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December, 2013

Making waves: In the hunt for invisibility

Dec. 25, 2013—A new way of assembling things, called metamaterials, may in the not too distant future help to protect a building from earthquakes by bending seismic waves around it, similar to the principle applied to light waves in invisibility cloaks. Jason Valentine, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has developed such an invisibility cloak and is quoted. KEEP...

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Biodegradable scaffold may spur wound healing

Dec. 19, 2013—  From left, Scott Guelcher, Ph.D., Jeffrey Davidson, Ph.D., Christopher Nelson and Craig Duvall, Ph.D., showed that an enzyme-blocking molecule released by a biodegradable scaffold can enhance wound healing in a mouse model. (photo by Susan Urmy) Biomedical and chemical engineers at Vanderbilt University, working with a pathologist, have constructed a sponge-like, biodegradable tissue “scaffold”...

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