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IEEE Spectrum

• The Top 10 Biomedical Stories of 2024
  In 2024, biomedical technology really got to our heads—or more specifically, our eyes and brains. Some of Spectrum’s most popular articles this year were about technology assisting our vision, with stories of retinal implants and smart contact lenses drawing your eye. You dug deep into non-invasive tech to hasten sleep and preserve brain function for […]
• Fish-Inspired Sensor "Touches" Using Electric Fields
  The ability to detect a nearby presence without seeing or touching it may sound fantastical—but it’s a real ability that some creatures have. A family of African fish known as Mormyrids are weakly electric, and have special organs that can locate a nearby prey, whether it’s in murky water or even hiding in the mud. […]
• Brain Stimulation Helps People ​Walk After Spinal Injury
  A team of Swiss researchers has improved the walking ability of two people with long-standing spinal cord injuries (SCI) using deep brain stimulation (DBS), which excites neurons with surgically implanted electrodes in the brain.Investigators targeted a surprising brain region: the lateral hypothalamus, which is associated with a variety of basic functions, though not especially with […]
• Scary Stories: Establishing a Field Amid Skepticism
  In the spirit of the Halloween season, IEEE Spectrum presents a pair of stories that—although grounded in scientific truth rather than the macabre—were no less harrowing for those who lived them. In today’s installment, Robert Langer had to push back against his field’s conventional wisdom to pioneer a drug-delivery mechanism vital to modern medicine.Nicknamed the […]
• For this Stanford Engineer, Frugal Invention Is a Calling
  Manu Prakash spoke with IEEE Spectrum shortly after returning to Stanford University from a month aboard a research vessel off the coast of California, where he was testing tools to monitor oceanic carbon sequestration. The associate professor conducts fieldwork around the world to better understand the problems he’s working on, as well as the communities […]