Above: Depicted, from left to right: Chris Voigt, Ben Gordon, Rob Nicol. Photo by Lillie Paquette / MIT School of Engineering. Living organisms are amazing feats of engineering: By following instructions encoded entirely in DNA, living systems can sense and respond to their environment, build intricate structures ... Read more
March/April 2016

Creating a Computational Human Model
The newly constructed Visible Human Project (VHP)-Female computational model has been designed to integrate easily with a variety of commercial and academic simulation tools that can help to answer those questions that cannot be tested on a live human.... Read more

Blue Marble Game Company
Serious games are those designed for purposes other than mere entertainment. They have applications in many industries, including defense, education, and health care. Blue Marble Game Company of Altadena, California, has based its value proposition on a variant of this concept. Its lines of products, ... Read more

Open Solutions to Healthcare Challenges
IEEE Pulse talks with Michael Wasser, co-founder of HealthSherpa and CEO of BloomAPI, about the changing landscape for electronic medical records, and the future of healthcare interoperability and innovation. IEEE P... Read more

The Problem of False Discovery
Is there a Cheshire Cat in science? One might believe so, given the many published scientific discoveries that cannot be independently reproduced. The “replication crisis” in science has become a widely discusse... Read more

Brain-Inspired Machines
In the computing community, people look at the brain as the ultimate computer. Brain-inspired machines are believed to be more efficient than the traditional Von Neumann computing paradigm, which has been the domina... Read more

What Is the Distance Between Objects in a Data Set?
Digitally recorded data have become another critical natural resource in our current research environment. This reality is one of the tremendous victories for decades of research in computer engineering, computer sc... Read more

The Engineer’s Take on Biology
Tom Knight may laugh when someone calls him the “godfather of synthetic biology,” but his ideas have helped spur a worldwide movement to look at biology with an engineer’s eye.... Read more

All It Takes Is Vision
Traditional genetic engineering has for several decades enabled the cutting and pasting of DNA from one place to another, allowing for all kinds of developments: giving bacteria the ability to make insulin, making c... Read more

Cell Break
In 2011, the California-based company Genomatica reported its success in rigging Escherichia coli microbes to convert sugar into the industrial chemical 1,4-butanediol (BDO). It was a feat of metabolic engine... Read more

The CRISPR Conundrum
We are in the midst of a CRISPR craze. The last five years have seen the publication of over 1,000 scientific papers, the allocation of millions of research dollars, and the establishment of four start-up companies ... Read more

PULSE On Stage: Electronic Health Records
What went wrong? Can it be fixed? Find out what medical thought leaders had to say about the problem of Electronic Health Records at the first Pulse On Stage event held February 28 in Las Vegas. ... Read more
Editorial Blogs
Sleep Quality Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities
For a long time, sleep researchers have asked why we sleep and what are the physiological and mental needs which require...
Courage
Courage is uncommon. It is not the determination to exact revenge or to react with a fear imposed by others, but the ability to persevere on your own despite external events. It is neither denial nor is it unawareness; courage is vigilant and prudent. It is quiet but attentive.... Read more
Faculty Intellectual Property in Capstone Design Projects
Design projects are a major part of the capstone design course. By focusing on the design process and allowing students to gain hands-on experience in design, they help prepare students for careers in engineering.... Read more
Could Al-Zahrawi Be Considered a Biomedical Engineer?
Biomedical engineering history is full of hidden treasures, one of whom is Al-Zahrawi, a Muslim surgeon who had a wide reputation in Europe during the Middle Ages. Herein, besides recalling that he was a surgeon, the intent is to spotlight his talent in biomedical engineering.... Read more
Technology: From Electromagnetic Modeling to Point-of-Care Using Consumer Electronics
Three different texts are reviewed this issue.... Read more