Leaving traces is the theme of our latest Magazine issue

In this issue’s Openings column, Vice President for Research Ossi Naukkarinen points out that we have both the ability as well as an obligation to perform acts that can have a big impact long into the future. Although some of our actions will amount to little more than ‘ripples’ that wane away before anyone notices them, others might grow to unpredictable heights.

The main article deals with weak signals: what they are, how they are studied and what they can tell us. The piece also contains concrete advice on how to master weak signals.

Tips for reducing your personal carbon footprint are available via a mobile app developed by a startup, Spark Sustainability. The company’s story got started from a desire to change the world.

The Who column interviews Media Lab alumna Ksenia Avetisova, who is now in charge of the Enhanced Reality Centre of Excellence at TietoEVRY. For her, technology is a tool to empower, not replace, people.

On the go recounts how alumna and NHG Research Director Riikka-Leena Leskelä returned to Aalto’s virtual lecture halls this corona spring and what she learned there.  

Two articles take a peek at multidisciplinary cooperation and promising new health care solutions. The first details how biomaterials could be used to repair tissue damage and showcases a student-driven renovation of a hospital roof terrace that has the goal of facilitating the recovery of mental health patients. The On science article focuses on wearable electronics solutions, such as smart gloves, that enable the tailoring of individualised rehabilitation regimens for stroke patients.

The latest Aalto University Magazine issue is published in Finnish and in English. A digital version can be read on issuu.com, in addition to which some articles are available at the address aalto.fi/magazine.