Science &amp; Technology /today/ en Inside the Colorado Quantum Incubator with Quantum Rings /today/2025/09/02/inside-colorado-quantum-incubator-quantum-rings <span>Inside the Colorado Quantum Incubator with Quantum Rings</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-09-02T06:52:28-06:00" title="Tuesday, September 2, 2025 - 06:52">Tue, 09/02/2025 - 06:52</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-09/coqi-articleheader.jpeg?h=d515a4b6&amp;itok=RegF0CJh" width="1200" height="800" alt="quantum illustration"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>The Colorado Quantum Incubator鈥攁 黑料社区网-led hub for advancing quantum research, innovation and community engagement鈥攊s ramping up operations as it welcomes its first companies, including inaugural tenant Quantum Rings, a rising leader in quantum software simulation.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The Colorado Quantum Incubator鈥攁 黑料社区网-led hub for advancing quantum research, innovation and community engagement鈥攊s ramping up operations as it welcomes its first companies, including inaugural tenant Quantum Rings, a rising leader in quantum software simulation.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/initiative/cubit/2025/08/27/inside-colorado-quantum-incubator-quantum-rings`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:52:28 +0000 Megan Maneval 55173 at /today New AI tool identifies 1,000 'questionable' scientific journals /today/2025/08/28/new-ai-tool-identifies-1000-questionable-scientific-journals <span>New AI tool identifies 1,000 'questionable' scientific journals</span> <span><span>Daniel William鈥</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-28T13:40:06-06:00" title="Thursday, August 28, 2025 - 13:40">Thu, 08/28/2025 - 13:40</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Journals_stock.jpg?h=f1cbc9fb&amp;itok=UGRnqcIo" width="1200" height="800" alt="Stack of glossy magazines sitting open on a table"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <a href="/today/daniel-strain">Daniel Strain</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle wide_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/wide_image_style/public/2025-08/Journals_stock.jpg?h=f1cbc9fb&amp;itok=y1Rpnfyq" width="1500" height="563" alt="Stack of glossy magazines sitting open on a table"> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p><p>A team of computer scientists led by the 黑料社区网 has developed a new artificial intelligence platform that automatically seeks out 鈥渜uestionable鈥 scientific journals.</p><p>The study, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt2792" rel="nofollow">published Aug. 27</a> in the journal 鈥淪cience Advances,鈥 tackles an alarming trend in the world of research.</p><p>Daniel Acu帽a, lead author of the study and associate professor in the <a href="/cs" rel="nofollow">Department of Computer Science</a>, gets a reminder of that several times a week in his email inbox: These spam messages come from people who purport to be editors at scientific journals, usually ones Acu帽a has never heard of, and offer to publish his papers鈥攆or a hefty fee.</p><p>Such publications are sometimes referred to as 鈥減redatory鈥 journals. They target scientists, convincing them to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to publish their research without proper vetting.</p> <div class="align-right image_style-small_500px_25_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle small_500px_25_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/small_500px_25_display_size_/public/2025-08/Acun%CC%83a_headshot.png?itok=f2uivOLn" width="375" height="563" alt="Daniel Acuna headshot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Daniel Acu帽a</p> </span> </div> <p>鈥淭here has been a growing effort among scientists and organizations to vet these journals,鈥 Acu帽a said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 like whack-a-mole. You catch one, and then another appears, usually from the same company. They just create a new website and come up with a new name.鈥</p><p>His group鈥檚 new AI tool automatically screens scientific journals, evaluating their websites and other online data for certain criteria: Do the journals have an editorial board featuring established researchers? Do their websites contain a lot of grammatical errors?</p><p>Acu帽a emphasizes that the tool isn鈥檛 perfect. Ultimately, he thinks human experts, not machines, should make the final call on whether a journal is reputable.</p><p>But in an era when prominent figures are questioning the legitimacy of science, stopping the spread of questionable publications has become more important than ever before, he said.</p><p>鈥淚n science, you don鈥檛 start from scratch. You build on top of the research of others,鈥 Acu帽a said. 鈥淪o if the foundation of that tower crumbles, then the entire thing collapses.鈥</p><h2>The shake down</h2><p>When scientists submit a new study to a reputable publication, that study usually undergoes a practice called peer review. Outside experts read the study and evaluate it for quality鈥攐r, at least, that鈥檚 the goal. &nbsp;</p><p>A growing number of companies have sought to circumvent that process to turn a profit. In 2009, Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at CU Denver, coined the phrase 鈥減redatory鈥 journals to describe these publications.</p><p>Often, they target researchers outside of the United States and Europe, such as in China, India and Iran鈥攃ountries where scientific institutions may be young, and the pressure and incentives for researchers to publish are high.</p><p>鈥淭hey will say, 鈥業f you pay $500 or $1,000, we will review your paper,鈥欌 Acu帽a said. 鈥淚n reality, they don鈥檛 provide any service. They just take the PDF and post it on their website.鈥</p><p>A few different groups have sought to curb the practice. Among them is a nonprofit organization called the <a href="https://doaj.org/" rel="nofollow">Directory of Open Access Journals</a> (DOAJ). Since 2003, volunteers at the DOAJ have flagged thousands of journals as suspicious based on six criteria. (Reputable publications, for example, tend to include a detailed description of their peer review policies on their websites.)