autonomous soft robot

Harvard and Cornell researchers develop untethered, autonomous soft robot
2014-09-05
(Press-News.org) New Rochelle, NY, September 4, 2014--Imagine a non-rigid, shape-changing robot that walks on four "legs," can operate without the constraints of a tether, and can function in a snowstorm, move through puddles of water, and even withstand limited exposure to flames. Harvard advanced materials chemist George Whitesides, PhD and colleagues describe the mobile, autonomous robot they have created in Soft Robotics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Soft Robotics website.

In "A Resilient, Untethered Soft Robot," Michael Tolley, PhD and a multidisciplinary team of coauthors from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), and the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), detail the innovative composite materials, design features, and fabrication methods they used to develop a soft robot capable of functioning for several hours using a battery pack or for longer periods with a light-weight electrical tether, and able to carry payloads of up to 8 kg.

"This paper marks the emergence of soft robot technology from the research lab into the real world," says Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD, who directs the Neuromechanics and Biomimetic Devices Laboratory at Tufts University (Medford, MA).

INFORMATION: About the Journal Soft Robotics, a peer-reviewed journal published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, combines advances in biomedical engineering, biomechanics, mathematical modeling, biopolymer chemistry, computer science, and tissue engineering to present new approaches to the creation of robotic technology and devices that can undergo dramatic changes in shape and size in order to adapt to various environments. Led by Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD and a distinguished team of Associate Editors, the Journal provides the latest research and developments on topics such as soft material creation, characterization, and modeling; flexible and degradable electronics; soft actuators and sensors; control and simulation of highly deformable structures; biomechanics and control of soft animals and tissues; biohybrid devices and living machines; and design and fabrication of conformable machines. Tables of content and a sample issue can be viewed on the Soft Robotics website.

About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing and Telemedicine and e-Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Harvard and Cornell researchers develop untethered, autonomous soft robot

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study: Viral infection in nose can trigger middle ear infection

2014-09-05
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sept. 5, 2014 – Middle ear infections, which affect more than 85 percent of children under the age of 3, can be triggered by a viral infection in the nose rather than solely by a bacterial infection, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. By simultaneously infecting the nose with a flu virus and a bacterium that is one of the leading causes of ear infections in children, the researchers found that the flu virus inflamed the nasal tissue and significantly increased both the number of bacteria and their propensity to travel ...

NASA adds up heavy rainfall from Hurricane Norbert

NASA adds up heavy rainfall from Hurricane Norbert
2014-09-05
As Hurricane Norbert continued dropping heavy amounts of rainfall on Mexico's Baja California on September 5, NASA's TRMM satellite calculated the rain that had already fallen. From its orbit in space, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has the capability of determining how much rainfall has occurred over given areas. Data from TRMM was compiled into a rainfall map that showed the rainfall generated from Tropical Storm Dolly and Hurricane Norbert from August 28 through September 4, 2014. Tropical storm Dolly dissipated quickly after coming ashore ...

It's the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit's origins

Its the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruits origins
2014-09-05
Anyone who enjoys biting into a sweet, fleshy peach can now give thanks to the people who first began domesticating this fruit: Chinese farmers who lived 7,500 years ago. In a study published today in PLOS ONE, Gary Crawford, a U of T Mississauga anthropology professor, and two Chinese colleagues propose that the domestic peaches enjoyed worldwide today can trace their ancestry back at least 7,500 years ago to the lower Yangtze River Valley in Southern China, not far from Shanghai. The study, headed by Yunfei Zheng from the Zhejiang Institute of Archeology in China's ...

Like weeds of the sea, 'brown tide' algae exploit nutrient-rich coastlines

Like weeds of the sea, brown tide algae exploit nutrient-rich coastlines
2014-09-05
The sea-grass beds of Long Island's Great South Bay once teemed with shellfish. Clams, scallops and oysters filtered nutrients from the water and flushed money through the local economy. But three decades after the algae that cause brown tides first appeared here, much of the sea grass and the bounty it used to provide is gone. Spring on eastern Long Island is now marked by dense blooms of Aureococcus anophagefferens, which turn estuaries like Great South Bay the color of mud and crowd out native sea grass and stunt or poison shellfish. For years, researchers have puzzled ...

Past sexual assault triples risk of future assault for college women

2014-09-05
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Disturbing news for women on college campuses: a new study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) indicates that female college students who are victims of sexual assault are at a much higher risk of becoming victims again. In fact, researchers found that college women who experienced severe sexual victimization were three times more likely than their peers to experience severe sexual victimization the following year. RIA researchers followed nearly 1,000 college women, most age 18 to 21, over a five-year period, studying ...

