Science_afficionado - Slashdot User

Submission + - You don't know what your fingers are doing when you are typing (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by Science_afficionado on Monday December 09, 2013 @01:48PM

Science_afficionado writes: A team of cognitive psychologists at Vanderbilt and Kobe universities have found that skilled typists can’t identify the positions of many of the keys on the QWERTY keyboard and even when people are learning to type they don’t appear to learn key locations, a conclusion that conflicts with current theories of automatic learning.

Submission + - Tech advances make robotic legs that move like natural limbs (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by Science_afficionado on Friday November 08, 2013 @01:54PM

Science_afficionado writes: Recent advances in robotics technology make it possible to create prosthetics that can duplicate the natural movement of human legs. This capability promises to dramatically improve the mobility of lower-limb amputees, allowing them to negotiate stairs and slopes and uneven ground, significantly reducing their risk of falling as well as reducing stress on the rest of their bodies. In a perspective published this week in Science Translational Medicine, pioneers in advanced prosthetics technology at Vanderbilt University describe the technological developments that have made this possible and the benefits this will have for amputees.
Perspectives article: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/210/210ps15
Story and video on robotic leg: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/08/bionic-leg/

Submission + - Goal of national robotics grant is to create smarter surgical robots

Submitted by Science_afficionado on Friday October 25, 2013 @04:44PM

Science_afficionado writes: Providing surgical robots with a new kind of machine intelligence that significantly extends their capabilities and makes them much easier and more intuitive for surgeons to operate is the goal of a major new grant announced as part of the National Robotics Initiative.
Vanderbilt University News Release: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/10/nri-grant/
NSF News Release: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129284&org=NSF&from=news

Submission + - Silicon supercapacitor promises built-in energy storage for electronic devices

Submitted by Science_afficionado on Wednesday October 23, 2013 @12:26PM

Science_afficionado writes: Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7. Mobile phones with built-in power cells that work for weeks between charges and recharge in seconds. These possibilities are raised by a novel supercapacitor made from porous silicon invented by material scientists at Vanderbilt University described in a paper published in the Oct. 22 issue of the journal Scientific Reports. News release: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/10/device-electricity-silicon-chips/ Paper: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/131022/srep03020/full/srep03020.html

Submission + - Humanoid robot helps train children with autism (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Thursday March 21, 2013 @12:59PM

Science_afficionado writes: "Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed an intelligent, adaptive system centered on a humanoid robot that is designed to help treat young children diagnosed with ASD. An initial test with a dozen children demonstrated that they responded almost as well to the robot as they did to a human therapist in training sessions designed to teach them a critical social communication skill. The system and the test are described in the March issue of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering [http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6373737&contentType=Journals+%26+Magazines&searchWithin%3Dsarkar%26punumber%3D7333]"

Submission + - Researchers commissioned to create "microbrain" to improve drug testing (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Wednesday July 25, 2012 @01:16PM

Science_afficionado writes: "Creating a device called a microbrain bioeactor that simulates brain chemistry using a small number of human cells is the goal of a $2.1 million award that is part of a major new federal initiative to develop a human-on-a-chip: a series of “organs on a chip” designed to improve the drug development process.

Additional link: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2012/ncats-24.htm"

Submission + - Grad student creates app that turns tablet into math aid for visually impaired (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Monday March 05, 2012 @01:29PM

Science_afficionado writes: "An engineering grad student at Vanderbilt has developed an app for android tablets equipped with haptic feedback that turns them into a valuable tool for teaching mathematics and other STEM subjects to visually impaired students."

Submission + - A new way to enhance thermal conductivity (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Wednesday December 14, 2011 @06:19PM

Science_afficionado writes: "Generally, the thermal conductivity of a given material is fixed. However, a team of Vanderbilt engineers have discovered that the thermal conductivity of thin films can be enhanced by as much as 45 percent. The ability to tune and enhance a material's ability to conduct heat could provide engineers with an important new tool for managing thermal effects in microelectronics, optoelectronics and nanocomposites. The discovery was reported Dec. 11 online by Nature Nanotechnology (http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nnano.2011.216.html)"

Submission + - Bionic leg gives amputees a natural gait (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Friday August 19, 2011 @03:47PM

Science_afficionado writes: "A new lower-limb prosthetic — the first with powered knee and ankle joints that work together — allows amputees to walk without the leg-dragging characteristic of conventional artificial legs. The device uses the latest advances in computer, sensor, motor and battery technology to give it bionic capabilities."

Submission + - Making microelectronics out of nanodiamond (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Thursday August 04, 2011 @04:15PM

Science_afficionado writes: "Electrical engineers at Vanderbilt have created the basic components for computer chips out of thin films of nanodiamond. These combine the properties of vacuum tubes and solid state microelectronics and can operate in extreme environments where normal devices fail."

Submission + - Scientists invent world's smallest periscopes (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Friday February 27, 2009 @06:04PM

Science_afficionado writes: "A team of scientists and engineers from Vanderbilt University have invented the world's smallest version of the periscope and are using it to look at cells and other micro-organisms from several sides at once. They call their devices "mirrored pyramidal wells" because they consist of pyramidal-shaped cavities molded into silicon about the width of a human hair whose interior surfaces are coated with a reflective layer of gold or platinum. The university has applied for a patent. For more details, images and video go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/micropyramids.html"

Submission + - Cockroaches are morons in the morning (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Thursday September 27, 2007 @05:44PM

Science_afficionado writes: "A new study has found that cockroaches are morons in the morning and geniuses in the evening in terms of their learning capacity. Previous studies suggest that the learning capacity of both people and rats are also affected by their internal biological clocks. But the effect is far more dramatic in cockroaches and it is the first time it has been found in insects. And, no, the researchers didn't try giving their cockroaches a sip of coffee to see if it revived them! For the details, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/cockroach.html."

Submission + - Rocket-powered prosthetic arm (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by

Science_afficionado

on Monday August 20, 2007 @05:03PM

Science_afficionado writes: "Mechanical engineers at Vanderbilt University have miniaturized a rocket motor and combined it with a mechanical arm, creating the closest thing yet ot a bionic arm."

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