MIT researchers built a battery-free, wireless underwater camera, powered by sound waves, that can take high-quality, color images, even in dark environments. It transmits image data through the open water to a receiver that reconstructs the color image.

New research suggests that viruses are using information from their environment to “decide” when to sit tight inside their hosts and when to multiply and burst out, killing the host cell. Right now, viruses are exploiting the ability to monitor their environment to their benefit. But in the future, “we could exploit it to their detriment,” Ivan Erill, senior author on the new paper, says.

Depending on the initial conditions used, such as nutrient levels and space constraints, bacteria tend to grow in specific ways. Duke University researchers have created a new type of encryption scheme based on how a virtual bacterial colony grows with specific initial conditions.

Scientists developed a method to make silk-based materials that refuse to stick to water, or almost anything else containing water. Molded into forms like plastic, or coated onto surfaces as a film, the silk material has nonstick properties that surpass those of commercially available non-stick surfaces.

UC Riverside engineers are developing low-cost, robotic “clothing” to help children with cerebral palsy gain control over their arm movements.