This month at NYU, biologist Elodie Ghedin began investigating how different immune systems respond to the Zika virus, anthropology professor Terry Harrison discovered 3.8 million year old protein fragments on the fossilized shell of an ostrich egg, and neuroscientists modeled how the brain filters out irrelevant information (like the sound of clinking cups in a noisy café) so we can concentrate on the relevant stuff (like the words in the book we’re reading).
Tandon’s Game Innovation Lab co-director Andy Nealen and doctoral candidate Aaron Isaksen demonstrated that the more you play a game, the less like you are to get a high score. Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux concluded that a major misunderstanding of brain function has prevented the development of effective pharmaceutical treatments for anxiety disorders. Media, culture, and communications professor Charlton McIlwain tracked millennials' reactions to the first presidential debate—in real time. And a team of chemists used MRI technology to create highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the insides of batteries.
Over at Langone, researchers found that a leading high blood pressure drug could stop the brain bleeding and swelling that is the leading cause of death in malaria patients, and that a naturally occurring enzyme could be used to treat treat muscle stiffness caused by strokes and other brain injuries.
NYU Tandon opened a 10,000 square foot makerspace—equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, vacuum formers, and soldering stations—that will be open for all students to tinker away at solutions for real=world engineering challenges.
And two NYU professors—composer Julia Wolfe and computer scientist Subhash Khot—received MacArthur “genius” grants.