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Consumer & Gadgets

AI models nearly erase female characters when they write kids stories about animals

Last year, Melanie Walsh, a University of Washington assistant professor in the Information School, wrote an article examining how 300 popular children's books gendered their animal characters. Of the 13 most common animals, ...

Engineering

These 3D-printed objects can tell you if they're being used properly

Imagine a bottle of hazardous chemicals sitting on a laboratory shelf that changes its appearance to alert scientists that its lid is not properly secured, potentially preventing a dangerous spill.

Consumer & Gadgets

People prefer stories written by AI—especially when told they're written by a human

People gave the highest ratings to AI-generated stories they were told had been written by humans and were unable to tell the difference between human- and AI-created stories, according to new research published in Judgement ...

Engineering

Solving the solvent problem to make sodium-metal batteries a more practical energy storage option

Lithium-ion batteries are the leading choice in today's electric vehicle and battery energy storage system industries, but they contain a number of critical minerals—including lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite—that are ...

Technology news

Electronics & Semiconductors

Innovative design unlocks resilient semiconductor materials

Semiconductors such as silicon are the cornerstone of today's essential technologies, but the variety of materials available to power devices is limited. While metal oxides are durable, only a small subset are semiconducting ...

Energy & Green Tech

ZiaCore microreactor successfully achieves criticality

The emerging technology of advanced nuclear microreactors offers solutions to many modern energy challenges. The ZiaCore design, a low-enriched uranium dioxide-fueled microreactor developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory, ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Prototype glasses can turn infrared into color vision

The human eye, as good as it is, misses out on so much of the world because it is limited in what it can perceive. It can't see X-rays, ultraviolet rays or infrared light. While X-ray goggles are still the stuff of science ...