Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed an innovative drug delivery mechanism that responds to cooling. The system uses a thermoresponsive hydrogel implant that releases medication when exposed to lower temperatures. This approach could allow patients to receive pain relief on demand without relying on systemic opioids. Currently, most on‑demand pain treatments involve opioids, which are highly addictive and contribute to thousands of deaths each year. The Vanderbilt team designed a composite device made from alginate and Soluplus polymers that encapsulates celecoxib, a nonsteroidal anti‑inflammatory drug (NSAID). When the implant is cooled, the hydrogel structure changes, triggering controlled drug release. The study…

MIT researchers have unveiled a new technology that could spare millions of diabetes patients from the discomfort of frequent finger pricks. The team has created a shoebox‑sized device that uses Raman spectroscopy, a technique that shines near‑infrared light onto the skin to reveal its chemical composition. By analyzing just three spectral bands, the device can accurately measure blood glucose levels without needles. In tests with healthy volunteers, the device produced readings comparable to commercial continuous glucose monitors, which require a wire implanted under the skin. Each measurement took about 30 seconds, and the system successfully tracked glucose changes after participants consumed…

At the University of Missouri, researchers are pioneering a system that combines in‑home sensors with artificial intelligence to improve care for people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The technology is designed to capture subtle daily changes in health that often go unnoticed between clinic visits, giving patients and caregivers earlier warnings and more timely interventions. The sensors, originally developed to track older adults, are being adapted for ALS to monitor walking, sleeping, and breathing patterns. Data flows securely to university servers, where machine learning models estimate scores on the ALS Functional Rating Scale Revised, the standard tool for measuring…

Dental anxiety is one of the most common barriers to oral health, and much of it stems from the piercing, high‑pitched sound of drills. Researchers led by Tomomi Yamada at Osaka University are tackling this problem by studying the aeroacoustics of dental drills in detail, aiming to redesign them so they produce less distressing noise without compromising performance. The team used Japan’s flagship supercomputer to simulate airflow inside and around drills that rotate at roughly 320,000 revolutions per minute. These simulations revealed how turbulence and pressure changes generate the characteristic whine. By mapping the acoustic patterns, the researchers identified design…

Researchers at Lund University have developed a new electrotherapy approach that targets glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The method uses injectable nanoparticles that self‑assemble into a conductive hydrogel inside the tumor. Once in place, the hydrogel acts as an internal electrode, allowing doctors to deliver localized electrical stimulation directly to cancer cells. Glioblastoma is notoriously resistant to conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation, with survival rates remaining very low. By applying electrical fields within the tumor itself, the new technique disrupts cancer cell growth while sparing surrounding brain tissue. The study demonstrates that this strategy can…

Researchers at CIC nanoGUNE in San Sebastián, Spain have developed a fast method to produce magnetic microcatheters that can be steered and propelled inside the body. Using Joule heating applied to template wires, the team created tubular devices with controllable dimensions and magnetization. Three designs were demonstrated: a steerable guiding microcatheter with adjustable stiffness, an untethered tubular microrobot called TubeBot that moves with wave‑like crawling, and a hybrid combining guidance and propulsion. These devices can be fabricated quickly and in large numbers, making them suitable for clinical translation. The work highlights how magnetic control enables precise navigation in delicate environments.…

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have built a robotic platform that shows how the brain keeps us upright. The device, described as a “body‑swap” robot, can alter the forces involved in standing balance and introduce short delays in feedback. By doing so, it reveals how the brain interprets both space and time to maintain stability. Standing requires constant coordination of signals from the eyes, inner ears, and feet. These signals naturally arrive with slight delays, and aging or disease can make the lag worse, increasing the risk of falls. The UBC robot reproduces forces such as gravity, inertia,…

Researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science have shown that noninvasive spinal stimulation can help people with chronic spinal cord injury regain stepping movements. The system links signals from the hands to stimulation of the lumbar spine. When participants performed rhythmic hand grips, those signals were converted into pulses that activated spinal circuits controlling the legs. Ten individuals with paraplegia took part in the study. Over repeated sessions, they demonstrated improvements in voluntary control of stepping. The technology bypasses damaged pathways between the brain and spinal cord without requiring surgery or implants, using external magnetic stimulation instead. The…

Astrocytes are star‑shaped support cells that make up much of the brain’s structure, helping neurons communicate and maintaining the blood‑brain barrier. They are essential for healthy brain function, but scientists have struggled to study them because astrocytes lose their distinctive branching shapes when grown on flat glass dishes. Without their natural form, it has been difficult to understand how they behave or how they contribute to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, working with colleagues in Italy, have solved this problem by creating mats of nanowires made from glass. These mats mimic the texture of…

Many gut problems are hard to catch because signs like bleeding or inflammation can come and go, and standard endoscopy might miss them. Scientists in China are developing swallowable capsules that contain harmless, engineered bacteria designed to act as tiny sensors inside the digestive tract. The idea is simple: the bacteria are programmed to react when they encounter certain clues linked to disease, such as blood components, inflammation markers, or chemical changes. When they detect these signals, the bacteria produce a response that the capsule’s electronics can read, turning a brief encounter into useful data for doctors. Because the capsule…