Department News
Are there other Earth-like planets? Is there extraterrestrial life? In the quest to find planets that orbit stars other than the sun, “Earth 2.0” is the Holy Grail. Earth 2.0 is a planet similar enough to Earth to enable the existence of life as we know it. It would be the right temperature for liquid water, and it would orbit a star with a steady supply of light. Ideally, it would be close enough that we could imagine going there or at least sending a probe to explore it.
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The Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT), a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Stevens Institute of Technology, is dedicated to advancing blockchain technology so that scams along the lines of FTX’s can be avoided. CRAFT researchers from Rensselaer recently presented their findings on blockchain interoperability and cryptocurrency scam detection at the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Big Data.
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Propofol is the most commonly used drug to induce general anesthesia. Despite its frequent clinical application, it is poorly understood how propofol causes anesthesia.
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor of Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Industrial and Systems Engineering Deborah McGuinness was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly 10 years ago. Her treatments were emotionally and physically challenging: McGuinness endured six months of chemotherapy, 33 radiation treatments, and four surgeries before emerging with current “no evidence of disease” status. Throughout, McGuinness struggled to find appropriate information on her diagnosis and treatment.
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It is believed to be exceedingly rare and slow, but if it actually exists, it would redefine the laws of physics: it’s called neutrinoless double beta decay (NDBD).
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Ethan Brown, associate professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy, has received a $285,000 grant from the Department of Energy to contribute to the nEXO experiment to prove that NDBD exists.
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