</p><p>But keeping pace with the spread of those publications has been daunting for humans.</p><p>To speed up the process, Acu帽a and his colleagues turned to AI. The team trained its system using the DOAJ鈥檚 data, then asked the AI to sift through a list of nearly 15,200 open-access journals on the internet.</p><p>Among those journals, the AI initially flagged more than 1,400 as potentially problematic.</p><p>Acu帽a and his colleagues asked human experts to review a subset of the suspicious journals. The AI made mistakes, according to the humans, flagging an estimated 350 publications as questionable when they were likely legitimate. That still left more than 1,000 journals that the researchers identified as questionable.</p><p>鈥淚 think this should be used as a helper to prescreen large numbers of journals,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut human professionals should do the final analysis.鈥</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><h2>A firewall for science</h2><p>Acu帽a added that the researchers didn't want their system to be a "black box" like some other AI platforms.</p><p>鈥淲ith ChatGPT, for example, you often don鈥檛 understand why it鈥檚 suggesting something,鈥 Acu帽a said. 鈥淲e tried to make ours as interpretable as possible.鈥</p><p>The team discovered, for example, that questionable journals published an unusually high number of articles. They also included authors with a larger number of affiliations than more legitimate journals, and authors who cited their own research, rather than the research of other scientists, to an unusually high level.</p></div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-right col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--from-library paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="ucb-article-secondary-text"> <div><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="hero"><i class="fa-solid fa-building">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>Beyond the story</strong></p><p>Our research impact by the numbers:</p><ul><li>45 U.S. patents issued for CU inventions through Venture Partners in 2023鈥24</li><li><span>35 startups launched based on university innovations in 2023鈥24</span></li><li><span>$1.2 billion raised by companies built on 黑料社区网 innovations in 2022鈥24</span></li></ul><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/cuboulder/posts/?feedView=all" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Follow 黑料社区网 on LinkedIn</span></a></p></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>The new AI system isn鈥檛 publicly accessible, but the researchers hope to make it available to universities and publishing companies soon. Acu帽a sees the tool as one way that researchers can protect their fields from bad data鈥攚hat he calls a 鈥渇irewall for science.鈥</p><p>鈥淎s a computer scientist, I often give the example of when a new smartphone comes out,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e know the phone's software will have flaws, and we expect bug fixes to come in the future. We should probably do the same with science.鈥</p><hr><p><em>Co-authors on the study included Han Zhuang at the Eastern Institute of Technology in China and Lizheng Liang at Syracuse University in the United States.</em></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Questionable scientific journals, or those that publish studies without proper vetting for a profit, are growing around the world. A new AI system automatically seeks them out.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 28 Aug 2025 19:40:06 +0000 Daniel William Strain 55162 at /today Robot regret: New research helps robots make safer decisions around humans /today/2025/08/25/robot-regret-new-research-helps-robots-make-safer-decisions-around-humans <span>Robot regret: New research helps robots make safer decisions around humans</span> <span><span>Amber Elise Carlson</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-25T09:59:28-06:00" title="Monday, August 25, 2025 - 09:59">Mon, 08/25/2025 - 09:59</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Robotic_Arm.CC23.JPG?h=0b92c231&amp;itok=yNXaULco" width="1200" height="800" alt="Two men stand watching a robotic arm lift small blocks of wood"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <a href="/today/amber-carlson">Amber Carlson</a> <span>,&nbsp;</span> <a href="/today/nicholas-goda">Nicholas Goda</a> <span>,&nbsp;</span> <span>Jesse Petersen</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-above"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="field_media_oembed_video"><iframe src="/today/media/oembed?url=https%3A//youtu.be/gsPLOh2YWCo&amp;max_width=516&amp;max_height=350&amp;hash=gEoO-hKikW8ES0NtxuhlWOqQYqu15-jVnRPkuIYOEuI" width="516" height="290" class="media-oembed-content" loading="eager" title="Teaching robots to make safer decisions around humans"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p dir="ltr"><span>Imagine for a moment that you鈥檙e in an auto factory. A robot and a human are working next to each other on the production line. The robot is busy rapidly assembling car doors while the human runs quality control, inspecting the doors for damage and making sure they come together as they should.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Robots and humans can make formidable teams in manufacturing, health care and numerous other industries. While the robot might be quicker and more effective at monotonous, repetitive tasks like assembling large auto parts, the person can excel at certain tasks that are more complex or require more dexterity.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>But there can be a dark side to these robot-human interactions. People are prone to making mistakes and acting unpredictably, which can create unexpected situations that robots aren鈥檛 prepared to handle. The</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/industrial-robot-crushes-worker-dead-south-korea/" rel="nofollow"><span>&nbsp;results can be tragic</span></a><span>.