Science & Technology

New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection

Megan Maneval — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:50:25 +0000

New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection Megan Maneval Fri, 08/15/2025 - 11:50

College of Engineering and Applied Science

Researchers at CU ��ý�� have developed a new bio-imaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.

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‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles

Amber Elise Carlson — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:09:03 +0000

‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles Amber Elise Carlson Thu, 08/14/2025 - 12:09

Amber Carlson

Nicole Xu stands behind the main jellyfish tank in her lab. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)

In a towering aquarium in a darkened laboratory, moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) hover as if floating in space.

The glow of neon lights illuminates their translucent, bell-shaped bodies as they expand and contract rhythmically, their graceful tentacles flowing in wavelike patterns.

CU ��ý�� engineer Nicole Xu watches them with fondness. Xu, an assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, first became fascinated with moon jellies more than a decade ago because of their extraordinary swimming abilities. Today, Xu has developed a way to harness their efficiency and ease at moving through the water in ways that could make some types of aquatic research much easier.

She fits the jellies with microelectronic devices that activate key swimming muscles, enabling researchers to steer them toward remote ocean areas that are hard to access in any other way. Eventually, she plans to add sensors to the devices that can gather critical data on temperature, pH and other environmental characteristics.

“Think of our device like a pacemaker on the heart,” Xu said. “We're stimulating the swim muscle by causing contractions and turning the animals toward a certain direction.”

Going where humans can’t go

Nicole Xu reaches her hand into the tank and touches one of the moon jellyfish. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)

As climate change accelerates, ocean waters are becoming less hospitable for a variety of marine life. The ocean is getting warmer and more acidic as it absorbs growing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Measuring changes in the ocean is essential to understanding how human activities are impacting all life on Earth. But because the ocean is so vast and deep, some parts are hard to study without prohibitively expensive equipment. The cyborg jellies could offer a way for humans to wade into these relatively uncharted waters.

Moon jellyfish are the most energy-efficient animals on the planet. They’re prehistoric, with a simple body structure that has stayed the same for more than 500 million years. As invertebrates, they also lack a brain or spinal cord, though they do have basic organs and a pair of overlapping nerve nets. Importantly, the jellies do not have nociceptors, or sensory receptors that can detect potentially harmful stimuli.

Moon jellies can range from a centimeter to more than a foot in diameter. Their short, fine tentacles help them sting and catch prey like zooplankton, crustacean larvae and small fish. But thankfully for Xu, their sting cells can’t penetrate human skin.

Though they’re often found near coastlines, close to their favorite food sources, moon jellies live in diverse habitats worldwide and can swim to incredible depths: They’ve been found in some of the lowest places on Earth, including the Mariana Trench, which sits roughly 36,000 feet beneath the western Pacific Ocean’s surface at its deepest point.

Xu co-created the biohybrid robotic jellyfish concept with her former academic advisor about five years ago, and she first tested them in the field in 2020, steering them around shallow ocean waters off the coast of Woods Hole, Mass.

On top of the implications for ocean and climate research, Xu believes we can draw inspiration from the jellyfish.

“There’s really something special about the way moon jellies swim. We want to unlock that to create more energy-efficient, next-generation underwater vehicles,” she said.

Striving for ethical research

From left: Nicole Xu and graduate students Marshall Graybill and Charlie Fraga stand next to the main jellyfish tank in Xu's lab. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)

Today, Xu spends much of her time studying precisely how moon jellies move through the water with such ease.

Xu, research associate Yunxing Su and graduate student Mija Jovchevska published a new study late last month that involved adding biodegradable particles to a jellyfish tank. The researchers then shone a laser through the tank to illuminate the suspended particles in the water and visualize how water flows when jellies swim.

In the past, researchers have used synthetic tracers such as silver-coated glass beads to look at underwater flow patterns, but the new study suggests biodegradable particles, such as corn starch, could be more sustainable, more affordable and less toxic alternatives.

She and graduate student Charlie Fraga are also working on making the jellyfish easier to steer in the wild. Going forward, Xu hopes to design other nature-inspired tools for studying the ocean.

There’s more to learn about the ethics of studying invertebrates. In a paper published earlier this year, Xu and others pointed out the need for more investigation of how research affects invertebrates. It was once widely believed that invertebrates couldn’t feel pain, but there is growing evidence that some do react to aversive stimuli.

Through all of her research, Xu says she strives to minimize harm to the animals she works with. When they’re stressed, moon jellies may secrete extra mucus, and they often stop reproducing. But Xu’s jellies have not shown increased mucus production, and small polyps—baby jellyfish the size of a pinhead whose tentacles are just beginning to form—line the inside of Xu’s jellyfish tanks.

“It's our responsibility as researchers to think about these ethical considerations up front,” Xu said. “But as far as we can tell, the jellyfish are doing well. They're thriving.”

CU ��ý�� engineer Nicole Xu fits moon jellyfish with microelectronic devices that enhance their natural swimming ability and will one day be able to gather data.

