Technology Review, a prestigious scientific magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, included two Cornellians among its 2007 Young Innovators on Aug. 15. They are Abraham Stroock '95, Cornell assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Josh Bongard, a recent Cornell postdoctoral researcher who is now an assistant professor of computing science at the University of Vermont.

Technology Review annually honors young scientists and researchers under 35 whose work it finds most exciting. The innovators' work covers a wide array of disciplines, including medicine, computing, communications, electronics and nanotechnology.

The magazine's September-October 2007 issue explains that Stroock examines the complex world of microfluidics, which "involves moving tiny volumes of liquid through channels that are usually etched into a rigid material such as glass or silicon. Stroock, however, works with hydrogels, which are soft polymers that absorb water. Recently, he molded a capillary system that mimics a tree's system into a slab of hydrogel." The so-called synthetic tree uses evaporation to pull water through its capillaries with a force than can move liquid up a vertical column 85 meters (279 feet) high -- as high as a redwood tree.

This hydrogel system, the magazine says, is biologically compatible with humans, so it could serve as wound dressings that remove fluid and deliver drugs to promote healing.

During his postdoctoral research at Cornell, Bongard collaborated with Hod Lipson, Cornell professor of engineering, and doctoral student Victor Zykov to develop self-adapting robots, according to Technology Review.

The robot they built can program itself and revise the model it has developed to adapt to injury. First, it teaches itself to walk. When damaged, it teaches itself to limp. Although the robot is a simple four-legged device, the researchers say the underlying algorithm could be used to build more complex robots that can deal with uncertain situations, like space exploration, and may help in understanding human and animal behavior.