Wyss InstituteArchitecture – Wyss Institute

Toward autonomous self-organizing biological robots with a nervous system

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:30:42 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Biobots, whose growing line of variants started with Xenobots, are fascinating tiny self-powered living robots built exclusively using frog embryonic cells. Originally developed in the laboratories of Wyss Institute Associate Faculty member and Tufts University Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D. and his collaborators at University of Vermont…

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PFASense: Fast, In-Field Testing for Forever Chemicals

Jessica Leff — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:53:50 +0000

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of “forever chemicals,” are synthetic compounds that have been used since the 1940s to manufacture products like nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, food packaging, and many more. While they have helpful properties, PFAS do not readily degrade in the environment or the human body. As a result, they have accumulated in drinking water, soil…

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Sustainable cooling technology heats up

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:01:23 +0000

As average global temperatures continue to climb, the market for air conditioning is too: it’s estimated that worldwide demand for air conditioning will triple by 2050. If all those extra A/C units will use today’s standard, decades-old vapor compression technology, it could spell disaster for the planet. Not only does vapor compression consume massive amounts of electricity (increasing the…

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cSNAP: Eco-Friendly Air Conditioning

admin — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:03:55 +0000

As average global temperatures steadily climb, the worldwide demand for air conditioning is expected to triple by 2050. Conventional air conditioners, while cheap to manufacture, still rely on inefficient mechanical vapor compression methods developed almost a century ago to cool and dehumidify air, making them one of the largest consumers of energy in industrialized countries.

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cSNAP: Reimagining Cooling

Jessica Leff — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 14:35:34 +0000

We are reimagining air-conditioners to meet increasing global cooling demand while combatting climate change. Our novel evaporative cooling technology, cSNAP, uses advanced materials science and design to make affordable, environmentally-positive eco-friendly air conditioners that work in most climates without the use of synthetic refrigerants. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University…

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Origami-Inspired Radiant Cooling for Improved Thermal Health

Jessica Leff — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 20:54:15 +0000

In its Annual Energy Outlook 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that in 2020, electricity use for cooling the interior of buildings (space cooling) by the U.S. residential and commercial sectors amounted to about 10% of total U.S. electricity consumption. The electricity used for cooling in the residential sector amounted to about 16% of total electricity consumption…

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Don Ingber receives prestigious Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale University

Jessica Leff — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 15:55:04 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., has been named a 2021 recipient of Yale University’s Wilbur Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement. The Wilbur Cross Medal is the highest honor that Yale Graduate School bestows on its alumni. It was established in 1966 to honor a small number of alumni for outstanding achievements in scholarship, teaching…

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Marine sponges inspire the next generation of skyscrapers and bridges

Jessica Leff — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 17:30:40 +0000

By Leah Burrows / SEAS Communications (CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) – When we think about sponges, we tend to think of something soft and squishy. But researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are using the glassy skeletons of marine sponges as inspiration for the next generation of stronger and…

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Wyss Institute Faculty Curate “Selects” Exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Jessica Leff — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 18:58:59 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — A century ago, a group of Italian artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives proclaimed the creation of Futurism, an artistic, design, and social movement that celebrated modern technology and imagined how it would shape the future of society. This week, a new formulation of that spirit dubbed “Biofuturism” is being presented at Cooper Hewitt…

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Saving the Planet with Robots, Microbes, and Nanotechnology

Jessica Leff — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 14:58:44 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell For the 55% of humans who now live in cities surrounded by concrete, asphalt, glass, and steel, it can be easy to forget the diversity of other types of environments on Earth. Windswept glaciers, vast canyons, gnarled forests, steaming jungles, underground caves, sunbaked deserts, and the vast oceans all support their own unique ecosystems. What they have in common, however…

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