https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Eindhoven University of Technology Heart to the left. Liver to the right. That's where you'll find these organs in a healthy human body, but surprisingly, in some people, the heart is on the right and the liver on the left. This normal or abnormal asymmetry can be traced back to your embryonic stage. In the early days of your development, a small fluid-filled cavity known as an embryonic node forms in your embryo. Inside, tiny micro-hairs known as cilia create a flow pattern that steers where organs grow in your body. However, the science behind this flow process has remained a mystery until now. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tiny-rotating-hairs-microscopic-cavity.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:00:04 EDT news693750242 Better insulation and ventilation in social housing mean thousands of children no longer need medication for asthma or allergies. This is the conclusion of a large-scale study involving 2 million people, monitored for 10 years by researchers from TU/e and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). It is the first study to show on a large scale that making homes more sustainable leads to health benefits. The researchers published their results on March 12 in The Lancet Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-healthier-homes-inhalers-large-scale.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:40:01 EDT news692892542 In crowds, most people are strangers to you, and everyone else for that matter. However, until now, the effect of stranger-to-stranger interactions on the choices people make in crowds has not been properly examined. Ziqi Wang and Federico Toschi from the TU/e Department of Applied Physics and Science Education, along with Alessandro Gabbana at the University of Ferrara in Italy, explored how strangers influence people's choices in crowds at Eindhoven Centraal railway station. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-choices-crowds-station-strangers.html Mathematics Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:58:15 EST news690818281 How do you make the complex reality of chips and electronics accessible to a broad audience? TU/e researcher Elles Raaijmakers believes an educational game can do just that. In the game I.C. Tycoon (working title), players take on the role of chip designer and manufacturer. They work for demanding clients and solve problems that are surprisingly close to reality. The project is led by postdoc Raaijmakers, under the guidance of experienced TU/e professor Peter Baltus. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-logic-science-tangible-classroom.html Education Thu, 19 Feb 2026 08:54:21 EST news690713641 A new wearable technology could change how unborn babies are monitored at home. Ph.D. researcher Yijing Zhang (Department of Electrical Engineering) has developed a comfortable, portable garment that allows pregnant women to measure their baby's heartbeat without the need for sticky, uncomfortable gel-based electrode sensors or direct skin contact. The integrated dry electrodes work through clothing, making the process simple and suitable for everyday use. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-wearable-heart-unborn-baby-home.html Cardiology Fri, 09 Jan 2026 09:53:40 EST news687174781 Temperatures of more than 10,000°C and a hail of charged particles from the fusion fuel (plasma): These are extreme conditions that the exhaust wall (divertor) of future fusion power plants will need to withstand. It makes handling the exhaust stream one of the main challenges to realizing clean, safe and affordable commercial fusion power plants. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-super-major-advantages-hot-exhaust.html Plasma Physics Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:19:04 EDT news676545542 What if recycling plastics were as simple as flicking a switch? At TU/e, Assistant Professor Fabian Eisenreich is making that vision a reality by using LED light to both create and break down a new class of high-performance plastics. This innovative material enables truly circular recycling, as this process can be repeated over and over again, without any loss in quality. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-plastics-chemists-rethink-plastic-recycling.html Polymers Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:58:47 EDT news674470715 Thanks to a new technique, neurosurgeons at UMC Utrecht have been able to watch the blood flow in brain tissue live during surgery for the first time. Together with researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, they have developed a method that allows them to detect the risk of a stroke during surgery sooner—and potentially prevent it. The technique could also be useful for other types of operations, such as kidney transplants. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-ultrasound-technique-surgeons-brain-blood.html Neuroscience Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:00:04 EDT news672578602 Pregnant women undergo all kinds of medical checks. This is to monitor the health of both the mother and child and to detect potential abnormalities as early as possible. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-mathematical-perspective-insight-placenta-role.html Medical research Fri, 04 Jul 2025 06:06:44 EDT news670828000 It's every top athlete's worst nightmare: an anterior cruciate ligament injury. TU/e researcher Janne Spierings developed a new protocol for cruciate ligament grafts that should reduce complications. On Monday June 23, she defended her dissertation at the Department of Biomedical Engineering. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-acl-grafts-stronger-knee.html Surgery Tue, 24 Jun 2025 16:40:03 EDT news670000525 Due to strict environmental regulations, farmers are not allowed to spread all of their manure on their land. At the same time, they use synthetic fertilizers to provide their crops with sufficient nutrients. The result: a growing manure surplus and the loss of valuable nutrients. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-circular-agriculture-nutrient-manure.html Agriculture Sun, 08 Jun 2025 13:50:01 EDT news668436103 What if we could monitor patients in the future without taking blood samples every time? TU/e researcher Sophie Adelaars investigated a promising alternative: measuring biomarkers in sweat and saliva. In May 2025, she defended her thesis at the Department of Electrical Engineering. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-saliva-alternative-blood-sampling.html Medical research Fri, 16 May 2025 12:10:07 EDT news666616202 Researchers from TU/e have transmitted data between the TU/e campus and the High Tech Campus over a 4.6 km distance using infrared light. This happened at the astonishing rate of 5.7 terabits per second, the equivalent of streaming 1.9 million Netflix shows in HD simultaneously. This is the fastest wireless data transmission ever demonstrated over this big a distance in an urban setting. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-invisible-eindhoven-super-fast-wireless.html Telecom Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:23:04 EDT news663506582 Depression affects millions of people worldwide, but much is still unknown about this illness and treatments don't always work. Ph.D. candidate Jesper Pilmeyer examined patients' brains using MRI technology. The patterns he discovered in the brain scans can help make a more accurate diagnosis and predict how the illness will progress. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-mri-scans-dynamic-brain-patterns.