Hi Tech & Innovation news

Computer Sciences

Virtual markers help smartphone cameras reconstruct lifelike multi-person movement, from hugs to martial arts

For decades, the gold standard for capturing human movement and transferring these data into the digital world has required actors to wear suits with physical markers that cameras track in a specialized studio. While accurate, ...

Energy & Green Tech

Consumer camera modification offers low-cost way to assess solar cell performance

Commercial cameras can be powerful, producing images with exquisite detail that mimic real life. In the lab, specially designed cameras can photograph objects in the infrared region, invisible to the naked eye.

Hi Tech & Innovation

Chatbot gives teens first-hand experience of cybergrooming tactics without the risk of harm

Virginia Tech researchers are developing virtual tools to help teens protect themselves against cybergrooming. Using survey data from parents and teens and leveraging artificial intelligence, the research team created a chatbot ...

Engineering

MRI technique eliminates 'dead time' to capture rapidly fading signals, making scans more precise

A team of researchers at the University of Stuttgart has developed a new method that could make MRI even more precise by eliminating "dead time," a key limiting factor in the measurement process, thereby enabling the detection ...

Engineering

Cool, power, move: A printable textile that does it all

A new printable textile combines passive cooling with biomechanical energy harvesting to enable motion-controlled, adaptive thermal management. Led by researchers in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of ...

Energy & Green Tech

New tool identifies raw materials used in buildings

Circular-economy thinking is becoming increasingly important in the construction sector. It helps reduce raw material consumption and emissions and can provide a well-thought-out reuse and recycling scheme to cut costs.

Computer Sciences

Bringing classical LDPC code design theory to quantum computers

Quantum error correction must detect and correct errors without directly reading the quantum information. Classical low-density parity check (LDPC) codes have a well-established design theory: by choosing how many checks ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Ultrathin diamond layer boosts performance of high-power electronics

The silicon that forms the foundation of most computer chips has fundamental limits to how much power it can manage, which constrains the speed and energy-efficiency of wireless communication systems. A promising solution ...

Engineering

Jumping spiders inspire ultra-efficient 3D camera

By borrowing a trick from tiny jumping spiders, Northwestern University engineers have developed an extremely energy-efficient 3D camera. Called SpiderCam, the new device senses depth the same way that jumping spiders judge ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Europe opening up to self-driving taxis

Self-driving taxis, already booming in the United States and China, are emerging in Europe, with major companies launching trials this year in several capitals and the European Union set to step on the accelerator Monday.

Hardware

Real-time X-ray compression shrinks file size by 8,000 times

Researchers led by Takaki Hatsui at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center (RSC) in Japan and collaborators have developed a new approach to compressing X-ray imaging data in real time, reducing the size of data files by more than 8,000 ...