Twitter has broken news stories, launched and ended careers, started social movements and toppled governments, all by being an easy, direct and immediate way for people to share what’s on their minds.

To survive and fulfill their biological functions, cells need to take in material from their environment. In this process, proteins within the cell pull inward on its membrane, forming a pit that eventually encapsulates the material in a bubble called a vesicle.

Biosensors—electronic devices that can detect the presence of proteins and other biological molecules—have a wide variety of applications, from medical diagnostics and food safety, to security and law enforcement. But current biosensors need to be custom-built to detect a specific target.

One of nanotechnology’s greatest promises is interacting with the biological world the way our own cells do, but current biosensors must be tailor-made to detect the presence of one type of protein, the identity of which must be known in advance.      

By Madeleine Stone  @themadstone       While final exams can be solemn affairs, finals for the Design of Mechatronic Systems course at the University of Pennsylvania couldn’t be livelier.

WHO:             Johannes Eichstaedt                        Graduate student, Department of Psychology

Interdisciplinary research at the University of Pennsylvania is showing how cells interact over long distances within fibrous tissue, like that associated with many diseases of the liver, lungs and other organs.

Professors James Eberwine, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Shu Yang, of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, have been

Origami is capable of turning a simple sheet of paper into a pretty paper crane, but the principles behind the paper-folding art can also be applied to making a microfluidic device for a blood test, or for storing a satellite’s solar panel in a rocket’s cargo bay.   

Origami is capable of turning a simple sheet of paper into a pretty paper crane, but the principles behind the paper-folding art can also be applied to making a microfluidic device for a blood test, or for storing a satellite's solar panel in a rocket’s cargo bay.