Hi Tech & Innovation news

Hi Tech & Innovation

A quantum neural network can see optical illusions like humans do. Could it be the future of AI?

Optical illusions, quantum mechanics and neural networks might seem to be quite unrelated topics at first glance. However, in new research published in APL Machine Learning, I have used a phenomenon called "quantum tunneling" ...

Computer Sciences

Virtual and augmented reality can temporarily change the way people perceive distances, finds study

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that using virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) can temporarily change the way people perceive and interact with the real world—with potential implications for the ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Shakespeare in sign language, as seen through AI

A new study uses co-creation with reference communities to develop an app for sign language machine translation (SLMT). The research team designed a theatrical performance in sign language, seen through the eyes of artificial ...

Engineering

Sprayable gels could protect buildings during wildfires

As climate change creates hotter, drier conditions, we are seeing longer fire seasons with larger, more frequent wildfires. In recent years, catastrophic wildfires have destroyed homes and infrastructure, caused devastating ...

Engineering

From shrimp to steel: Introducing nature-inspired metalworking

Humans have long turned to nature for solutions, from deciphering the mysteries of flight to creating stronger materials. For Javier Fernandez, Associate Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), ...

Engineering

How air-powered computers can prevent blood clots

A new, air-powered computer sets off alarms when certain medical devices fail. The invention is a more reliable and lower-cost way to help prevent blood clots and strokes—all without electronic sensors.

Engineering

A light-powered hydrogel launcher

An international team of mechanical engineers has developed what they call a fracture-driven, power-amplified hydrogel launcher. They have published their discovery in the journal Nature Materials.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Researchers create first functional semiconductor made from graphene

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world's first functional semiconductor made from graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms held together by the strongest bonds known. Semiconductors, which ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

AI agents help explain other AI systems

Explaining the behavior of trained neural networks remains a compelling puzzle, especially as these models grow in size and sophistication. Like other scientific challenges throughout history, reverse-engineering how artificial ...

Engineering

Piezo composites with carbon fibers for motion sensors

An international research group has engineered a novel, high-strength flexible device by combining piezoelectric composites with unidirectional carbon fiber (UDCF), an anisotropic material that provides strength only in the ...

Computer Sciences

Researchers create first programmable, logical quantum processor

Harvard researchers have realized a key milestone in the quest for stable, scalable quantum computing, an ultra-high-speed technology that will enable game-changing advances in a variety of fields, including medicine, science, ...

Internet

NASA's tech demo streams first video from deep space via laser

NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec. 11 from a record-setting 19 million miles away (31 million kilometers, or about 80 times the Earth-moon distance). ...

Computer Sciences

Researcher creates VR sequences to test eyewitness statements

Eyewitness statements are one of the key sources for identifying perpetrators—and one of the most error-prone. For example, the Innocence Project—an organization that works to clear up miscarriages of justice in the U.S.—states ...

Energy & Green Tech

This adaptive roof tile can cut both heating and cooling costs

About half of an average American building's energy consumption is spent on heating and cooling. That's a lot of money spent, fossil fuel burned and strain on an aging energy infrastructure during times of severe temperatures.