A new device developed by Stanford University researchers could make it easier for doctors to monitor the success of blood vessel surgery. The sensor, detailed in a paper published Jan. 8 in Nature Biomedical Engineering, monitors the flow of blood through an artery. It is biodegradable, battery-free and wireless, so it is compact and doesn’t…
Researchers Investigate Behavior in Quantum Systems with a Toy-Inspired Technique
With its suspended metallic spheres that clack back and forth, Newton’s cradle is more than a popular desktop plaything. It has taught a generation of students about conservation of momentum and energy. It is also the inspiration for an experiment Benjamin Lev, associate professor of physics and of applied physics at Stanford University, has created…
A Nanoscale Peek Inside Mammalian Cells
In 2014, W. E. Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for co-developing a way of imaging shapes inside cells at very high resolution, called super-resolution microscopy. Now, he and his lab have created a new microscope that produces 3-D nanoscale images of mammalian cells…
Real-Time Scans Show Self-Healing Nanoparticles
In a lab 18 feet below the Engineering Quad of Stanford University, researchers in the Dionne lab camped out with one of the most advanced microscopes in the world to capture an unimaginably small reaction. The lab members conducted arduous experiments — sometimes requiring a continuous 30 hours of work — to capture real-time, dynamic…
Worms Munch on Nanoparticles to Aid Sensor Technology
Millimeter-long worms digesting a nanoparticle-laced meal of their favorite bacteria could eventually lead to a new way to see cellular forces at play within our own bodies, including processes like wound healing and cancer growth. The key is that these particular nanoparticles glow when struck by a near-infrared laser and change color depending on the…
Household Chemicals Used to Send Text Messages
Nearing the completion of his master’s degree in computer engineering and computer science at York University in Ontario, Canada, Nariman Farsad was considering pursuing further study elsewhere. But his supervisor, Andrew Eckford, convinced him to stay by suggesting an odd line of research. The idea? Figure out how to create a system that uses chemicals…