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>New and emerging research could change the way robots handle the uncertainty that comes hand-in-hand with human interactions. </span><a href="/aerospace/morteza-lahijanian" rel="nofollow"><span>Morteza Lahijanian</span></a><span>, an associate professor in 黑料社区网鈥檚 Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, develops processes that let robots make safer decisions around humans while still trying to complete their tasks efficiently.</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/Robotic_Arm.CC23.JPG?itok=FjI4MILi" width="750" height="477" alt="Two men stand watching a robotic arm lift small blocks of wood"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>From left, engineering professor Morteza Lahijanian and graduate student Karan Muvvala watch as a robotic arm completes a task using wooden blocks. (Credit: Casey Cass)</p> </span> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>In a new study presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in August 2025, Lahijanian and graduate students Karan Muvvala and Qi Heng Ho devised new algorithms that help robots create the best possible outcomes from their actions in situations that carry some uncertainty and risk.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淗ow do we go from very structured environments where there is no human, where the robots are doing everything by themselves, to unstructured environments where there are a lot of uncertainties and other agents?鈥 Lahijanian asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淚f you鈥檙e a robot, you have to be able to interact with others. You have to put yourself out there and take a risk and see what happens. But how do you make that decision, and how much risk do you want to tolerate?鈥</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Similar to humans, robots have mental models that they use to make decisions. When working with a human, a robot will try to predict the person鈥檚 actions and respond accordingly. The robot is optimized for completing a task鈥攁ssembling an auto part, for example鈥攂ut ideally, it will also take other factors into consideration.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>In the new study, the research team drew upon game theory, a mathematical concept that originated in economics, to develop the new algorithms for robots. Game theory analyzes how companies, governments and individuals make decisions in a system where other 鈥減layers鈥 are also making choices that affect the ultimate outcome.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>In robotics, game theory conceptualizes a robot as being one of numerous players in a game that it鈥檚 trying to win. For a robot, 鈥渨inning鈥 is completing a task successfully鈥攂ut winning is never guaranteed when there鈥檚 a human in the mix, and keeping the human safe is also a top priority.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>So instead of trying to guarantee a robot will always win, the researchers proposed the concept of a robot finding an 鈥渁dmissible strategy.鈥 Using such a strategy, a robot will accomplish as much of its task as possible while also minimizing any harm, including to a human.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淚n choosing a strategy, you don't want the robot to seem very adversarial,鈥 said Lahijanian. 鈥淚n order to give that softness to the robot, we look at the notion of regret. Is the robot going to regret its action in the future? And in optimizing for the best action at the moment, you try to take an action that you won't regret.鈥</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Let鈥檚 go back to the auto factory where the robot and human are working side-by-side. If the person makes mistakes or is not cooperative, using the researchers鈥 algorithms, a robot could take matters into its own hands. If the person is making mistakes, the robot will try to fix these without endangering the person. But if that doesn鈥檛 work, the robot could, for example, pick up what it鈥檚 working on and take it to a safer area to finish its task.</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/Robotic_Arm.CC05.JPG?itok=hRn7y0qW" width="750" height="487" alt="Man watches robotic arm complete task with wooden blocks"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Karan Muvvala watches the robotic arm pick up a blue block. (Credit: Casey Cass)</p> </span> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>Much like a chess champion who thinks several turns ahead about an opponent鈥檚 possible moves, a robot will try to anticipate what a person will do and stay several steps ahead of them, Lahijanian said.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>But the goal is not to attempt the impossible and perfectly predict a person鈥檚 actions. Instead, the goal is to create robots that put people鈥檚 safety first.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淚f you want to have collaboration between a human and a robot, the robot has to adjust itself to the human. We don't want humans to adjust themselves to the robot,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou can have a human who is a novice and doesn't know what they're doing, or you can have a human who is an expert. But as a robot, you don't know which kind of human you're going to get. So you need to have a strategy for all possible cases.鈥</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>And when robots can work safely alongside humans, they can enhance people's lives and provide real and tangible benefits to society.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>As more industries embrace robots and artificial intelligence, there are many lingering questions about what AI will ultimately be capable of doing, whether it will be able to take over the jobs that people have historically done, and what that could mean for humanity. But there are upsides to robots being able to take on certain types of jobs. They could work in fields with labor shortages, such as health care for older populations, and physically challenging jobs that may take a toll on workers鈥 health.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Lahijanian also believes that, when they're used correctly, robots and AI can enhance human talents and expand what we're capable of doing.