Speeding Up MRI Scans to Save Lives
BU researchers design an “intelligent” magnetic metamaterial that could make MRI more affordable and accessible By Art Jahnke | Via The Brink Boston University researchers have developed a new, “intelligent” metamaterial—which costs less than 10 bucks to build—that could revolutionize magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), making the entire MRI process faster, safer, and more accessible to […]
2019 University Lecture: Muhammad Zaman Will Address the Global Refugee Crisis
Last year alone, more than 70 million people were displaced by war, persecution, and other causes, the highest level in nearly 70 years, according to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. Muhammad Zaman wants passionately to find ways to reverse the trend and alleviate the suffering of refugees.
Twisting Light
Professor Siddharth Ramachandran and his team have discovered a new method, and along with it, a new fiber, that can transmit 24 times the amount of data of any previous single optical fiber.
Multiplication by Divisions
Fuel cell use could be one of the best ways to mitigate climate change—fuel cells work like batteries, provide efficient power and don’t emit air pollutants. But there are multiple barriers in research and development before they will be available to a commercial market.
Professor Soumendra Basu (ME, MSE) has been working on fuel cells, but, along with everyone else, was stymied by one of those barriers: the material used on the cell’s cathode was unstable and subject to decomposition. For help, he reached out to Professor Karl Ludwig in the Physics Department.
Identifying How a Material Grows: Discoveries by BU, DOE and UVM
From tinted car windows to solar cells, the versatile function of thin films has been playing significant roles in our lives. An MSE professor and a student collaborated with researchers to understand the growth of thin films like never before.
Magnetic Metamaterial Can “Turn Up the Volume” of MRI
BU researchers have developed a new metamaterial that can improve MRI quality and cut scan time in half.
Light as Fuel for Space Travel with Harry Atwater
Professor Harry Atwater is on a hot pursuit to harness light as fuel for space travel. With fundamental properties like speed and ubiquity, light is a natural resource with vast potential. On May 7, materials scientists, chemists and physicists from BU and other local universities attended the Saint-Gobain Materials Science Lecture on this topic.
Ramachandran named 2019 Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow by DoD
Ramachandran received the Department of Defense’s most prestigious award for a single investigator and will explore an optical phenomena: the existence of light beams that, instead of streaming in a straight line, swirl downward like a spiral staircase.
A Step Forward for High-Power Fiber Optics
Professor Siddharth Ramachandran (ECE, MSE) and his lab have observed a new effect within fiber optics that opens up a stable and effective way to develop and use a fiber-optic cable to create a laser that can produce high-power light at desired colors.
How Light Turns Ordinary Hydrogen Peroxide into a MRSA Treatment
ENG researchers invent blue light therapy that kills MRSA without antibiotics. Perhaps what’s most promising is that blue light phototherapy doesn’t affect healthy cells of the body, so the technique could be used to treat MRSA infections without harming any surrounding tissue or skin.