Science & Technology

Michael Neidig, an assistant professor of chemistry, has been recognized as a “rising star” by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Neidig is one of 126 U.S. and Canadian researchers selected as recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships for 2015.

Therapeutic anti-bacterial agents intended to reduce dental plaque and prevent tooth decay are often removed by saliva and the act of swallowing before they can take effect. But a team of researchers has developed a way to keep the drugs from being washed away.

Speaking in public is the top fear for many people. Now, students and faculty from the Human-Computer Interaction Group have developed an intelligent user interface for “smart glasses” that gives real-time feedback to the speaker on volume modulation and speaking rate, and have made the tool freely available for downloading.

A University team found a way to make chemotherapy more effective by exposing cancer cells to a molecule that inhibits NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay) prior to treatment with doxorubicin, a drug used to treat leukemia, breast, bone, lung and other cancers.

The National Science Foundation has granted its most prestigious award in support of junior faculty, the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, to three University researchers: Antonio Badolato, Danielle Benoit, and Michael Neidig.

Some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe produce high-energy gamma rays, and a new observatory in Mexico aims to expand the catalog of known gamma ray sources.

Rochester researchers and their collaborators have developed a way to transfer 2.05 bits per photon by using “twisted light.” The new approach doubles the 1 bit per photon that is possible with current systems that rely on light polarization and could help increase the efficiency of quantum cryptography systems.

Eric Horvitz, director of Microsoft Research, will show how breakthroughs in the new field of data science are solving previously intractable problems in clinical medicine, public health, transportation, disaster recovery, and many other areas.

A recently discovered dim star likely passed some 70,000 years ago through our solar system’s distant cloud of comets known as the Oort Cloud. No other star is known to have ever approached our solar system this closely.

Although most materials slightly expand when heated, there is a new class of rubber-like material that not only self-stretches upon cooling; it reverts back to its original shape when heated, all without physical manipulation.

Monkeys are notoriously curious, and new research has quantified just how eager they are to gain new information, even if there are not immediate benefits.

Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents that have never been known to get cancer despite having a 30-year lifespan. A new protein discovered by biologist Vera Gorbunova may help explain why.