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>"Human-robot collaboration is about combining complementary strengths: humans contribute intelligence, judgment, and flexibility, while robots offer precision, strength, and reliability," he said.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>"Together, they can achieve more than either could alone, safely and efficiently."</span></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-above"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--from-library paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="ucb-article-secondary-text"> <div><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="hero">&nbsp;<i class="fa-solid fa-calculator">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>Beyond the Story</strong></p><p>Our research impact by the numbers:</p><ul><li><span>$742 million in research funding earned in 2023鈥24</span></li><li><span>No. 5 U.S. university for startup creation</span></li><li><span>$1.4 billion impact of 黑料社区网's research activities on the Colorado economy in 2023鈥24</span></li></ul><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/cuboulder/posts/?feedView=all" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Follow 黑料社区网 on LinkedIn</span></a></p></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>黑料社区网 aerospace engineer Morteza Lahijanian is creating new algorithms that help robots complete tasks while keeping the humans in their midst safer.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:59:28 +0000 Amber Elise Carlson 55100 at /today New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection /today/2025/08/15/new-bio-imaging-device-holds-potential-eye-and-heart-condition-detection <span>New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-15T11:50:25-06:00" title="Friday, August 15, 2025 - 11:50">Fri, 08/15/2025 - 11:50</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/AdobeStock_340691971.jpeg?h=a3faa0ba&amp;itok=YZL1BTFA" width="1200" height="800" alt="person with blue eyes"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <span>College of Engineering and Applied Science</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Researchers at 黑料社区网 have developed a new bio-imaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Researchers at 黑料社区网 have developed a new bio-imaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/ecee/new-bioimaging-device-holds-potential-eye-heart-condition-detection`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:50:25 +0000 Megan Maneval 55085 at /today 鈥楥yborg jellyfish鈥 could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles /today/2025/08/14/cyborg-jellyfish-could-aid-deep-sea-research-inspire-next-gen-underwater-vehicles <span>鈥楥yborg jellyfish鈥 could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles</span> <span><span>Amber Elise Carlson</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-14T12:09:03-06:00" title="Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 12:09">Thu, 08/14/2025 - 12:09</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Nicole_Xu_Lab17GA.jpg?h=88ac1a36&amp;itok=3jfrH_fx" width="1200" height="800" alt="Woman dips hand into aquarium and touches jellyfish"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/16"> Climate &amp; Environment </a> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <a href="/today/amber-carlson">Amber Carlson</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div> <div class="align-center image_style-large_image_style"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Nicole_Xu_Lab34GA.jpg?itok=-U1D37Iw" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Woman with glasses stands behind aquarium with jellyfish"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Nicole Xu <span>stands behind the main jellyfish tank in her lab. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)</span></p> </span> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>In a towering aquarium in a darkened laboratory, moon jellyfish (</span><em><span>Aurelia aurita</span></em><span>) hover as if floating in space.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>The glow of neon lights illuminates their translucent, bell-shaped bodies as they expand and contract rhythmically, their graceful tentacles flowing in wavelike patterns.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>黑料社区网 engineer </span><a href="/mechanical/nicole-w-xu" rel="nofollow"><span>Nicole Xu</span></a><span> watches them with fondness. Xu, an assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, first became fascinated with moon jellies more than a decade ago because of their extraordinary swimming abilities. Today, Xu has developed a way to harness their efficiency and ease at moving through the water in ways that could make some types of aquatic research much easier.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>She fits the jellies with microelectronic devices that activate key swimming muscles, enabling researchers to steer them toward remote ocean areas that are hard to access in any other way. Eventually, she plans to add sensors to the devices that can gather critical data on temperature, pH and other environmental characteristics.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淭hink of our device like a pacemaker on the heart,鈥 Xu said. 鈥淲e're stimulating the swim&nbsp;muscle by causing contractions and turning the animals toward a certain direction.鈥</span></p><h2><span>Going where humans can鈥檛 go</span></h2> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/Nicole_Xu_Lab17GA.jpg?itok=U04fc1uE" width="750" height="500" alt="Woman dips hand into aquarium and touches jellyfish"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Nicole Xu reaches her hand into the tank and touches one of the moon jellyfish. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)</p> </span> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>As climate change accelerates, ocean waters are becoming less hospitable for a variety of marine life. The ocean is getting warmer and more acidic as it absorbs growing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Measuring changes in the ocean is essential to understanding how human activities are impacting all life on Earth. But because the ocean is so vast and deep, some parts are hard to study without prohibitively expensive equipment. The cyborg jellies could offer a way for humans to wade into these relatively uncharted waters.