Menu

Innovation News chosen by Visible Legacy. Reprinted here with our links to the participants in Navigator.

This mouse’s own body transmits energy to an implantable device that delivers light to stimulate leg nerves in a Stanford optogenetics project. (Image credit: Austin Yee) This mouse’s own body transmits energy to an implantable device that delivers light to stimulate leg nerves in a Stanford optogenetics project. (Image credit: Austin Yee)

Stanford engineers develop a wireless, fully implantable device to stimulate nerves in mice

Featured
A miniature device that combines optogenetics – using light to control the activity of the brain – with a newly developed technique for wirelessly powering implanted devices is the first fully internal method of delivering optogenetics. The blue glowing device the size of a peppercorn can activate neurons of the brain, spinal cord or limbs in mice and is powered wirelessly using the mouse's…
Read more...
A fruit fly hangs unharmed at the end of the robot's suction tube. The robot uses machine vision to inspect and analyze the captured fly. (Photo: L.A. Cicero/Stanford News) A fruit fly hangs unharmed at the end of the robot's suction tube. The robot uses machine vision to inspect and analyze the captured fly. (Photo: L.A. Cicero/Stanford News)

Dexterous robotic manipulation of alert adult Drosophila for high-content experimentation

Featured
A new lab robot is an example of how clever robotics might speed research and open new fields of study. Stanford News reports on a team of bioengineering scientists that have created a robot with excellent "hand-eye coordination" that can visually inspect active flies and carry out behavioral experiments.
Read more...
Colonies of microbes produce methane gas and other compounds in Alfred Spormann's lab. The goal is to create large microbial factories that convert electricity and carbon dioxide into renewable biofuels and chemicals. (Credit: Mark Shwartz) Colonies of microbes produce methane gas and other compounds in Alfred Spormann's lab. The goal is to create large microbial factories that convert electricity and carbon dioxide into renewable biofuels and chemicals. (Credit: Mark Shwartz) Source: Stanford University

These Microbes "Eat" Electrons to make Methane

Scientists have solved a long-standing mystery about methanogens, unique microorganisms that transform electricity and carbon dioxide into methane. In a new study, researchers demonstrate for the first time how methanogens obtain electrons from solid surfaces. The discovery could help scientists design electrodes for microbial “factories” that produce methane gas and other compounds sustainably.
Read more...
Colorized image, enlarged 100,000 times, shows an ultrathin layer of molybdenum disulfide stretched over the peaks and valleys of part of an electronic device. Colorized image, enlarged 100,000 times, shows an ultrathin layer of molybdenum disulfide stretched over the peaks and valleys of part of an electronic device.

Stanford researchers stretch a thin crystal to get better solar cells

Solar cells may be a solution to global energy needs. Stanford News reports on a collaboration of mechanical engineering and physics researchers achieving an innovative crystalline solar cell with a variable band gap that can be set by stretching the lattice. This variable semiconductor could lead to solar cells that absorb more energy from the sun by being sensitive to a broader spectrum of…
Read more...
Stanford scientists have created new tools that let researchers read brain activity by observing glowing trails of light spreading between connected nerves. Stanford scientists have created new tools that let researchers read brain activity by observing glowing trails of light spreading between connected nerves.

Stanford scientists observe brain activity in real time

New optogenetic tools for watching brain nerves send signals in real time will make it easier to study brain functions and help develop therapies for brain diseases. Stanford News reports on two scientists who have worked together to create tools to observe the glowing trails of light spreading between connected nerves.
Read more...
Subscribe to this RSS feed