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:04:04 EDT news662659441 Xolography is a novel light printing technique that has been explored for dental products and in-space manufacturing. At Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), this technique has now been adapted to 3D print living cells. This research can pave the way for 3D-printed kidneys and muscle tissue. The team pioneered the Xolography-based method to produce tiny structures with features as small as 20 µm—approximately the size of a human cell. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-xolography-based-method-enables-3d.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 27 Feb 2025 15:55:28 EST news659894124 In the Netherlands, we face an increasing diversity of vehicles on the bike paths, from (e-)cargo bikes, (e-)mopeds to fatbikes. This leads to concerns about crowding and safety. Accidents and conflicts between these different forms of mobility are common. The crux of the problem: cars take up 50% of the urban space in the Netherlands. And that leaves too little space for other vehicles. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-02-experts-debate-mobility-overshadows-real.html Automotive Mon, 17 Feb 2025 16:55:04 EST news659033702 A large research team led by nanotechnologist Roy van der Meel rebuilt the body's own proteins and fats into nano-delivery vans that get genetic medicines to exactly the right place in the body. In a joint effort with researchers from Radboudumc, they worked for five years on this nanotransport system, the results of which were published in Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-nature-nanotechnology-body-courier-genetic.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 03 Feb 2025 11:33:06 EST news657804781 Patients with a glioma, a type of malignant brain tumor, can suffer from cognitive problems after surgery. However, the true effect of surgery on complex cognitive tasks is not known. To predict the effects of surgery on cognitive tasks, Ph.D. researcher Lars Smolders developed an AI model that utilizes information about neural connections in the brain extracted from the patient's MRI images before surgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-ai-effects-brain-tumor-surgery.html Oncology & Cancer Fri, 24 Jan 2025 12:06:05 EST news656942762 Just like your body has a skeleton, every cell in your body has a skeleton—a cytoskeleton to be precise. This provides cells with mechanical resilience, as well as assisting with cell division. To understand how real cells work, e.g. for drug and disease research, researchers create artificial cells in the laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-polymer-based-network-artificial-cells.html Biochemistry Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:50:51 EST news655487446 Your body is one of the most complex natural structures ever. Billions of cells are put together in a specific way with the result being you. If you look closely between the cells you'll find the extracellular matrix, a gel-like environment where cells reside and which helps them to talk to each other. However, when disease strikes, cells and the matrix alike can be irreparably damaged, which could lead to the loss of cell function. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-supramolecular-scaffolds-growth-human-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 24 Dec 2024 11:27:55 EST news654262070 Imagine you have a virtual copy of your own body. This digital twin, an accurate computer model, can help doctors better understand your health, personalize treatments, and intervene earlier to prevent more significant problems. What sounds like science fiction now is becoming more and more of a reality, and in the (distant) future, it could revolutionize health care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-digital-twins-tailored-health-future.html Cardiology Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:55:03 EDT news649684501 Thanks to a newly developed surgical robot, reconstructive surgery can be performed more safely and accurately in the future. This is also expected to lead to fewer complications and faster patient recovery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-precision-robot-reconstructive-microsurgery.html Surgery Mon, 21 Oct 2024 12:45:03 EDT news648733501 Drawing in the organs of individual breast cancer patients and then creating precise radiation plans appears to be faster by using artificial intelligence (AI) models. That way, it remains just as reliable and accurate. It saves considerable time per patient—a pleasant conclusion with current health care developments in mind. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-ai-generated-treatment-breast-cancer.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:27:04 EDT news646579621 Robots are widely used in the automotive industry and have started entering new application domains such as logistics in the last few years. However, current robots still face many limitations. They typically perform a single action or a fixed sequence of actions, repeating them the same way each time. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-qa-robots-interact-humans.html Robotics Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:37:48 EDT news646414655 At the beginning of the 20th century, the invention of X-ray imaging provided a leap of knowledge in medical science. Since then, we can see how our body's bones work, bringing numerous new treatments to light. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-neutron-imaging-redox-battery.html Energy & Green Tech Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:16:55 EDT news644840191 The summer holidays are ending, which for many concludes with a long drive home and reliance on GPS devices to get safely home. But every now and then, GPS devices can suggest strange directions or get briefly confused about your location. But until now, no one knew for sure when the satellites were in a good enough position for the GPS system to give reliable direction. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-mathematicians-debunk-gps-assumptions.html Mathematics Wed, 28 Aug 2024 13:19:04 EDT news644069941 Therapeutic proteins have been increasingly used in recent years to treat cancer, HIV, and other diseases. A challenge with these types of drugs is that the release is rapid and thus the medicine must be administered frequently. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-method-enables-gradual-protein-drugs.html Biochemistry Fri, 09 Aug 2024 09:59:03 EDT news642416339 Within an international collaboration of 30 scientists, TU/e professors Jan van Hest and Willem Mulder are working on nanotechnological research to accurately stimulate the immune system. The TU/e team is focusing on the behavior of polymersomes that accumulate in the spleen and are taken up by special white blood cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-polymersomes-potential-cancer-immunotherapy.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:09:50 EDT news641718585 Large-scale neural network models form the basis of many AI-based technologies such as neuromorphic chips, which are inspired by the human brain. Training these networks can be tedious, time-consuming, and energy-inefficient given that the model is often first trained on a computer and then transferred to the chip. This limits the application and efficiency of neuromorphic chips. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-neural-network-easy-smart-hardware.html Hardware Mon, 15 Jul 2024 08:29:18 EDT news640250950 Eindhoven researchers have developed a soft robotic "hand" made from liquid crystals and graphene that could be used to design future surgical robots. The new work has just been published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-06-soft-robotic-gripper-graphene-liquid.html Robotics Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:44:23 EDT news637933460