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Moon jellyfish are the most energy-efficient animals on the planet. They鈥檙e prehistoric, with a simple body structure that has stayed the same for more than 500 million years. As invertebrates, they also lack a brain or spinal cord, though they do have basic organs and a pair of overlapping nerve nets. Importantly, the jellies do not have nociceptors, or sensory receptors that can detect potentially harmful stimuli.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Moon jellies can range from a centimeter to more than a foot in diameter. Their short, fine tentacles help them sting and catch prey like zooplankton, crustacean larvae and small fish. But thankfully for Xu, their sting cells can鈥檛 penetrate human skin.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Though they鈥檙e often found near coastlines, close to their favorite food sources, moon jellies live in diverse habitats worldwide and can swim to incredible depths: They鈥檝e been found in some of the lowest places on Earth, including the Mariana Trench, which sits roughly 36,000 feet beneath the western Pacific Ocean鈥檚 surface at its deepest point.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Xu co-created the biohybrid robotic jellyfish concept with her former academic advisor about five years ago, and she first</span><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/5/4/64" rel="nofollow"><span>&nbsp;tested them in the field</span></a><span> in 2020, steering them around shallow ocean waters off the coast of Woods Hole, Mass.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>On top of the implications for ocean and climate research, Xu believes we can draw inspiration from the jellyfish.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淭here鈥檚 really something special about the way moon jellies swim. We want to unlock that to create more energy-efficient, next-generation underwater vehicles,鈥 she said.</span></p><h2><span>Striving for ethical research</span></h2> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/Nicole_Xu_Lab27GA.jpg?itok=wNtCQyqW" width="750" height="500" alt="Woman and two men stand next to aquarium with jellyfish"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>From left: Nicole Xu and graduate students Marshall Graybill and Charlie Fraga stand next to the main jellyfish tank in Xu's lab. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)</p> </span> </div> <p dir="ltr"><span>Today, Xu spends much of her time studying precisely how moon jellies move through the water with such ease.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Xu, research associate Yunxing Su and graduate student Mija Jovchevska</span><a href="https://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/bg66-976x" rel="nofollow"><span>&nbsp;published a new study</span></a><span> late last month that involved adding biodegradable particles to a jellyfish tank. The researchers then shone a laser through the tank to illuminate the suspended particles in the water and visualize how water flows when jellies swim.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>In the past, researchers have used synthetic tracers such as silver-coated glass beads to look at underwater flow patterns, but the new study suggests biodegradable particles, such as corn starch, could be more sustainable, more affordable and less toxic alternatives.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>She and graduate student Charlie Fraga are also working on making the jellyfish easier to steer in the wild. Going forward, Xu hopes to design other nature-inspired tools for studying the ocean.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>There鈥檚 more to learn about the ethics of studying invertebrates. In a</span><a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/adc0d4/meta#bbadc0d4s2" rel="nofollow"><span>&nbsp;paper published earlier this year</span></a><span>, Xu and others pointed out the need for more investigation of how research affects invertebrates. It was once widely believed that invertebrates couldn鈥檛 feel pain, but there is growing evidence that some do react to aversive stimuli.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Through all of her research, Xu says she strives to minimize harm to the animals she works with. When they鈥檙e stressed, moon jellies may secrete extra mucus, and they often stop reproducing. But Xu鈥檚 jellies have not shown increased mucus production, and small polyps鈥攂aby jellyfish the size of a pinhead whose tentacles are just beginning to form鈥攍ine the inside of Xu鈥檚 jellyfish tanks.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>鈥淚t's our responsibility as researchers to think about these ethical considerations up front,鈥 Xu said. 鈥淏ut as far as we can tell, the jellyfish are doing well. They're thriving.鈥</span></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-above"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--from-library paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="ucb-article-secondary-text"> <div><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="hero">&nbsp;<i class="fa-solid fa-calculator">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>Beyond the Story</strong></p><p>Our research impact by the numbers:</p><ul><li><span>$742 million in research funding earned in 2023鈥24</span></li><li><span>No. 5 U.S. university for startup creation</span></li><li><span>$1.4 billion impact of 黑料社区网's research activities on the Colorado economy in 2023鈥24</span></li></ul><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/cuboulder/posts/?feedView=all" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Follow 黑料社区网 on LinkedIn</span></a></p></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>黑料社区网 engineer Nicole Xu fits moon jellyfish with microelectronic devices that enhance their natural swimming ability and will one day be able to gather data.