Brown University

SBUDNIC, a bread-loaf-sized cube satellite with a drag sail made from Kapton polyimide film, designed and built by students at Brown reentered Earth's atmosphere five years ahead of schedule. Image courtesy of Marco Cross.
A low-cost way to reduce space junk
These images, adapted from the research paper, show that motor neurons in the spinal cord of an aged mouse (bottom) have fewer synaptic inputs than those in younger adults (top).
Therapeutic treatments are possible for age-related motor deficits and mobility loss
Researchers from Rice University, Duke University, Brown University and Baylor College of Medicine developed a magnetic technology to wirelessly control neural circuits in fruit flies. They used genetic engineering to express heat-sensitive ion channels in neurons that control the behavior and iron nanoparticles to activate the channels. When researchers activated a magnetic field in the flies’ enclosure, the nanoparticles converted magnetic energy to heat, firing the channels and activating the neurons. An overhead camera filmed flies during experiments, and a visual analysis showed flies with the genetic modifications assumed the wing-spread posture within approximately half a second of receiving the magnetic signal. (Figure courtesy of C. Sebesta and J. Robinson/Rice University)
Progress: Methods for activating specific regions of the brain in humans for therapeutic purposes without ever having to perform surgery
Is this the way to build a cure for heart attacks?
Going ‘fishing’ with superparamagnetic nanoparticles to remove PFAS or other contaminants easily from polluted water
The team demonstrated that a single gram of inactive, dried yeast cells can remove up to 12 milligrams of lead in aqueous solutions with initial lead concentrations below 1 part per million. They also showed that the process is very rapid, taking less than five minutes to complete. Image: Courtesy of the researchers
An inexpensive, abundant, and simple material for removing lead contamination from drinking water supplies
Better control of prosthetic limbs using magnets
A technique that could allow deep brain stimulation devices to sense activity in the brain and adjust stimulation accordingly
The first human use of a high-bandwidth wireless brain-computer interface
A new screening technique is more than 300 times as effective at detecting a biomarker for diseases like cancer
Strategies to reduce indoor transmission of COVID-19
A link that can move data at rates of terabits per second over copper wires
Discovered: An entirely new state of matter
Could graphene be used to block mosquito bites?
Revolutionizing heat exchange in HVAC and other large-scale applications by 500 percent