Hardware news

Hardware

Scientists speed up development of radiation-resistant microchips for satellites, nuclear reactors

Today's sophisticated microchips are a wonder, designed by engineers squeezing ever more detail onto ever-smaller chips, then built in ultraclean billion-dollar fabrication facilities. Just one speck of dust or an errant ...

Hardware

Low-power neural chip reads brain signals to identify cognitive and emotional states

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a therapeutic technique that delivers electrical pulses to specific areas of the brain via an implant to modulate neural activity. It is already widely used for movement disorders such as Parkinson's ...

Hardware

Tiny chip uses ultrasound-powered microbubbles to steer fluid flow in real time

Bubbles can be useful tools for microscopic robots, helping them move, steer, create flows of liquid and perform other functions. But designs based on trapping a bubble, a common approach, are unwieldy and unpredictable because ...

Hardware

New hardware method adds timing condition to decoding encrypted information

Some information, such as exam questions or bid prices, must remain unreadable until an agreed time, even if it has already been delivered. KAIST researchers have used changes in the electric current inside a semiconductor ...

Hardware

Microsoft bets on homegrown AI chip to challenge Nvidia

Microsoft said Monday it will roll out its in-house Maia artificial intelligence chips on a massive scale starting in 2027, making them the main hardware for running AI across its products—a move that could reduce its reliance ...

Hardware

Google faces backlash against India data center

Handcuffs encircle Google's logo on one campaign poster, while another warns that people "cannot drink data", as opposition mounts to the tech giant's planned AI mega-facility in India.

Hardware

Toward physical AI: When the hardware becomes the neural network

Digital computing using silicon chips has transformed nearly every aspect of modern life and enabled the remarkable growth of artificial intelligence. But as AI models scale up, that growth comes with increasing demands for ...

Hardware

New analog memory may make smart devices even smarter

A new approach to computing has quietly taken shape at Sandia National Laboratories, where researchers have developed a way to store information that could make future electronics more energy efficient.

Software

Extreme reality telemetry for first responders

Imagine a limited visibility scenario: Smoke fills the air, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of you. The roar of the flames is deafening, and you can feel the heat of the fire on your skin even through ...

Hardware

Hands-free tech adds realistic sense of touch in extended reality

With an eye toward a not-so-distant future where some people spend most or all of their working hours in extended reality, researchers from Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and Meta Reality Labs have found a hands-free ...

Hardware

Where do stolen bikes go?

Amsterdam is one of the most bike-friendly major cities in the world. That also means the city is a happy hunting ground for thieves, who steal tens of thousands of bikes per year—a substantial chunk of the estimated 850,000 ...

Hardware

Rats with backpacks sniff for victims under rubble

Rats are commonly known as pests and spreaders of disease and many people's worst nightmare. Yet they are very clever creatures, and can be trained just as well as dogs. The Belgian aid organization APOPO trains African hamster ...

Hardware

Ultrasonic sensors can safeguard residential gas lines

A team of UBC Okanagan researchers is investigating a new method to monitor underground gas pipelines with high-tech sensors that can make it easier to find weaknesses, discrepancies and even a diversion in residential natural ...