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:09:03 +0000 Amber Elise Carlson 55069 at /today Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf? /today/2025/07/29/who-afraid-big-bad-dire-wolf <span>Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf?</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-29T10:16:22-06:00" title="Tuesday, July 29, 2025 - 10:16">Tue, 07/29/2025 - 10:16</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/Dire%20Wolves%20young%20adults3.jpg?h=d266cfbe&amp;itok=95ESWvzt" width="1200" height="800" alt="two young adult dire wolves"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf鈥攂ut should it? A 黑料社区网 environmental studies and philosophy professor says the answer is complicated.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf鈥攂ut should it? A 黑料社区网 environmental studies and philosophy professor says the answer is complicated.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/asmagazine/2025/07/22/who-afraid-big-bad-dire-wolf`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:16:22 +0000 Megan Maneval 55007 at /today Researchers test the trustworthiness of AI鈥攂y playing sudoku /today/2025/07/28/researchers-test-trustworthiness-ai-playing-sudoku <span>Researchers test the trustworthiness of AI鈥攂y playing sudoku</span> <span><span>Daniel William鈥</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-28T16:15:49-06:00" title="Monday, July 28, 2025 - 16:15">Mon, 07/28/2025 - 16:15</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/sudoku_image.jpeg?h=51be566f&amp;itok=tVY3BaRF" width="1200" height="800" alt="Hands filling in a sudoku grid with a pen"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <a href="/today/daniel-strain">Daniel Strain</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Artificial intelligence tools called large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI鈥檚 ChatGPT or Google鈥檚 Gemini, can do a lot these days鈥攄ispensing relationship advice, crafting texts to get you out of social obligations and even writing science articles. &nbsp;</p><p>But can they also solve your morning sudoku?</p><p>In a new study, a team of computer scientists from the 黑料社区网 decided to find out. The group created nearly 2,300 original sudoku puzzles, which require players to enter numbers into a grid following certain rules, then asked several AI tools to fill them in.</p><p>The results were a mixed bag. While some of the AI models could solve easy sudokus, even the best struggled to explain how they solved them鈥攇iving garbled, inaccurate or even surreal descriptions of how they arrived at their answers. The results raise questions about the trustworthiness of AI-generated information, said study co-author Maria Pacheco. &nbsp;</p><p>鈥淔or certain types of sudoku puzzles, most LLMs still fall short, particularly in producing explanations that are in any way usable for humans,鈥 said Pacheco, assistant professor in the <a href="/cs" rel="nofollow">Department of Computer Science</a>. 鈥淲hy did it come up with that solution? What are the steps you need to take to get there?鈥</p><p>She and her colleagues <a href="https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.155/" rel="nofollow">published their results this month</a> in Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Pacheco_headshot_0.png?itok=_56WTAAG" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Maria Pacheco headshot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Maria Pacheco</p> </span> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Somenzi_headshot.png?itok=DIWbBT1N" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Fabio Somenzi headshot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Fabio Somenzi</p> </span> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Trivedi_headshot.png?itok=rFFPyUbZ" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Ashutosh Trivedi headshot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Ashutosh Trivedi</p> </span> </div></div><p>The researchers aren鈥檛 trying to cheat at puzzles. Instead, they鈥檙e using these logic exercises to explore how AI platforms think. The results could one day lead to more reliable and trustworthy computer programs, said study co-author Fabio Somenzi, professor in the <a href="/ecee" rel="nofollow">Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering</a>.</p><p>鈥淧uzzles are fun, but they鈥檙e also a microcosm for studying the decision-making process in machine learning,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f you have AI prepare your taxes, you want to be able to explain to the IRS why the AI wrote what it wrote.鈥</p><h2>Daily puzzle</h2><p>Somenzi, who is a self-described sudoku fan, noted that the puzzles tap into a very human way of thinking. Filling out a sudoku grid requires puzzlers to learn and follow a set of logical rules. For example, you can鈥檛 enter a two in an empty square if there鈥檚 already a two in the same row or column.</p><p>Most LLMs today struggle at that kind of thinking, in large part because of how they鈥檙e trained.</p><p>To build ChatGPT, for example, programmers first fed the AI almost everything that had ever been written on the internet. When ChatGPT responds to a question, it predicts the most likely response based on all that data鈥攁lmost like a computer version of rote memory.</p><p>鈥淲hat they do is essentially predict the next word,鈥 Pacheco said. 鈥淚f you have the start to a sentence, what word comes next? They do that by referring to every sentence in the English language that they can get their hands on.鈥</p><p>Pacheco, Somenzi and their colleagues have joined a growing effort in computer science to merge those two ways of thinking鈥攃ombining the memory of an LLM with a human brain鈥檚 capacity for logic, a pursuit known as <a href="/today/node/54798" rel="nofollow">鈥渘eurosymbolic鈥 AI</a>.</p><p>Anirudh Maiya and Razan Alghamdi, both former graduate students at 黑料社区网, were also co-authors of the new paper.</p><h2>How鈥檚 the weather?</h2><p>To begin, the researchers created sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty using a six-by-six grid. (A simpler version of the nine-by-nine puzzles you usually find online).