Feature Stories
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Jun-2026 15:16 ET (15-Jun-2026 19:16 GMT/UTC)
Hannover Messe: Smart wheels make manoeuvring easier – from buggies and pushchairs to hospital beds
Saarland UniversityThinking ahead is a skill taught to learner drivers from the outset – and the intelligent wheels being developed by Professor Matthias Nienhaus’s research team at Saarland University seem to do just that. By anticipating where the user intends to go they can provide a helping push at just the right moment, offer stability when cornering and make manoeuvring under load easier. The team will be showcasing the latest generation of their smart wheel technology at the Hannover Messe from 20 to 24 April. Depending on the application, their technology now works with or without the sensor handle that was part of earlier iterations. The lightest of touches on a hand trolley or a pushchair and tiny variations in the drive data being measured are enough for the system to assist – almost intuitively – with accelerating, braking and steering. The electric motors located inside the wheels provide all the information required, without the need for additional sensors. (Hall 11, Stand D41)
- Funder
- German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM).
ETRI holds roundtable with domestic broadcast media companies on global expansion
National Research Council of Science & Technology- Funder
- Ministry of Science and ICT
Answering big questions about the new flu and SARS-CoV-2 viral variants
La Jolla Institute for ImmunologyUCF’s Kathleen Richardson receives 2026 Otto Schott Research Award
University of Central FloridaThe international honor recognizes the trustee chair professor’s contributions to optical glass and infrared materials that power next-generation technologies.
Shrinking Arctic ice raises noise levels for marine life
University of Victoria- Journal
- npj Acoustics
- Funder
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
Major new telescope on Chilean summit opens window on universe
Cornell UniversitySearch for dark matter intensifies as leading detector reaches milestone
Texas A&M UniversityDeep underground in a Canadian mine, scientists have cooled a massive refrigerator to nearly 1,000 times colder than outer space, a key milestone in the search for dark matter. The achievement enables Texas A&M-designed detectors at the core of the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment at SNOLAB in Ontario to reach the extreme sensitivity needed to spot interactions from elusive “light dark matter."
- Journal
- Physical Review D
Colorado’s first implanted brain computer interface surgery marks a new era in neurological research
University of Colorado AnschutzNeurosurgery experts with the University of Colorado Anschutz performed Colorado’s first implanted brain‑computer interface (BCI) surgery at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, marking a significant advance for patients with neurological injury or disease. Commonly known as BCIs, the implanted technology can restore lost motor and sensory function by translating brain signals into actions for people with paralysis or neurodegenerative movement disorders.
The 41-year-old UCHealth patient who underwent the groundbreaking surgery was in an accident approximately 10 years ago that paralyzed him from the neck down. Now, the implanted device will record and interpret his brain’s electrical signals, learning the relationship between the brain’s activity and his intended behavior. This will allow him to regain function and independence through external devices like controlling a robotic arm and using a computer. The research team will also stimulate sensory areas of his brain to restore sensation, aiming to help the patient feel his hand again for the first time since his injury.
What makes this surgery especially unique is where in the brain the device was placed. The physicians are among the first in the world to implant the technology in higher‑level areas of the brain that allow for more natural and complete sensory and motor control. This approach allows doctors to help restore function in a more complete way, and also allows for rare insight into how the brain turns thoughts into actions.
“This surgery is an important step forward not only for this patient but for neuroscience as a whole,” said Daniel Kramer, MD, assistant professor of neuroscience at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine and a neurosurgeon at UCHealth. “While most BCI procedures focus only on purely motor regions, implanting this device in higher‑level brain areas will offer new insights into how the human brain works during everyday thinking and movement.”
Collaboration key to tackling rare blood cancers
Weill Cornell MedicinePersonalized approaches have dramatically improved outcomes for many patients with non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas—blood cancers that arise in immune cells called B cells—yet the same is not true for patients with more rare lymphoma types that originate in immune cells called T cells.
Peripheral T-cell lymphomas comprise diverse blood cancers that have a distinct biology, and survival rates vary widely. Lymphoma specialist Dr. Jia Ruan, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and her collaborators are working to change that.