Biomedical and Bioengineering Innovation

As computers have progressed over the last few decades, with their component transistors getting ever smaller and ever more numerous on a single chip, that relentless progress, famously described by Moore’s Law, has begun to bump up against fundamental physical limits to what can be done with the present etched-lines-on-silicon technology. But now, a new twist involving an inorganic molecule that has a DNA-like helical shape may provide an alternative pathway that could shrink transistors down to atom-sized scales. And even DNA molecules themselves might ultimately become the bits and bytes and logic gates of the future. read more

Smart technology is in cellphones, televisions, cars, and home appliances, but smart textiles haven’t inundated the market yet. While engineers have been developing new and interesting ways to marry electronics and fabrics for several years now, the average person isn’t wearing e-tights to audit vital signs during a workout, switching to electronically enhanced bed sheets to track sleep patterns, or adding smart base layers to the everyday wardrobe. If the technology is moving forward as rapidly as it appears to be, why aren’t e-textiles flooding the market? read more