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Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf?

Megan Maneval — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:16:22 +0000

Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf? Megan Maneval Tue, 07/29/2025 - 10:16

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf—but should it? A CU ��ý�� environmental studies and philosophy professor says the answer is complicated.

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Researchers test the trustworthiness of AI—by playing sudoku

Daniel William Strain — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:15:49 +0000

Researchers test the trustworthiness of AI—by playing sudoku Daniel William… Mon, 07/28/2025 - 16:15

Daniel Strain

Artificial intelligence tools called large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, can do a lot these days—dispensing relationship advice, crafting texts to get you out of social obligations and even writing science articles.

But can they also solve your morning sudoku?

In a new study, a team of computer scientists from the ��ý�� decided to find out. The group created nearly 2,300 original sudoku puzzles, which require players to enter numbers into a grid following certain rules, then asked several AI tools to fill them in.

The results were a mixed bag. While some of the AI models could solve easy sudokus, even the best struggled to explain how they solved them—giving garbled, inaccurate or even surreal descriptions of how they arrived at their answers. The results raise questions about the trustworthiness of AI-generated information, said study co-author Maria Pacheco.

“For certain types of sudoku puzzles, most LLMs still fall short, particularly in producing explanations that are in any way usable for humans,” said Pacheco, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science. “Why did it come up with that solution? What are the steps you need to take to get there?”

She and her colleagues published their results this month in Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics.

Maria Pacheco

Fabio Somenzi

Ashutosh Trivedi

The researchers aren’t trying to cheat at puzzles. Instead, they’re using these logic exercises to explore how AI platforms think. The results could one day lead to more reliable and trustworthy computer programs, said study co-author Fabio Somenzi, professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering.

“Puzzles are fun, but they’re also a microcosm for studying the decision-making process in machine learning,” he said. “If you have AI prepare your taxes, you want to be able to explain to the IRS why the AI wrote what it wrote.”

Daily puzzle

Somenzi, who is a self-described sudoku fan, noted that the puzzles tap into a very human way of thinking. Filling out a sudoku grid requires puzzlers to learn and follow a set of logical rules. For example, you can’t enter a two in an empty square if there’s already a two in the same row or column.

Most LLMs today struggle at that kind of thinking, in large part because of how they’re trained.

To build ChatGPT, for example, programmers first fed the AI almost everything that had ever been written on the internet. When ChatGPT responds to a question, it predicts the most likely response based on all that data—almost like a computer version of rote memory.

“What they do is essentially predict the next word,” Pacheco said. “If you have the start to a sentence, what word comes next? They do that by referring to every sentence in the English language that they can get their hands on.”

Pacheco, Somenzi and their colleagues have joined a growing effort in computer science to merge those two ways of thinking—combining the memory of an LLM with a human brain’s capacity for logic, a pursuit known as “neurosymbolic” AI.

Anirudh Maiya and Razan Alghamdi, both former graduate students at CU ��ý��, were also co-authors of the new paper.

How’s the weather?

To begin, the researchers created sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty using a six-by-six grid. (A simpler version of the nine-by-nine puzzles you usually find online).

They then gave the puzzles to a series of AI models, including the preview of OpenAI’s o1 model—which, in 2023, represented the state-of-the-art for its kind of LLM.

The o1 model led the pack, solving roughly 65% of the sudoku puzzles correctly. Then the team asked the AI platforms to explain how they got their answers. That’s when the results got really wild.

“Sometimes, the AI explanations made up facts,” said Ashutosh Trivedi, a co-author of the study and associate professor of computer science at CU ��ý��. “So it might say, 'There cannot be a two here because there’s already a two in the same row,' but that wasn’t the case.”

In a telling example, the researchers were talking to one of the AI tools about solving sudoku when it, for unknown reasons, responded with a weather forecast.

“At that point, the AI had gone berserk and was completely confused,” Somenzi said.

The researchers hope to design their own AI system that can do it all—solving complicated puzzles and explaining how. They’re starting with another type of puzzle called hitori, which, like sudoku, involves a grid of numbers.

“People talk about the emerging capabilities of AI where they end up being able to solve things that you wouldn’t expect them to solve,” Pacheco said. “At the same time, it’s not surprising that they’re still bad at a lot of tasks.”

A team of computer scientists discovered that some AI large language models can solve sudoku puzzles, but even the best ones struggle to explain how they did it.

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Faster, cleaner, better: Revolutionary water treatment

Megan Maneval — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:59:14 +0000

Faster, cleaner, better: Revolutionary water treatment Megan Maneval Fri, 07/25/2025 - 06:59

College of Engineering and Applied Science

Anthony Straub is making revolutionary advances in water purification for life on Earth and in space with nanoscale membranes—thinner than 1/100th the width of a human hair.

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New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants

Amber Elise Carlson — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 04:02:09 +0000

New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants Amber Elise Carlson Wed, 07/23/2025 - 22:02

Amber Carlson

Semiconductors—substances that can selectively conduct or block electricity—have been dubbed the “brains of modern electronics.” They form the building blocks of the chips that power electronic devices from laptops to smartphones and tablets to sports watches.

