Nian Sun

Wood coated in nanocrystals can block electromagnetic signals

“The result seems too good to be true,” says Nian Sun at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. “But the data seems valid, they got this high level of shielding with such a thin material.”

Tiny acoustic antennas could help make brain implants a reality

Researchers at Northeastern University have made a major advance in developing significantly smaller antennas, hundreds of times tinier than currently existing versions. The development is significant because, in a world in which virtually every piece of portable wireless communications technology has shrunk over time, antennas have stubbornly remained the same size.

Science Magazine

Mini-antennas could power brain-computer interfaces, medical devices

Engineers have figured out how to make antennas for wireless communication 100 times smaller than their current size, an advance that could lead to tiny brain implants, micro–medical devices, or phones you can wear on your finger. The brain implants in particular are “like science fiction,” says study author Nian Sun, an electrical engineer and […]

Science News

New antennas are up to a hundredth the size of today’s devices

Tiny chips that communicate via radio waves are a tenth to a hundredth the length of current state-of-the-art compact antennas. At only a couple hundred micrometers across — comparable to the thickness of a piece of paper — these next-gen antennas can relay the same types of signals as those used by TVs, cell phones and radios, […]