Neil Savage

Lowell

Freelance Journalist at IEEE Spectrum

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Freelance science writer for Nature, Chemical & Engineering News, IEEE Spectrum, Communications of the ACM, et. al. https://t.co/mkQLppe18N

Articles

New hydrogel offers light-controlled reversible stickiness

4 weeks ago | cen.acs.org | Neil Savage

An adhesive hydrogel whose stickiness can be turned off by shining infrared light on it could make for better bandages or allow robots to climb walls, according to the researchers who developed it ( Chem Bio Eng. 2025, DOI: 10.1021/cbe.4c00177). The hydrogel, made of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), naturally adheres to a variety of surfaces, including glass, aluminum, steel, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films, and skin.
NASA’s Mars Plans Complicated by Eye Problems during Long Spaceflights

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Neil Savage

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Vision, an editorially independent supplement produced with financial support from Astellas Pharma. About this content. In the next 15 years, NASA hopes to launch a mission to Mars. But the long journey poses a challenge — not least from a mysterious ailment that alters astronauts’ eyesight.
Eye problems cloud NASA’s vision of Mars

1 month ago | nature.com | Neil Savage

In the next 15 years, NASA hopes to launch a mission to Mars. But the long journey poses a challenge — not least from a mysterious ailment that alters astronauts’ eyesight. Spending long periods in the microgravity of space can lead to changes in the eye, including swelling in the region where the optic nerve extends to the brain; flattening of the rear of the normally round organ; wrinkles that emerge at the back of the retina; and shifts in the refractive index that change how the eye focuses.
VCSEL's star still shining bright

1 month ago | spie.org | Neil Savage

Kent Choquette thought the type of lasER he’d spent his career developing was doing pretty well in 2017. That device, the vertical cavity surface-emitting laser, or VCSEL, had seen remarkable success since it was first introduced commercially in 1996, and by 2017 an estimated one billion of the tiny devices had been sold, mostly for use in optical interconnects for data centers.
US scientist falsely accused of hiding ties to China sues university that fired him

Jan 21, 2025 | nature.com | Neil Savage

A chemical engineer arrested in 2019 under the controversial China Initiative, which aimed to protect US laboratories and businesses from espionage, is suing his former university. Feng ‘Franklin’ Tao was cleared of all charges and is demanding that the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence return him to his position as a tenured professor.
Brain Implants Give People Back What They Lost

Jan 15, 2025 | cacm.acm.org | Neil Savage |Orit Hazzan |Micah Beck

Ian Burkhart was a 19-year-old college student enjoying a day out with friends in 2010 when he dove into the water off North Carolina’s Outer Bank, hit bottom, and broke his neck. He wound up paralyzed below the elbows, unable to walk or to control his wrists or fingers. The accident did not end his story, though, because just four years later he became the first person to undergo a procedure aimed at restoring movement to his hands.
How the latest materials are taking biosensors to the next level

Dec 11, 2024 | nature.com | Neil Savage

When Shuai Xu set out to create a wearable biosensor to monitor the vital signs of premature infants and newborns, he faced a major challenge: the skin of these children is so delicate that the adhesive used to attach a sensor could damage it, potentially leading to infection. The stiff device pulling against the skin as the baby moved, and the wires that might pull it in a different direction, added to the problem.
AI decodes the calls of the wild

Dec 10, 2024 | nature.com | Neil Savage

Listening to sperm whales has taught Shane Gero the importance of seeing the animals he studies as individuals, each with a unique history. He and his fellow scientists give the whales names — Pinchy, Quasimodo, Scar, Mysterio and Mysterio’s son Enigma. Often these names are based on some identifying physical feature. Fingers, for instance, is named after a pair of marks on her right fluke that look like she’s flashing a peace sign.
Will artificial intelligence let us talk to the animals?

Dec 10, 2024 | nature.com | Neil Savage

AI could reveal how whales, birds and elephants talk to others of their species.
AI-enhanced brain sensor tracks poorly understood chemistry

Dec 9, 2024 | cen.acs.org | Neil Savage

Researchers have developed a device that can simultaneously measure six markers of brain health. The sensor, which is inserted through the skull into the brain, can pull off this feat thanks to an artificial intelligence (AI) system that pieces apart the six signals in real time ( ACS Sens. 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.4c02126).