Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a new soft robotic gripper that is modeled after a Venus flytrap. “Dubbed the Magic Ball, it’s a rubber and plastic structure that can contract around an object like an origami flower,” Wilson explains.
CSAIL researchers have developed a new robotic gripper that contains an origami skeleton, enabling the device to open and close like a flower and grasp a variety of delicate and heavy objects, reports James Vincent for The Verge “By combining this foldable skeleton with the soft exterior, we get the best of both worlds,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL.
MIT researchers have developed a new drug-releasing coil that could be used to help treat tuberculosis, reports Ruby Prosser Scully for New Scientist. Scully explains that the coil is “too large to leave the stomach, so it stays there, and the medicines threaded onto it leach out at a rate depending on the type of drug and the polymer the developers use to make the pills.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that researchers at CSAIL and Harvard have developed a soft robotic gripper that can both handle delicate objects and lift items up to 100 times its own weight. “The gripper itself is made of an origami-inspired skeletal structure, covered in either fabric or a deflated balloon,” explains Heater.
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that researchers from MIT and Penn State have developed a technique to make clear droplets produce iridescent colors. Cookson explains that the phenomenon is a previously unknown example of ‘structural color,’ produced not by pigments but the internal reflections of light within the tiny droplets.”
MIT researchers have developed a pill that could potentially deliver insulin, which the BBC’s Adrienne Bernhard describes as “a kind of edible Swiss Army knife that can deliver life-saving medicine without the pain of needle injection.”
Bloomberg News reporter Eric Roston writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that climate change is making summer thunderstorms more powerful and urban pollution more potent. “Summertime weather isn’t ventilating American cities at the rate that it did in the past,” explains graduate student Charles Gertler.
NIH Director Francis Collins highlights how MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible device, shaped like the shell of an African leopard tortoise, that can inject insulin directly into the stomach wall. Collins writes that, “this fascinating work serves as a reminder that when it comes to biomedical science, inspiration sometimes can come from the most unexpected places.”
MIT researchers have found that climate change could cause more thunderstorms and stagnant air in the summer, reports Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. “With temperatures rising globally, and particularly in the Arctic, the energy in the atmosphere is being redistributed,” writes Finucane. “The result is that more energy will be available to fuel thunderstorms.”
MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible capsule that in the future could be used to deliver medication to diabetes patients, reports Dr. Erica Orsini for ABC News. “The oral route is preferred by both patients and health care providers,” explains visiting scientist Giovanni Traverso.
A new ingestible pill developed by MIT researchers positions itself against the walls of the stomach and can deliver insulin directly to the bloodstream, reports Gina Kolata for The New York Times. “It’s a very new concept and a really cool idea,” says Edith Mathiowitz, a professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University.
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that MIT researchers have developed an ingestible pill that can deliver insulin directly to a patient’s stomach. “This discovery has the potential to transform not only drug delivery but drug discovery as well,” explains Prof. Robert Langer, “since most current drug discovery efforts are aimed at creating small molecule drugs that patients can take orally.”
MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible capsule that can release insulin directly into the stomach and could be used to treat type 2 diabetes, reports Joe Palca for NPR. "We chose the stomach as the site of delivery because we recognized that the stomach is a thick and robust part of the GI tract," explains visiting scientist Giovanni Traverso.
Wired reporter Megan Molteni writes that MIT researchers have developed an ingestible capsule that could be used to deliver insulin to diabetes patients. The researchers were inspired by the leopard tortoise to create a self-orienting device that can position itself to deliver medication directly into the stomach. “The result was a roly-poly-pill that autonomously rights itself to be needle-down,” Molteni explains.
Associated Press reporter Lauran Neergaard writes that MIT researchers have created a pea-sized pill that, once swallowed, can deliver medications such as insulin directly to the stomach. “The way this works is it travels down the esophagus in seconds, it’s in the stomach within a few minutes, and then you get the drug,” explains visiting scientist Giovanni Traverso.