Get a Grip
A soft, robotic exoskeleton glove developed at Drexel could hold the key to new ways of restoring function to individuals with hand injuries. The fingers are connected to actuators that pull or release tendon-like threads that run from the wrist to the fingertips, exerting force on the fingers. When connected to a computer, the glove can help patients practice hand exercises and improve mobility.
Hive Mind
Groupthink is real and it reduces brain power — at least among insect societies. That’s what Drexel’s entomologist Sean O’Donnell, an expert in using social insects to answer questions about biology and evolution, discovered in his latest study. He examined several species of wasps and found that social insects operate under the idea of distributed cognition — the more of them there are, the less intelligent each individual needs to be. It’s the exact opposite of vertebrate societies, like humans, which evolve with a sharper intelligence as competition increases.
Second Chances
Every year, police arrest 1,500 public school students in Philadelphia — an alarming number that has life-altering consequences for the kids involved. Drexel Psychology Professor Naomi Goldstein is evaluating a new city-led diversion program that steers youth toward the help they need instead of putting them behind bars. Already the number of arrests has fallen by 55 percent since the program’s launch in 2014.
Nanobots in Our Veins
Swarms of microscopic, magnetic, robotic beads developed at Drexel could one day scrub in beside vascular surgeons to combat blocked arteries. These microrobots, which look and move like spiral-shaped bacteria, are being developed as a part of a surgical toolkit being assembled by the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea. Drexel is the only team member from the United States in the 11-institute DGIST partnership, which boasts some of the top engineers and roboticists in the world.
I Heart 3D
What if you could hold your own heart in the palm of your hand and study it while your cardiologist explained your condition? Jason Kirk, an adjunct professor of digital media, recently succeeded in translating 2-D data into a patient-specific, 3-D-printed replica of a human heart that doctors can use to help patients understand their condition.