What do a ketchup bottle and balloons have to do with robots? That was the opening question of an NPO Radio 1 broadcast in which Bas Overvelde, leader of AMOLF’s Soft Robotic Matter Group, appeared. Bas was interviewed in ‘De Nacht van NTR Wetenschap’ to discuss the life-saving potential of soft robots. These flexible robots, made from soft materials, can adapt to their environment and respond to touch. While they’re gentle enough to pick fruit without damage, their potential goes far beyond: by mimicking the human heart, researchers aim to develop a hybrid robotic heart, offering hope for heart failure patients awaiting transplants.
Replay the audio or watch a video recording of the show (in Dutch).
The EU Pathfinder project Electron Beams Enhancing Analytical Microscopy (EBEAM) that was recently completed has received a highly positive review of the European Innovation Council (EIC). EBEAM brought together eight European research institutions and companies, including AMOLF, that develop new concepts and instruments combining spectroscopic analysis with electron microscopy.
Organoids are instrumental in improving our understanding of processes that are otherwise hidden inside the body. For instance, these small 3D organs can be used to test medicines on tissue grown from a patient’s own cells. AMOLF researchers carry out unique and complex experiments to follow organoids in time. In order to enable other researchers to benefit from their experiences, they now publish their methods in the prestigious journal Nature Protocols.
This year at the opening of the parliamentary year (Prinsjesdag) Minister of Education, Culture and Science Rianne Letschert wears a spectacular hat and shoulder ornament. Both of them are inspired by the microscopic structures studied by group leader Wim Noorduin (AMOLF/UvA), which look remarkably like tiny flowers under a microscope. Artist and designer Malou Beemer translated these shapes, normally invisible to the naked eye, into wearable art.
Why do brains learn, but rocks do not? Could a material one day adapt to its environment the way a living organism does? AMOLF group leader Dr. Nachi Stern has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to investigate the physical laws of learning, in a project called, “Physical Learning in Dynamical Systems.”
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