Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago get over $1 million to develop an early warning system to detect COVID-19 outbreaks by analyzing wastewater.
Rabiah Mayas, vice president of education and guest experiences at the Museum of Science and Industry, tells us about that and other science stories making headlines.
Get a summary of each story below. Click the headlines to read more.
Monitoring Sewage to Forecast COVID-19 Outbreaks in Chicago
A team of researchers led by the University of Illinois at Chicago is working to develop a system that would forecast the community spread of COVID-19 in Chicago via analysis of wastewater.
It turns out that the virus is detectable in human waste several days prior to the development of symptoms. The ultimate goal is to use the analysis of wastewater as an early warning system to spot outbreaks of the coronavirus.
3D Printed Heart Could Be Used to Train Future Surgeons
A surgically realistic, 3D-printed heart that could be used to train future surgeons ahead of complex surgery has been developed by researchers who reported their finding in an American Chemical Society journal. While it’s not the first human heart to be 3D-printed, it is the first that accurately replicates the feel of natural tissue. The researchers developed a new 3D-printing technique that utilizes a gelatin bath to support the delicate structure of the heart as it is being printed.
Caltech professor Lihong Wang has developed a new 3D camera that is capable of shooting video at up to 100 billion frames per second — fast enough to film the movement of light. Wang says the camera’s ability to capture high-speed three-dimensional imagery “makes it a powerful tool that may be applicable to a wide variety of scientific problems.”
