<div class="page photo" style=""> <article> <header style=" background-image:url(/imageLibrary/7K0A0664_2467.JPG); "> <div class="box"> <div class="intro" style="color: #ff7f2a;"> <h1 style="color: #ff7f2a !important;">What's New</h1> <p class="summary"></p> </div> </div> </header> <div class="main"> <div class="container"> <p class="byline"> </p> <p><img src="/uploads/548a3e5560b12_2467.JPG" unselectable="on"></p><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4><a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/paper-skin-mimics-the-real-thing" target="_blank">Paper Skin Mimics the Real Thing</a></h4><p>Feb 19, 2016&nbsp; by Jeremy Hsu</p><p><img src="/uploads/56ce88357b29f.jpg" unselectable="on"></p><p>Photo : Aftab Hussain</p><p>Human skin’s natural ability to feel sensations such as touch and temperature difference is not easily replicated with artificial materials in the research lab. That challenge did not stop a Saudi Arabian research team from using cheap household items to make a “paper skin” that mimics many sensory functions of human skin.</p><p>The artificial skin may represent the first single sensing platform capable of simultaneously measuring pressure, touch, proximity, temperature, humidity, flow, and pH levels. Previously, researchers have tried using exotic materials such as carbon nanotubes or silver nanoparticles to create sensors capable of measuring just a few of those things. By comparison, the team at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia used common off-the-shelf materials such as paper sticky notes, sponges, napkins and aluminum foil. Total material cost for a paper skin patch 6.5 centimeters on each side came to just $1.67.</p><p>”Its impact is beyond low cost: simplicity,” says Muhammad Mustafa Hussain, an electrical engineer at KAUST. “My vision is to make electronics simple to understand and easy to assemble so that ordinary people can participate in innovation.”</p><p>The paper skin’s low cost and wide array of capabilities could have a huge impact on many technologies. Flexible and <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/searchContent?q=wearable electronics">wearable electronics</a> for monitoring human health and fitness could become both cheaper and more widely available. New <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/searchContent?q=human-computer interfaces&type=&sortby=newest">human-computer interfaces</a>—similar to today’s motion-sensing or touchpad devices—could emerge based on the paper skin’s ability to sense pressure, touch, heat, and motion. The paper skin could also become a cheap sensor for monitoring food quality or outdoor environments.</p><p><a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/paper-skin-mimics-the-real-thing" target="_blank">Read more</a></p><p><img src="/uploads/54ad19735dcd3_2467.jpg" unselectable="on"></p><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4><a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/bionics/stent-electrode-reads-brain-signals-from-inside-a-vein" target="_blank">Stent Electrode Reads Brain Signals From Inside a Vein</a> </h4><p>posted&nbsp;10 Feb 2016 by Prachi Patel</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/how-to-control-a-prosthesis-with-your-mind">Brain-machine interfaces</a> have in recent years allowed paralyzed patients to control <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/a-better-way-for-brains-to-control-robotic-arms">robotic arms</a>, <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/bionics/neural-implant-enables-paralyzed-als-patient-to-type-6-words-per-minute">computer cursors</a>, and exoskeletons simply by thinking about it. These interfaces require electrodes that are surgically implanted into or <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/how-to-catch-brain-waves-in-a-net">on top of</a> the brain to read electrical signals from firing neurons.</p><p>But a novel stent-like electrode can record brain signals without the need for risky open-brain surgery. The <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/moving-with-the-power-of-thought">matchstick-size “stentrode”</a> made by Australian scientists can instead be inserted into a vein that runs beside the brain. From that spot, it can record high-quality electrical signals.</p><p>Doctors would implant the device by snaking a catheter up into the skull via a vein in the neck. The device picks up electrical signals and sends them through wires that go through the neck to a transmitter implanted on chest muscle under the skin. The wireless transmitter’s signals are read through the skin, then decoded using sophisticated software, and used to control an exoskeleton.</p><p><img src="/uploads/56ce891bd8cfd.jpg" unselectable="on"></p><p>The research team used the stentrode to record high-frequency neural signals from a freely moving sheep for over six months. The spectral content and bandwidth of the signals from the stentrode matched those from electrode arrays that the researchers surgically implanted on the sheep’s brain. The results are published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3428.html"><em>Nature Biotechnology</em></a>.</p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hB3H3wHwO24" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p>Made from nitinol—an alloy of nickel and titanium—the device is a 3-mm-wide, 3-cm-long tube with a net-like surface studded with tiny disk-shaped electrodes. It is squeezed into the catheter and springs into its original form when the catheter is removed. Each electrode reads electrical activities of about 10,000 neurons.</p><p>In the first few days after implantation, the stentrode gave intermittent signals, says <a href="http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person439055">Thomas Oxley</a>, a neurologist at the University of Melbourne (and currently a neurology fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City), who is the brain behind the new technology. There was a lot of interference because of noise created by blood flowing through the vein where the electrode comes to rest. But after about six days, the signals started to come in louder and clearer. X-ray imaging showed that the device was being absorbed into the vein wall. This effectively shielded the electrode from the noise, Oxley says. It also proved the device’s biocompatibility.</p><p><a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/bionics/stent-electrode-reads-brain-signals-from-inside-a-vein" target="_blank">Read more</a></p><h4></h4><h4></h4> </div> </div> </article> </div><!-- /page-->