An interdisciplinary, multi-institution team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, Caltech, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC is the first to use a bidirectional brain-computer interface to control the gait of a walking exoskeleton. The system enables patients suffering spinal cord impairments to regain both the ability to walk and the associated sensation, which results in safer, more realistic movement. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

A new study shows that a specific type of silicone, the so-called methylsiloxanes, are widely present in the atmosphere across diverse environments. Also, concentrations appear to be much higher than expected. According to the researchers, this raises concerns about their potential, yet poorly understood, effects on human health and the climate. Methylsiloxanes, are commonly used in industry, transportation, cosmetics and household products. The study was supervised by Utrecht University and the University of Groningen, and the results were published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a rare form of cancer with no signs or symptoms in the early stages. In the U.S., approximately 2,000 people die annually from this condition, with only 20% diagnosed at an early stage. Surgery remains the most effective treatment. Although minimally invasive approaches—laparoscopic and robotic are increasingly used in gastrointestinal oncology, their use in GBC is limited and comparing robotic surgery to laparoscopic and conventional surgery approaches remains limited and controversial.

In a new review in the journal Surgical Oncology Clinics, BU researchers show that minimally invasive surgery—especially robotic surgery—can be a safe way to treat selected patients with gallbladder cancer. In the studies reviewed, robotic approaches often had less blood loss, shorter hospital stays, and sometimes removed more lymph nodes, while long‑term cancer outcomes resembled those for open surgery in appropriately chosen patients.