Air Force plans to improve military aircraft through study of bat flightThe U.S. Air Force is investing $6 million over the next five years to study the flight of bats in a project led by Associate Professor of Biology Sharon Swartz. The study will focus on the flight of pregnant female bats, and researchers hope that understanding the physics of carrying so much weight in flight could help aircraft designers improve current aircraft models.
The research team has already reported that bats can execute airborne maneuvers that birds and planes cannot while carrying up to 50 percent of their weight. They hypothesize that hundreds of tiny sensors covering bats' wings might be the key to their airborne maneuvers. Researchers have also found that bats can fly with badly damaged wings and show no discernible changes in flight control.
This project is funded by a pool of federal money recently allocated for the support of basic academic research into new technologies that have potential military applications.
Professor helps create removable tattooProfessor of Medical Science Edith Mathiowitz has created tiny microcapsules as small as the point of a pin, which can carry medicines, genes, paints or any other molecule that requires protection or controlled release. The devices will be used to make ink for the first durable but removable tattoo. The technique of suspending particles in biodegradable coatings has been used in the past for drug delivery.
The University recently signed a licensing agreement with Freedom-2 Holdings Inc., giving the company rights to make and sell the ink. Funding from the company has allowed Mathiowitz and her team to create dye-filled, microencapsulated beads for Freedom-2 tattoo inks. A single laser treatment breaks the polymer beads, allowing the body to naturally expel the dye trapped inside the microcapsules. Traditionally, it takes six or seven laser treatments to remove a tattoo.
One in 10 hospice patients referred "too late," U. researchers findA new study found that one in 10 hospice patients are referred "too late" to receive the full benefits of the intervention, resulting in unmet needs in the areas of pain relief and emotional support. Many patients are not referred to hospice care until the last 24 to 48 hours of life, said Joan Teno, professor of community health and medicine and associate medical director at Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island.
Teno surveyed bereaved family members to gauge the quality of hospice programs, collecting information from over 100,000 surveys. The research team included Janet Shu '02 MD'07 and Ramona Rhodes MPH'06, assistant professor of medicine and an attending physician at Rhode Island Hospital.
