Stress Relief: Battery-Free Wireless “Smart Skin” Sensors Could Provide Remote Monitoring of Aging Infrastructure

April 16, 2013 — Researchers are developing a novel technology that would facilitate close monitoring of bridges, parking decks and other structures for early signs of strain, stress and formation of cracks. Their approach uses wireless sensors that are low cost, require no power, and can be implemented on tough yet flexible polymer substrates.

Ultra-Fast Computing: Researchers Evaluate Bose-Einstein Condensates for Communicating Among Quantum Computers

April 12, 2013 — Physicists have examined how Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) might be used to provide communication among the nodes of a distributed quantum computer. The researchers determined the amount of time needed for quantum information to propagate across their BEC.

Drone Defense: Helping Protect U.S. Forces by Simulating Hostile Unmanned Aircraft

April 10, 2013 — The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing integrated hardware devices that simulate sensors potentially present on enemy unmanned aerial vehicles. The technology is expected to be used to gauge the effectiveness of U.S. countermeasures against enemy drones.

Shape Changers: Surface Diffusion Plays a Significant Role in Defining the Shapes of Catalytic Nanoparticles

April 9, 2013 — Controlling the shapes of nanometer-sized catalytic and electrocatalytic particles made from noble metals such as platinum and palladium may be more complicated than previously thought. Using systematic experiments, researchers have investigated how surface diffusion – a process in which atoms move from one site to another on nanoscale surfaces – affects the final shape of the particles.

Sticky Signature: Adhesive Force Differences Enable Separation of Stem Cells to Advance Potential Therapies and Accelerate Research

April 7, 2013 — A new separation process that depends on an easily-distinguished physical difference in adhesive forces among cells could help expand production of stem cells generated through cell reprogramming. By facilitating new research, the separation process could also lead to improvements in the reprogramming technique itself and help scientists model certain disease processes.

3-D Cooling: DARPA Funds Research to Improve Heat Dissipation in 3-D Microelectronic Systems

April 2, 2013 — Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have won a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract to develop three-dimensional chip-cooling technology able to handle heat loads as much as ten times greater than systems commonly used today.

Radar Advance: Acoustic Time Delay Device Could Reduce Size and Cost of Phased Array Systems

March 29, 2013 — Researchers have developed an ultra-compact passive true time delay device that could help reduce the size, complexity, power requirements and cost of phased array designs. The device uses the difference in speed between light and sound to create nanosecond signal delays.

Terradynamics: New Technique Could Help Designers Predict How Legged Robots Will Move on Granular Media Like Sand

March 21, 2013 — Using a combination of theory and experiment, researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots – and potentially also animals – move on and interact with complex granular materials such as sand.

Regulating Cells: Mechanical Forces Play a Major Role in Assembly and Disassembly of a Protein Essential to Many Cell Functions

March 20, 2013 — Researchers have for the first time demonstrated that mechanical forces can control the depolymerization of actin, a critical protein that provides the major force-bearing structure in the cytoskeletons of cells. The research suggests that forces applied both externally and internally may play a much larger role than previously believed in regulating a range of processes inside cells.

Cochlear Implants: Research is Expected to Improve Hearing for Implant Recipients

March 19, 2013 — A team of researchers at Georgia Tech has developed a new type of interface between cochlear implant devices and the brain that could dramatically improve the sound quality of the next generation of implants. Cochlear implants help deaf individuals perceive sound.