Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing new technologies for understanding the brain, including high-throughput fluorescence synapse quantitation and a confocal fluorescence microscopy data repository. They aim to identify how and where synapses develop and change to understand learning, development, and disease.
Carnegie Mellon University engineers have developed a high-density EEG system that captures neural activity at a higher spatial resolution than ever before. The new technology has the potential to improve source detection in epilepsy and enhance our understanding of brain function.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a new method to improve chemotherapy nanodrug delivery by using an FDA-approved nutrition source. This approach reduces toxic side-effects and increases the amount of drugs reaching tumor cells.
A new tool has been developed to evaluate a worker's skillset and determine its impact on wages. Workers with diverse, combined skills tend to earn higher wages. The tool helps job searchers better position themselves in the market by providing a better way to characterize worker skill sets.
The new software, called Scallop, can reconstruct complete RNA transcripts from fragments of RNA sequences with improved accuracy. This advancement will help scientists better understand the regulation of gene expression.
Carnegie Mellon University researcher Kasey Creswell has received a $1.9 million NIH grant to investigate the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in young adults. The study will examine how participants respond to alcohol in a laboratory setting and translate findings to daily life experiences.
A new approach identifies concept alterations associated with suicidal ideation and behavior, using machine-learning algorithms to assess neural representation of specific concepts. The study accurately identified 91% of participants with suicidal tendencies, and 94% of those who had attempted suicide.
A study by Carnegie Mellon University found that a mindfulness meditation mobile app with an acceptance training component reduces cortisol and systolic blood pressure in response to stress. The app was shown to lower blood pressure responses by approximately 20% and cortisol responses by more than 50%.
Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Human Rights Science has received a $100,000 grant from Open Society Foundations to explore the positive impact of emerging technologies on human rights. The grant will enable the center to catalog and share developing technologies with the broader human rights community.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing a system that relays information from smartphones to smart traffic signals, allowing for real-time adjustments to accommodate users with visual or other disabilities. The system aims to provide extra time for pedestrians to cross streets and potentially help users catch buses.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University created a service called PrivacyStreams that enables app developers to access smartphone data without revealing private information. The service allows developers to sample and transform personal data into desired outputs, ensuring users' privacy is maintained.
A new app developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers allows users to control access to third-party libraries, which helps app developers make money by targeting people with ads or compiling marketing profiles. This approach promises to be an effective way of limiting the unwanted release of personal information.
A new study on Brazil's labor market reveals that workers in industries facing increased competition from imports experience stagnant wages and employment growth for 15 years. The research found that the costs of freer trade are unevenly distributed across regions, with differences growing over time.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people's beliefs about scientifically-associated topics become increasingly polarized with education. Education was correlated with both political and religious identity for some issues, while others showed a correlation only with political identity.
A report suggests that behavioral science can be used to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of American healthcare by encouraging healthier lifestyles and insurance plan enrollment. The study proposes policy recommendations for employers, insurers, and policymakers to reduce costs and promote evidence-based treatments.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people with supportive spouses are more likely to take on potentially rewarding challenges, leading to personal growth and happiness. Those who experienced a supportive relationship had better psychological well-being and relationship functioning months later.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a method for computers to mine databases of patents, inventions, and research papers to identify ideas that can be repurposed. This approach uses crowdsourcing and deep learning to analyze product descriptions and find analogous products, leading to innovative solutions.
A new study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers found that environmental regulations can reduce pollution emissions from urbanization without hindering economic growth. The study used annual data on air quality and economic indicators to assess the impact of stricter pollution standards, finding no negative effect on GDP.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed an approach to quickly and cheaply remove over 99% of bisphenol A (BPA) from water. The solution involves combining TAML activators with hydrogen peroxide, breaking down harmful chemicals in water.
The retirement of aging power plants will complicate achieving long-term carbon dioxide emission reduction targets and require significant capital investments. The study found that younger coal plants tend to retire earlier than older ones, creating an imbalance in investment emphasis between generating capacity and emissions reductions.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a computer that can understand body poses and movements of multiple people in real-time, including finger poses, using a single camera and laptop. This enables new ways for people and machines to interact, such as more natural communication with computers by pointing at objects.
Researchers use machine learning algorithms with brain imaging technology to identify complex thoughts, such as 'The witness shouted during the trial.' The study found that the mind's building blocks for constructing complex thoughts are formed by the brain's various sub-systems and are not word-based. With an accuracy rate of 87%, the...
A team of researchers led by Carnegie Mellon University chemist Roberto R. Gil and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco chemist Armando Navarro-Vázquez has developed a program that automates the process of figuring out a molecule's three-dimensional structure, reducing human error and shortening the pipeline of drug discovery.
A team of chemists led by Carnegie Mellon University's Rongchao Jin developed a site-specific surgery method to precisely tailor nanoparticles' properties. The technique, published in Science Advances, increases photoluminescence by about 10-fold and enhances catalytic activity.
A study by Carnegie Mellon University found that adults from families where parents were separated and never spoke during childhood are more susceptible to respiratory illnesses. The team's research suggests that early life stress can increase inflammation and heighten the risk of chronic illness.
