Reports and Proceedings

Presented at the Optica (formerly OSA) 2021 Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science (FiO LS) meeting (01 - 04 November) researchers from Boston University, USA, will report the development of frequency translating add/drop filters based on electro-optically modulated photonic molecules. The new class of filters could open important new avenues for on-chip light manipulation.

CO2 emissions from buildings and construction fell in 2020 due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 but a lack of real transformation in the sector means emissions will keep rising, contributing to dangerous climate change, according to the UN's 2021 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction.

Despite the availability of systemic therapy, prostate cancer (PC) remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men due to limited therapeutic options for aggressive forms of PC. To make progress, a new predictive marker for PC is needed. Now, scientists from Korea have identified a protein that plays a critical role in the progression of PC and could help monitor and diagnose advanced stages of PC, opening doors to new drug development.

• Early analysis on the effects of modular housing pilot scheme to tackle homelessness in Cambridge – the first in England. • After a year, residents were sober or getting help, reconnecting with family, with some in work or training and even preparing for permanent housing. • “I feel I’m in control of my life right now” – ‘mod’ resident.

A new kind of fiber developed by researchers at MIT and in Sweden can be made into clothing that senses how much it is being stretched or compressed, and then provides immediate tactile feedback in the form of pressure, lateral stretch, or vibration. Such fabrics could be used in garments that help train singers or athletes to better control their breathing, or that help patients recovering from disease or surgery to recover their breathing patterns.

Parents in a new national poll report that half of children aged 10-12 years and a third of children ages 7-9 use their devices to engage with others on social media apps.

Laboratory rats play an important role in biomedical research. They can be used in social interaction experiments in animal behavioral research or as animal models for disease research and testing of new drugs. Rats are uncontrollable and cannot be evaluated, however, the programmability and reconfigurability of robotic rats can compensate for these shortcomings with the premise that robots need automatic perception to interact more naturally. A new study by a team of scientists from Beijing Institute of Technology proposed a real-time automatic motion detection and object tracking framework for robot-rat interaction. The study has been presented on September 30 at the 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021) in Prague, Czech Republic.