Last summer, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) announced a new, flat lens that could focus light with high efficiency within the visible spectrum. The lens used an ultrathin array of nanopillars to bend and focus light as it passed. The announcement was hailed as a breakthrough […]
Mimicking Biological Movements With Soft Robots
Designing a soft robot to move organically — to bend like a finger or twist like a wrist — has always been a process of trial and error. Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a method to […]
Mimicking Biological Movements with Soft Robots
Designing a soft robot to move organically — to bend like a finger or twist like a wrist — has always been a process of trial and error. Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a method to […]
3D-Printed Organ-On-A-Chip With Integrated Sensors
Harvard University researchers have made the first entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip with integrated sensing. Built by a fully automated, digital manufacturing procedure, the 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip can be quickly fabricated in customized form factors allowing researchers to easily collect reliable data for short-term and long-term studies. This new approach to manufacturing may one day allow researchers to […]
A New Spin On Superconductivity
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have made a discovery that could lay the foundation for quantum superconducting devices. Their breakthrough solves one the main challenges to quantum computing: how to transmit spin information through superconducting materials. Every electronic device — from a supercomputer to a dishwasher […]
New Spin On Nanofibers
Fibrous materials — known for their toughness, durability and pliability — are used in everything from bulletproof vests to tires, filtration systems and cellular scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The properties of these materials are such that the smaller the fibers are, the stronger and tougher they become. But making certain fibers very […]
New Molecules Promise Cheaper, More Efficient OLED Displays
Harvard University researchers have designed more than 1,000 new blue-light emitting molecules for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that could dramatically improve displays for televisions, phones, tablets and more. OLED screens use organic molecules that emit light when an electric current is applied. Unlike ubiquitous liquid crystal displays (LCDs), OLED screens don’t require a backlight, meaning […]
Artificial Muscle for Soft Robotics: Low Voltage, High Hopes
Soft robots do a lot of things well but they’re not exactly known for their speed. The artificial muscles that move soft robots, called actuators, tend to rely on hydraulics or pneumatics, which are slow to respond and difficult to store. Dielectric elastomers, soft materials that have good insulating properties, could offer an alternative to […]
‘Squishy’ Robot Fingers Aid Deep Sea Exploration
During a 2014 talk on his exploration of deep-sea coral reefs, Baruch College marine biologist David Gruber showed a video of clunky robotic hands collecting fragile specimens of coral and sponges from the ocean floor. Harvard engineer and roboticist Robert J. Wood was in the audience—the two scientists were being recognized as Emerging Explorers by […]
Novel Metasurface Revolutionizes Ubiquitous Scientific Tool
What do astrophysics, telecommunications and pharmacology have in common? Each of these fields relies on polarimeters — instruments that detect the direction of the oscillation of electromagnetic waves, otherwise known as the polarization of light. Even though the human eye isn’t particularly sensitive to polarization, it is a fundamental property of light. When light is […]