</p><p>They then gave the puzzles to a series of AI models, including the preview of OpenAI鈥檚 o1 model鈥攚hich, in 2023, represented the state-of-the-art for its kind of LLM.</p><p>The o1 model led the pack, solving roughly 65% of the sudoku puzzles correctly. Then the team asked the AI platforms to explain how they got their answers. That鈥檚 when the results got really wild.</p><p>鈥淪ometimes, the AI explanations made up facts,鈥 said Ashutosh Trivedi, a co-author of the study and associate professor of computer science at 黑料社区网. 鈥淪o it might say, 'There cannot be a two here because there鈥檚 already a two in the same row,' but that wasn鈥檛 the case.鈥</p><p>In a telling example, the researchers were talking to one of the AI tools about solving sudoku when it, for unknown reasons, responded with a weather forecast.</p><p>鈥淎t that point, the AI had gone berserk and was completely confused,鈥 Somenzi said.</p><p>The researchers hope to design their own AI system that can do it all鈥攕olving complicated puzzles and explaining how. They鈥檙e starting with another type of puzzle called hitori, which, like sudoku, involves a grid of numbers.</p><p>鈥淧eople talk about the emerging capabilities of AI where they end up being able to solve things that you wouldn鈥檛 expect them to solve,鈥 Pacheco said. 鈥淎t the same time, it鈥檚 not surprising that they鈥檙e still bad at a lot of tasks.鈥</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>A team of computer scientists discovered that some AI large language models can solve sudoku puzzles, but even the best ones struggle to explain how they did it.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/sudoku_image.jpeg?itok=S8Oiq4JO" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Hands filling in a sudoku grid with a pen"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:15:49 +0000 Daniel William Strain 54987 at /today Faster, cleaner, better: Revolutionary water treatment /today/2025/07/25/faster-cleaner-better-revolutionary-water-treatment <span>Faster, cleaner, better: Revolutionary water treatment</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-25T06:59:14-06:00" title="Friday, July 25, 2025 - 06:59">Fri, 07/25/2025 - 06:59</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/img_0597.jpeg?h=51692cae&amp;itok=vTTiYCyV" width="1200" height="800" alt="Anthony Straub with PhD student Kian Lopez in a lab"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <span>College of Engineering and Applied Science</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Anthony Straub is making revolutionary advances in water purification for life on Earth and in space with nanoscale membranes鈥攖hinner than 1/100th the width of a human hair.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Anthony Straub is making revolutionary advances in water purification for life on Earth and in space with nanoscale membranes鈥攖hinner than 1/100th the width of a human hair.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/engineering/faster-cleaner-better-revolutionary-water-treatment`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:59:14 +0000 Megan Maneval 54991 at /today New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants /today/2025/07/23/new-quantum-physics-and-ai-powered-microchip-design-software-awarded-grants <span>New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants </span> <span><span>Amber Elise Carlson</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-23T22:02:09-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - 22:02">Wed, 07/23/2025 - 22:02</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/Sanghamitra_Neogi.CC15.JPG?h=fbd9a9b0&amp;itok=e5b9z-_j" width="1200" height="800" alt="Woman speaking into microphone at a business pitch event"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/4"> Business &amp; Entrepreneurship </a> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <a href="/today/amber-carlson">Amber Carlson</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p><span>Semiconductors鈥攕ubstances that can selectively conduct or block electricity鈥攈ave been dubbed the 鈥</span><a href="https://www.semiconductors.org/semiconductors-101/what-is-a-semiconductor/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">brains of modern electronics</span></a><span>.鈥 They form the building blocks of the chips that power electronic devices from laptops to smartphones and tablets to sports watches.</span></p><p><span>But semiconductors generate heat when they鈥檙e working, and they can easily get too hot, which hurts their performance and can damage them. While smaller chips are denser and more efficient at processing, they are harder to keep cool because of their size.</span></p><p><a href="/aerospace/sanghamitra-neogi" rel="nofollow"><span>Sanghamitra Neogi</span></a><span>, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department, is exploring ways to protect semiconductors and microchips from heat damage. She specializes in nanoscale semiconductors, which are so tiny their parts are measured in nanometers (billionths of a meter).</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/Sanghamitra_Neogi.CC15.JPG?itok=PQfDNWwM" width="750" height="500" alt="Woman speaking into microphone at a business pitch event"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Sanghamitra Neogi speaks about her startup, <span>AtomTCAD Inc., at 黑料社区网's Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase on June 25, 2025. (Credit: Casey Cass/黑料社区网)</span></p> </span> </div> <p><span lang="EN">Neogi and her research group, </span><a href="https://spot.colorado.edu/~sane3962/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">CUANTAM Laboratory</span></a><span lang="EN">, have developed a sophisticated software called&nbsp;</span><span>AtomThermCAD&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN">that can predict how the materials in a microchip respond to heat, which determines whether the chip will ultimately fail from overheating. AtomThermCAD is short for Atom-to-Device Thermal Computer Aided Design software for nanometer-scale semiconductor devices. T</span><span>he research behind this software was primarily supported by a&nbsp;</span><a href="/aerospace/2023/08/14/cu-boulder-lead-million-dollar-darpa-computational-microelectronics-research" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">$1 million DARPA MTO Thermonat grant awarded between 2023 and 2025.