Hi Tech & Innovation news

Hardware

Voltage-controlled photonic chip could make smart-glasses displays more efficient

Smart glasses need compact, efficient displays that can produce detailed images without drawing too much power. Laser beam scanning is one approach to meeting these requirements. Rather than using a fixed array of pixels, ...

Engineering

Ultrasound creates a tube that guides matter through the air

A small stream of liquid flows quietly in midair, horizontally, as if inside an invisible tube. Nothing touches it. About 5 centimeters (2 inches) away, a cylinder lined with hundreds of tiny speakers surrounds the stream, ...

Engineering

Flaws become reinforcements: Engineered crystal defects strengthen metals without changing their chemistry

Scientists have found a way to use defects in crystals to engineer stronger materials, according to a new study.

Hi Tech & Innovation

Mini brain organoids 'read' braille in key step toward biohybrid computing

Could computers include tiny brain organoids one day? The human brain is an incredibly energy-efficient computer, and silicon processors that try to imitate it achieve huge energy savings over traditional processors. Now ...

Engineering

Elon Musk unveils Tesla's 'flying' car

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled what he described as a "flying" car, equipped with thrusters, during a livestreamed event at his SpaceX rocket company's facility on Thursday.

Engineering

AI and symmetry speed design of sound-absorbing fabrics

Woven textiles can do more than provide softness and strength. Their microscopic arrangement of yarns can also influence how sound travels through a material. However, finding suitable over-and-under yarn patterns is a difficult ...

Engineering

Metal alloys defy the deep freeze, staying tough at -253°C

Scientists have discovered a class of metal that can unexpectedly resist extreme cold using an unusual mechanism. Normally such temperatures would make similar materials brittle and vulnerable to breaking. The findings, published ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

AI can help run factories better: Thesis sharpens the 3D models

Digital twins are virtual 3D replicas of real spaces such as factories, warehouses and industrial plants. Companies use them to monitor equipment, plan maintenance and simulate changes without disrupting operations.

Hi Tech & Innovation

How bionic eyes are becoming a reality

If you've delved into the worlds of "Star Trek," "The Terminator" or William Gibson's cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer," you'll know that enhanced electronic vision is a staple of science fiction. Now, what was once futuristic ...

Energy & Green Tech

Zinc-air batteries gain new momentum with long-lasting catalyst

Zinc-air batteries can store significantly more energy than lithium-ion batteries, but until now have been virtually impossible to recharge. A team led by Professor Jörg J. Schneider from the Department of Chemistry has now ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Video: Electrical control of a metal-mediated DNA memory

DNA stores our genetic code. What if it could also be integrated with electronics to store and read other information? Scientists have been investigating how to store data in DNA, but retrieving the information remains a ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

New 3D device harnesses living brain cells for computing

Princeton researchers have combined brain cells and advanced electronics into a single 3D device that can be programmed to recognize patterns using computational techniques. Past attempts at using brain cells to do computation ...

Robotics

Tiny, knotted robots jump, fly and plant seeds

When a knot lets go, it doesn't just fall apart. It snaps. That simple observation led Penn Engineers to rethink what a knot can do. Instead of treating it as something that holds tension, they asked a different question: ...

Energy & Green Tech

Creating green materials with light could transform clean energy

Metal-organic frameworks, better known as MOFs, are among the most intensely studied materials for addressing major environmental challenges. Their highly ordered, ultra-porous architecture enables applications ranging from ...

Energy & Green Tech

Colored films enable patterns on photovoltaic modules

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have succeeded in creating colored films with transparent cutouts, thereby producing realistic-looking designs on photovoltaic modules. In this way, roof ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Lasers turn parchment paper into high-performance electronic circuits

What if the next generation of disposable electronics—the sensors in your food packaging, the diagnostic strips in a medical clinic, the environmental monitors scattered across a farm—were built not on silicon or plastic, ...