The new tool enables users to build customized legged or wheeled robots using 3D-printed components and off-the-shelf actuators. It provides a physical simulation environment to test the robot before fabrication, allowing for iterative design adjustments.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created a plug-in sensor package that can transform any room into a smart environment, detecting various phenomena such as sounds, vibration, and temperature. The 'Synthetic Sensors' approach uses machine learning techniques to combine raw sensor feeds and identify dozens of events and obj...
Behavioral economists argue that straight salary-based compensation could reduce over-provision of medical services, benefiting patients. Several high-quality health systems already use this model, which may also improve physician job satisfaction.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have identified two groups of neurons that can be targeted with optogenetics to alleviate Parkinson's disease symptoms. By activating these cells, they were able to restore movement for at least four hours, significantly longer than current treatments.
Electrick, a low-cost touch sensing technology, can turn objects of almost any shape into touchpads. The system uses electric field tomography to sense finger touches and detect locations with an accuracy of one centimeter.
New research shows that limiting pharmaceutical sales representatives' marketing tactics changes their drug prescribing behaviors, with a significant decrease in the market share of detailed drugs. The study found that restrictions on gifts and meals led to physicians switching to generic, significantly cheaper drugs.
A collaborative effort between psychologists and economists reveals that combining both disciplines leads to better understanding of decisions. The research focuses on individuals' expectations for major life events, such as finding work or having children, and shows that teens are capable of estimating numerical probabilities with acc...
The study emphasizes the need for new labor data to assess and predict how computer and robotic technologies affect workplaces. Researchers recommend focusing on uniquely human characteristics in education and training to prepare students for a constantly changing workforce.
A new method developed by Deva Ramanan and Peiyun Hu reduces error rates for detecting tiny faces in images by a factor of two, resulting in 81% accuracy. The approach leverages context, including body shapes and crowd compositions, to improve object detection.
A recent study published in PNAS found that adult humans' subcortex can process numbers at the same level as infants and other lower-order species. The researchers used a stereoscope to present visual stimuli to one eye or both eyes and observed that numerical judgments were better when the quantities differed greatly.
Research reveals that people deliberately avoid information that challenges their beliefs, leading to harm in individual wellbeing and societal polarization. By understanding the reasons behind information avoidance, governments and firms can develop effective strategies to reach their audiences.
A new study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers found that group tolerance is linked to perceptions of fairness and harm. People are more willing to coexist with others from different groups if they believe in universal moral values like fairness and harm.
A new computational method called Salmon can improve the accuracy of gene expression analyses by correcting for technical biases. This is particularly important for applications such as cancer diagnosis and disease subtyping, where gene expression plays a critical role.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Magee-Womens Research Institute have developed a framework to understand vesicle formation, which can help create non-invasive diagnostic tools like liquid biopsies. The study also provides insights into optimizing artificial vesicles for drug delivery devices.
A new mathematical theorem developed by Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh mathematicians proves that Pennsylvania's congressional district maps are likely the result of gerrymandering. The researchers used a Markov chain to analyze the characteristics of the current map, comparing it to randomly generated typical ...
A recent Carnegie Mellon University study found that married individuals have lower cortisol levels than those who are single, divorced, or widowed. This biological evidence supports the notion that unmarried people face more psychological stress than their married counterparts.
Researchers propose creating a phased regulatory system for autonomous vehicles, mirroring the drug approval process to ensure safety and reliability. This approach would involve pre-clinical trials, in-human studies, and monitored testing before easing restrictions.
Four experts propose a strategy for terrorism research that combines theoretically informed fieldwork with policy-making, aiming to protect academic integrity from politics and inform effective countermeasures. They outline the need for national institutional review boards to ensure legal and ethical standards in research, grounded in ...
Carnegie Mellon scientists develop synthetic gold nanoparticles with hierarchical structures similar to proteins, revealing mechanisms of self-assembly and potential applications in drug delivery and electronics. The study achieves the complexity of protein molecules through atomic-level understanding.
A study published in PNAS used MEG and computational methods to measure real-time brain processes converting face appearance into recognition. The research team mapped brain activity for each point in time, identifying which parts of the brain encode appearance-based information versus identity-based information.
A new imaging technique has confirmed that each person's brain structure is unique, allowing for nearly perfect identification. The study also shows the brain's unique pattern changes over time.
A new analysis system developed by Carnegie Mellon University found that nearly half of popular free apps lack a privacy policy, despite processing personally identifiable information. The system also identified inconsistencies in the policies of those that do exist.
A study published in NeuroImage found that brain activation patterns are the same when decoding sentences in English and Portuguese. The research team developed a machine-learning algorithm to recognize sentence meaning in Portuguese based on neural activation patterns learned from English, achieving 67% accuracy.
A new gene-editing system successfully cured a genetic blood disorder in living mice, offering a minimally invasive treatment for beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. The technology significantly decreases unwanted gene mutations and uses FDA-approved nanoparticles to deliver PNA molecules.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University discovered that semi-volatile organic compounds can easily diffuse between atmospheric particles, altering their behavior. The findings provide greater understanding of how these particles change in the atmosphere, crucial for understanding their impact on environment and human health.