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">E</span><span>arlier this year, Neogi launched a startup to bring the software to market for semiconductor manufacturers and other customers. To kickstart her new company, AtomTCAD Inc., Neogi received $150,000 in recent grant funding from the state鈥檚</span><a href="https://oedit.colorado.gov/press-release/oedit-announces-grants-to-35-colorado-startups-and-researchers-in-the-advanced" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-US">Office of Economic Development and International Trade</span></a><span>, or OEDIT, matched by another $50,000 from&nbsp;</span><a href="/venturepartners/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Venture Partners at 黑料社区网</span></a><span>, which helps CU faculty and researchers turn their discoveries into startups and partnerships through funding and entrepreneurial support.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The grant from OEDIT was </span><a href="https://oedit.colorado.gov/advanced-industries-proof-of-concept-grant" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">an advanced industries proof-of-concept grant</span></a><span lang="EN"> for researchers in advanced industries. Managed by OEDIT鈥檚 Global Business Development division, this funding is intended to accelerate innovation, promote public-private partnerships and encourage commercialization of products and services to strengthen Colorado鈥檚 economy.</span></p><p><span>OEDIT Executive Director Eve Lieberman said that Neogi鈥檚 work will benefit the entire semiconductor industry, a rapidly growing segment of Colorado鈥檚 economy.</span></p><p><span>鈥淒r. Neogi鈥檚 research addresses one of the industry鈥檚 toughest challenges by improving heat management at the nanoscale, which boosts chip performance and supports the growth of Colorado鈥檚 advanced technology sector,鈥 Lieberman said.</span></p><p><span>Chip designers use software like Neogi鈥檚 to test their designs without needing to actually build the chips. But unlike most chip design software, AtomThermCAD uses AI-accelerated quantum physics calculations to model the semiconductors and their components at an atomic level so it can accurately predict whether semiconductors or transistors too small to be seen by the naked eye will overheat.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The software could accelerate technological advancement by saving chip designers months, if not years, of time they previously had to spend developing and testing their designs.</span></p><p><span>Neogi drew on her expertise in physics and quantum technology to develop the software. She said as microchip components get smaller and smaller, approaching the level of individual atoms, researchers need to look to quantum physics to understand how the components behave.</span></p><p><span>Neogi also feels her approach could have applications beyond microchip development.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淲hat we developed is a method where you can model the thermal phenomena of any kind of nanoscale tech device,鈥 she said. 鈥淏eyond microchips, it could be nanoscale medical devices and implants inside your body, or even drug delivery systems.鈥</span></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 1"> <div class="ucb-article-text d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-below"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--from-library paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="ucb-article-secondary-text"> <div><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="hero"><i class="fa-solid fa-atom">&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;<strong>Beyond the story</strong></p><p>Our quantum impact by the numbers:</p><ul><li>60-plus years as the regional epicenter for quantum research</li><li>4 Nobel prizes in physics awarded to university researchers</li><li>No. 11 quantum physics program in the nation and co-leader on the new Quantum Incubator facility</li></ul><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/cuboulder/posts/?feedView=all" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Follow 黑料社区网 on LinkedIn</span></a></p></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Sanghamitra Neogi in 黑料社区网鈥檚 aerospace engineering department will use $200,000 in grant funding to launch a startup in which she will offer software that uses quantum physics to model microchip designs.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 24 Jul 2025 04:02:09 +0000 Amber Elise Carlson 54975 at /today Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors /today/2025/07/18/researchers-testing-next-generation-ankle-braces-stroke-survivors <span>Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-18T07:44:09-06:00" title="Friday, July 18, 2025 - 07:44">Fri, 07/18/2025 - 07:44</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/welkerlabbanner.jpg?h=c625b16d&amp;itok=CNowq3kc" width="1200" height="800" alt="Tests being performed inside of the Welker Lab space"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <span>College of Engineering and Applied Science</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Nearly 80% of stroke survivors experience walking issues and many turn to ankle braces for support, but the functionality of these braces is still very limited. Assistant Professor Cara Welker is leading a new, collaborative research project that aims to transform the way these assistive devices are designed.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Nearly 80% of stroke survivors experience walking issues and many turn to ankle braces for support, but the functionality of these braces is still very limited. Assistant Professor Cara Welker is leading a new, collaborative research project that aims to transform the way these assistive devices are designed.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/mechanical/researchers-testing-next-generation-ankle-braces-stroke-survivors`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:44:09 +0000 Megan Maneval 54961 at /today