Currently available COVID vaccines require cold storage and sophisticated manufacturing capacity, which makes it difficult to produce and distribute them widely, especially in less developed countries. A new type of vaccine would potentially be much easier to produce and would…
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How to design appropriate methods for research involving children
Researchers who explore children’s lives need to carefully design the research to ensure the children can articulate their opinions and experiences in a meaningful way. Participatory child research actively engages children throughout the research process—as opposed to children serving only…
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Aviation industry safety advances can improve hospital alarm design
Hospital alarms play an important role in patient monitoring, but false alarms and multiple alarms going off at the same time can be challenging to manage—leading to alarm fatigue among nurses. New research from The Ohio State University School of…
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Two engineers design and donate a technique to make N95 masks reusable
In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic created a worldwide shortage of N95 masks, two Stanford engineers working out of their homes designed and demonstrated an effective yet inexpensive way to disinfect personal protective equipment (PPE). In two papers…
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Smoke alarms can save lives in informal settlements, if the design is right
Research published by the Medical Research Council in 2009 found that 300-400 fire-related deaths are reported annually in South Africa’s Western Cape province. This study also found that of South Africa’s metropolitan centers, the City of Cape Town has the…
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Racing a pandemic: Scientists design new ways of tracking COVID-19
In a perfect scenario, individual COVID-19 testing would be widely and readily accessible. In reality, tests are still in short supply, and likely cases far outnumber testing capacity, making the prevalence and trajectory of the disease hard to measure. But…
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Best urban design for reducing road injuries
City design combining more public transport and rail networks with smaller, low speed blocks are the best to reduce road transport injuries, according to a new global study co-authored by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The…
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