When I was little, my cousin introduced me to Star Wars. I loved how Jedi’s could move things without touching them and had lightsabers. In this project, we try to move things without touching them using lasers, that’s good enough for me!

On a more serious note, I saw this project as a great chance to be involved first hand in all the steps required to take a scientific experiment from just an idea to a real experiment. Having the support and contribution of ESA and the team has made this an ideal situation to test some of the skills that are required in a scientist but are usually a prerogative of professors and principal investigators.

Scientists at the University of Texas have developed a tattoo that can read and monitor various bodily statistics related to the heart and brain.

Researchers say that the ultra-thin Graphene Electronic Tattoo (GET) is stretchable and has an ultra low areal mass density that stays in contact with the skin and keep itself intact without any need for adhesives for several hours.

Gas sensors play an important role in a wide range of both home and industrial applications such as gas leakage detection, air-quality monitoring and breath-analysis. Among the various types of gas sensors, chemiresistors are probably the most promising due to their easy fabrication, low cost, high sensitivity and wide detection range. Gas sensors can complement as an alternative to more sophisticated instruments or systems for various detection purposes.

Insulin is a rather small molecule (molecular weight 5.8 kD) and weakly charged in solution (isoelectric point 5.8) and therefore, low concentrations (<1 µM) are difficult to detect using traditional (e.g., electrochemical) methods.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut, assisted by ones from the University of Akron, have patented a unique process for exfoliating graphene, as well as manufacturing innovative graphene nanocomposites that have potential uses in a variety of applications.