But semiconductors generate heat when they’re working, and they can easily get too hot, which hurts their performance and can damage them. While smaller chips are denser and more efficient at processing, they are harder to keep cool because of their size.

Sanghamitra Neogi, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department, is exploring ways to protect semiconductors and microchips from heat damage. She specializes in nanoscale semiconductors, which are so tiny their parts are measured in nanometers (billionths of a meter).

Sanghamitra Neogi speaks about her startup, AtomTCAD Inc., at CU ��ý��'s Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase on June 25, 2025. (Credit: Casey Cass/CU ��ý��)

Neogi and her research group, CUANTAM Laboratory, have developed a sophisticated software called AtomThermCAD that can predict how the materials in a microchip respond to heat, which determines whether the chip will ultimately fail from overheating. AtomThermCAD is short for Atom-to-Device Thermal Computer Aided Design software for nanometer-scale semiconductor devices. The research behind this software was primarily supported by a $1 million DARPA MTO Thermonat grant awarded between 2023 and 2025.

Earlier this year, Neogi launched a startup to bring the software to market for semiconductor manufacturers and other customers. To kickstart her new company, AtomTCAD Inc., Neogi received $150,000 in recent grant funding from the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT, matched by another $50,000 from Venture Partners at CU ��ý��, which helps CU faculty and researchers turn their discoveries into startups and partnerships through funding and entrepreneurial support.

The grant from OEDIT was an advanced industries proof-of-concept grant for researchers in advanced industries. Managed by OEDIT’s Global Business Development division, this funding is intended to accelerate innovation, promote public-private partnerships and encourage commercialization of products and services to strengthen Colorado’s economy.

OEDIT Executive Director Eve Lieberman said that Neogi’s work will benefit the entire semiconductor industry, a rapidly growing segment of Colorado’s economy.

“Dr. Neogi’s research addresses one of the industry’s toughest challenges by improving heat management at the nanoscale, which boosts chip performance and supports the growth of Colorado’s advanced technology sector,” Lieberman said.

Chip designers use software like Neogi’s to test their designs without needing to actually build the chips. But unlike most chip design software, AtomThermCAD uses AI-accelerated quantum physics calculations to model the semiconductors and their components at an atomic level so it can accurately predict whether semiconductors or transistors too small to be seen by the naked eye will overheat.

The software could accelerate technological advancement by saving chip designers months, if not years, of time they previously had to spend developing and testing their designs.

Neogi drew on her expertise in physics and quantum technology to develop the software. She said as microchip components get smaller and smaller, approaching the level of individual atoms, researchers need to look to quantum physics to understand how the components behave.

Neogi also feels her approach could have applications beyond microchip development.

“What we developed is a method where you can model the thermal phenomena of any kind of nanoscale tech device,” she said. “Beyond microchips, it could be nanoscale medical devices and implants inside your body, or even drug delivery systems.”

Beyond the story

Our quantum impact by the numbers:

60-plus years as the regional epicenter for quantum research
4 Nobel prizes in physics awarded to university researchers
No. 11 quantum physics program in the nation and co-leader on the new Quantum Incubator facility

Follow CU ��ý�� on LinkedIn

Sanghamitra Neogi in CU ��ý��’s aerospace engineering department will use $200,000 in grant funding to launch a startup in which she will offer software that uses quantum physics to model microchip designs.

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Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors

Megan Maneval — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:44:09 +0000

Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors Megan Maneval Fri, 07/18/2025 - 07:44

College of Engineering and Applied Science

Nearly 80% of stroke survivors experience walking issues and many turn to ankle braces for support, but the functionality of these braces is still very limited. Assistant Professor Cara Welker is leading a new, collaborative research project that aims to transform the way these assistive devices are designed.

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New research explores tinkering as a key classroom learning method

Megan Maneval — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:39:30 +0000

New research explores tinkering as a key classroom learning method Megan Maneval Fri, 07/18/2025 - 07:39

Doctoral student Krithik Ranjan analyzed 33 student learning tools and developed a “spectrum of tinkerability” that offers designers new ways to think about teaching computational skills.

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Quantum Forge students gain industry experience with Xairos

Megan Maneval — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:50:40 +0000

Quantum Forge students gain industry experience with Xairos Megan Maneval Tue, 07/15/2025 - 10:50

Four seniors in the Quantum Forge class at CU ��ý�� recently completed their year-long project with Xairos Systems, Inc., giving them an inside look at working in the industry.

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Symposium advances structural engineering toward zero carbon

Megan Maneval — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:19:50 +0000

Symposium advances structural engineering toward zero carbon Megan Maneval Wed, 07/09/2025 - 07:19

College of Engineering and Applied Science

A recent event, which drew 166 participants to the CU ��ý�� campus, marked an industry-wide step toward cutting emissions tied to building materials like steel and concrete.

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Science & Technology

New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection

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