Breast cancer specialist reports advance in treatment of triple-negative breast cancer

2014-09-05
William M. Sikov, a medical oncologist in the Breast Health Center and associate director for clinical research in the Program in Women's Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, served as study chair and lead author for a recently-published major national study that could lead to improvements in outcomes for women with triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that disproportionately affects younger women. "Impact of the Addition of Carboplatin and/or Bevacizumab to Neoadjuvant Once-Per-Week Paclitaxel Followed by Dose-Dense Doxorubicin ...

Syracuse University physicists explore biomimetic clocks

Syracuse University physicists explore biomimetic clocks
2014-09-05
Working with a team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TU Munich), Brandeis University, and Leiden University in the Netherlands, M. Cristina Marchetti and Mark Bowick, professors in the Soft Matter Program in the Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences, have engineered and studied "active vesicles." These purely synthetic, molecularly thin sacs are capable of transforming energy, injected at the microscopic level, into organized, self-sustained motion. Their findings are the subject of a cover-story in the Sept. 5 issue of Science magazine. The ...

Thousands of nuclear loci via target enrichment and genome skimming

2014-09-05
The use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies in phylogenetic studies is in a state of continual development and improvement. Though the botanically-inclined have historically focused on markers from the chloroplast genome, the importance of incorporating nuclear data is becoming increasingly evident. Nuclear genes provide not only the potential to resolve relationships between closely related taxa, but also the means to disentangle hybridization and better understand incongruences caused by incomplete lineage sorting and introgression. By harnessing the power ...

Social support: How to thrive through close relationships

2014-09-05
PITTSBURGH—Close and caring relationships are undeniably linked to health and well-being for all ages. Previous research has shown that individuals with supportive and rewarding relationships have better physical and mental health and lower mortality rates. However, exactly how meaningful relationships affect health has remained less clear. In a new paper, Carnegie Mellon University's Brooke Feeney and University of California, Santa Barbara's Nancy L. Collins detail specific interpersonal processes that explain how close relationships help individuals thrive. Published ...

Dietary recommendations may be tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions

2014-09-05
ANN ARBOR—If Americans altered their menus to conform to federal dietary recommendations, emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tied to agricultural production could increase significantly, according to a new study by University of Michigan researchers. Martin Heller and Gregory Keoleian of U-M's Center for Sustainable Systems looked at the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of about 100 foods, as well as the potential effects of shifting Americans to a diet recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They found that if Americans adopted ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Sexual health symptoms may correlate with poor adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in Black women with breast cancer

Black patients with triple-negative breast cancer may be less likely to receive immunotherapy than white patients

Affordable care act may increase access to colon cancer care for underserved groups

UK study shows there is less stigma against LGBTQ people than you might think, but people with mental health problems continue to experience higher levels of stigma

Bringing lost proteins back home

Better than blood tests? Nanoparticle potential found for assessing kidneys

Texas A&M and partner USAging awarded 2024 Immunization Neighborhood Champion Award

UTEP establishes collaboration with DoD, NSA to help enhance U.S. semiconductor workforce

Study finds family members are most common perpetrators of infant and child homicides in the U.S.

Researchers secure funds to create a digital mental health tool for Spanish-speaking Latino families

UAB startup Endomimetics receives $2.8 million Small Business Innovation Research grant

Scientists turn to human skeletons to explore origins of horseback riding

UCF receives prestigious Keck Foundation Award to advance spintronics technology

Cleveland Clinic study shows bariatric surgery outperforms GLP-1 diabetes drugs for kidney protection

Study reveals large ocean heat storage efficiency during the last deglaciation

Fever drives enhanced activity, mitochondrial damage in immune cells

A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective

Wastewater monitoring can detect foodborne illness, researchers find

Kowalski, Salonvaara receive ASHRAE Distinguished Service Awards

SkAI launched to further explore universe

SLU researchers identify sex-based differences in immune responses against tumors

Evolved in the lab, found in nature: uncovering hidden pH sensing abilities

Unlocking the potential of patient-derived organoids for personalized sarcoma treatment

New drug molecule could lead to new treatments for Parkinson’s disease in younger patients

Deforestation in the Amazon is driven more by domestic demand than by the export market

Demand-side actions could help construction sector deliver on net-zero targets

Research team discovers molecular mechanism for a bacterial infection

What role does a tailwind play in cycling’s ‘Everesting’?

Projections of extreme temperature–related deaths in the US

Wearable device–based intervention for promoting patient physical activity after lung cancer surgery

[Press-News.org] Harvard and Cornell researchers develop untethered, autonomous soft robot