Understanding how atoms react under extreme pressure conditions—a field known as high-energy-density physics—gives scientists valuable insights into planetary science, astrophysics, and fusion energy. One important question in this field is how plasmas emit or absorb radiation. Current models depicting radiation transport in dense plasmas are heavily based on theory rather than experimental evidence.

In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers led by Suxing Hu, a distinguished scientist and group leader of the High Energy Density Physics Theory group at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), and Philip Nilson, a senior scientist in the LLE’s Laser-Plasma Interaction group, used LLE’s OMEGA laser to study how radiation travels through dense plasma. The research provides first-of-its-kind experimental data about the behavior of atoms at extreme conditions. The data will be used to improve plasma models, which allow scientists to better understand the evolution of stars and may aid in the realization of controlled nuclear fusion as an alternative energy source.

“Experiments using laser-driven implosions on OMEGA have created extreme matter at pressures several billion times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface for us to probe how atoms and molecules behave at such extreme conditions,” says Hu, who is also an associate professor of mechanical engineering. “These conditions correspond to the conditions inside the so-called envelope of white dwarf stars as well as inertial fusion targets.” Learn more.

Detailed results from a clinical trial involving lecanemab, an experimental drug for Alzheimer’s, indicate the drug is effective in slowing cognitive decline for some patients with the disease, potentially representing the first significant treatment advance in decades. The findings were published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Given the benefits seen with lecanemab, I expect the Food and Drug Administration to grant ‘accelerated approval’ in early 2023,” says Anton Porsteinsson, who leads the Medical Center’s Alzheimer’s Disease Care, Research and Education Program (AD-CARE), and has been involved in more than 200 clinical studies for Alzheimer’s disease since 1986. “This will allow the drug to be administered to a limited number of patients participating in a registry study and the agency will most likely give full approval based on clinical benefit in about 9 months. While this medication is not for everyone with Alzheimer’s disease it represents a significant first—a disease modifying treatment with undisputable evidence of clinical efficacy.”

Learn more about the challenges involved in treating the disease in this Q&A with Mark Michaud.

In what they deem a “wildly theoretical” paper, Rochester researchers imagine covering an asteroid in a flexible, mesh bag made of ultralight and high-strength carbon nanofibers as the key to creating human cities in space. (University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw)

According to new research from University scientists, our future may lie in asteroids.

In what they deem a “wildly theoretical” paper published in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, the researchers, including Adam Frank, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Peter Miklavčič, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering and the paper’s first author, outline a plan for creating large cities on near-earth asteroids.

“Our paper lives on the edge of science and science fiction,” Frank says. “We’re taking a science fiction idea that has been very popular recently—in TV shows like Amazon’s The Expanse—and offering a new path for using an asteroid to build a city in space.”

In 1972 NASA commissioned physicist Gerard O’Neill to design a space habitat that could feasibly allow humans to live in space. O’Neill and his colleagues worked out a plan for “O’Neill cylinders,” spinning space metropolises consisting of two cylinders rotating in opposite directions, with a rod connecting the cylinders at each end. The cylinders would rotate fast enough to provide artificial gravity on their inner surface but slow enough that people living in them would not experience motion sickness.

However, getting the necessary building supplies from Earth to space to create the O’Neill cylinders would be difficult and cost prohibitive.

Rochester researchers came up with this intriguing possibility: Covering an asteroid—which is often a pile of rubble— in a very large flexible, mesh bag made of ultralight and high-strength carbon nanofibers that would envelope and support the entire spinning mass of the asteroid’s rubble and the habitat within, while also supporting its own weight as it spins. Learn more.

There is a growing demand for digital music content, including music for film, television, games, and advertising, as well as the traditional recorded music market. AI (artificial intelligence)-powered tools have the potential to enable musicians to create digital music products on their own and at a very low cost in ways that are not yet possible. By eliminating their dependence on centralized music production, musicians will achieve greater creative freedom and reach larger audiences while increasing their chances of making a living with their art.

A multidisciplinary team of University researchers have received a $1.8M grant award from the National Science Foundation Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program, to help musicians achieve these goals by:

• Creating an open-access framework enabling musicians and AI researchers to collaborate in developing new music production solutions, which will run on Audacity (an open-source and free DAW that more than two million people have used to date).
• Understanding both advances and challenges that may arise from using AI for music production.
• Providing new learning opportunities to empower current and future musicians to utilize technology better.

Five principal investigators lead the team—Raffaella Borasi (Warner School of Education), Rachel Roberts (Eastman School of Music, Institute for Music Leadership), Zhiyao Duan (Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences), Jonathan Herington (School of Arts & Sciences), and Bryan Pardo (McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University). This grant marks the first sizable NSF-funded research project with deep collaboration between Eastman, Hajim, AS&E, and Warner.  Learn more.

Corinna Hill, history, 9 a.m. today, December 16, 2022, Humanities Center Conference Room D.
Paternalistically Yours: A Historical Study of Five Friendships between Deaf and Hearing Americans from 1840-1920.
Advisor: Thomas Slaughter.

Stephen Roessner, electrical engineering, 10 a.m. today, December 16, 2022, 601 Computer Studies Building.
Non-Linear Characteristics and Subjective Listening Studies of Flat-Panel Loudspeakers.
Advisors: Mark Bocko and Michael Heilemann.

Georgiy Platonov, computer science, 11 a.m. today, December 16, 2022, 3201 Wegmans Hall.
On Cognitively Informed Models for Spatial Relations.
Advisor: Lenhart Shubert.

Yu Gu, chemistry, 1 p.m. today, December 16, 2022, 473 Hutchison Hall.
Design and Development of Macrocyclic Peptide Agents and Macrocycle-Antibody Fusions for Targeting Protein Interfaces.
Advisor: Rudi Fasan.

Jie Zhou, computer science, 1 p.m. today, December 16, 2022, 2506 Wegmans Hall.
Retrofit Memory Safety to Low-Level Software Incrementally.
Advisor: John Criswell.

Mackenzie Palmer, environmental medicine, 10 a.m. Monday, December 19, 2022, AM K207, School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The Role of Lactate in Macrophage Polarization in Radiation-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Advisor: Jacob N. Finkelstein.

Phong Nguyen, biomedical engineering, Wednesday, December 21, 2022.
Determining the Effects of Recombinant Lysyl Oxidase on Tendon Mechanical Properties and Cell Behaviors.
Advisors: Catherine Kuo and Mark Buckley.

The University is now partnering with a new travel insurance provider, one of the many important international travel and security resources available to researchers through the Office for Global Engagement.

Faculty are strongly encouraged to register in advance of any university-sponsored or supported international travel. For full details on registration, coverage, and assistive resources, click here.

Interested in population health research? Take your career to the next level with the Population Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship offered by the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI).

With an individual development plan, the program is customized to your goals. Over the course of one year, you will develop and complete a population health research project with the guidance of an interdisciplinary team of mentors.

Apply by Tuesday, January 31 for funding beginning July 1, 2023. Learn more.

The next issue of Research Connections will be January 6.