Glowing Contact Lens Could Prevent A Leading Cause of Blindness
04-23-18
Hundreds of millions of people suffer from diabetes worldwide, putting them at risk for a creeping blindness, or diabetic retinopathy. Existing treatments, though effective, are painful and invasive, involving lasers and injections into the eyeball. Graduate student, Colin Cook working in Professor Yu-Chong Tai’s laboratory has invented a contact lens that when worn during sleep interrupts the process that destroys cells of the retina. He hopes his contact lenses will offer a solution that patients will be more willing to try because the effort involved is minimal, as are the side effects. [Caltech story]
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MedE
Yu-Chong Tai
Colin Cook
Caltech and Disney Engineers Collaborate on Robotics
01-18-18
Caltech and Disney Research have entered into a joint research agreement to pioneer robotic control systems and further explore artificial intelligence technologies. Pietro Perona will work with Disney roboticist Martin Buehler to create navigation and perception software that could allow robotic characters to safely move through dense crowds and interact with people. Aaron Ames will work with Disney Research's Lanny Smoot to further explore robot autonomy and machine learning by creating objects that can self-navigate and perform stunts. Yisong Yue has been working with engineers from Disney Research on the use of machine learning to analyze the behavior of soccer players and to measure audience engagement. [Caltech story]
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MCE
CMS
Pietro Perona
Yisong Yue
Aaron Ames
Building Blocks to Create Metamaterials
01-17-18
Chiara Daraio, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics, and colleagues have created a method to systematically design metamaterials using principles of quantum mechanics. "Before our work, there was no single, systematic way to design metamaterials that control mechanical waves for different applications," Professor Daraio says. "Instead, people often optimized a design to fulfill a specific purpose, or tried out new designs based on something they saw in nature, and then studied what properties would arise from repeated patterns." [Caltech story]
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Chiara Daraio
MCE
APh
Scientists Discover Unexpected Side Effect to Cleaning Up Urban Air
12-19-17
For decades, efforts to reduce air pollution have led to cleaner air in U.S cities like Los Angeles, with subsequent improvements in public health. Those efforts have targeted both nitric oxides and hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are emitted from many sources including gasoline-powered cars, trucks, solvents, cleaners used both at home and in industrial settings, and even trees. Professor Paul O. Wennberg and colleagues have found that there is another chemical pathway for forming organic hydroperoxides—one that occurs at nitric oxide levels substantially higher than can be found in the atmosphere over unpopulated regions. "This is chemistry that does not exist in any of the models of how nitric oxide and hydrocarbons interact," says Professor Wennberg. [Caltech story]
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ESE
Paul Wennberg
Two Holograms in One Surface
12-11-17
Andrei Faraon, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, graduate student Seyedeh Mahsa Kamali, and colleagues have figured out a way to encode more than one holographic image in a single surface without any loss of resolution. The team developed silicon oxide and aluminum surfaces studded with tens of millions of tiny silicon posts, each just hundreds of nanometers tall. Each nanopost reflects light differently due to variations in its shape and size, and based on the angle of incoming light. [Caltech story]
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Andrei Faraon
APh
Seyedeh Mahsa Kamali
The Microscopic Origin of Efficiency Droop in LEDs
11-20-17
Marco Bernardi, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and his colleagues’ semiconductor research has shown that the coupling between electrons and thermal vibrations may be sapping energy from Light-emitting diodes—or LEDs. "Our work shows for the first time that the ever-present interaction between electrons with lattice vibrations can, by itself, explain why excited electrons can leak out of the active layer and account for inefficiencies in GaN LEDs," Professor Bernardi says. [Caltech story]
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Marco Bernardi
