
A laser focus on super water-repellent metals
Rochester researchers have been using lasers to change the properties of metals in incredible ways. But to make the technology commercially viable, a partnership between scholars and business will focus on making the lasers much more powerful.

Brain signal indicates when you understand what you’ve been told
Biomedical engineers have identified a brain signal that indicates whether a person is comprehending what others are saying—and have shown they can track the signal using relatively inexpensive EEG readings taken on a person’s scalp.

A professor and his robot study how we see
Meet Michele Rucci, a new professor in the University’s brain and cognitive sciences department, and his robot “Mr. T.” Rucci and his robot are using eye-tracking tools and virtual reality to replicate the small eye movements experienced by humans.

Giving virtual reality a ‘visceral’ sound
Using recital halls as their “labs,” and recording some of the best music students in the world, University researchers are creating virtual reality videos of concerts that literally immerse viewers “within” the performance onstage.

Augmented reality lets students operate a chemical plant
Coffee mugs and popsicle sticks are transformed into chemical reactors as part of an innovative teaching experiment that allows student engineers to simulate reactions in a real-life, sprawling chemical plant.

Virtual reality app offers personalized psychotherapy
A multidisciplinary team of University doctors, engineers, and musicians is working together to create an immersive, customized experience that brings cognitive-behavioral therapy to a patient’s smartphone.

Training brains—young and old, sick and healthy—with virtual reality
Rochester researchers are using virtual reality-based brain training to better understand the brain’s plasticity in athletes who have experienced concussions and older adults with mild cognitive impairments. The goal? Improved therapeutic treatments patients can do at home.

Elusive ‘turbulent dynamo’ phenomenon observed at OMEGA laser
The universe is filled with magnetic fields, but how it got that way has long been a mystery. To explain the magnetization of the universe, scientists proposed the existence of a “turbulent dynamo.” The phenomenon had never before been measured or observed directly—until recently.

Building the right mobile app for caregivers of children with FASD
A researcher and a computer engineer team up to build a mobile app that is already starting to help parents and caregivers facing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Why do naked mole rats live long, cancer-free lives?
Rochester biologists were surprised to see that despite its remarkable longevity, the naked mole rat still has cells that undergo senescence, like the cells in much shorter-lived mice.