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 ...

Robotics

A geometric twist boosts the power of robotic textiles

By rethinking how thin metal threads are woven into a flexible textile, EPFL researchers have created a lightweight fabric capable of lifting over 400 times its own weight. The work advances the development of wearables that ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Reinventing personalized fashion with a new sewing app

Wouldn't it be great if you could just take a picture of yourself with your mobile phone and sew your own clothes—in exactly the right size and fit? The solution is on the way.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Liquid metal powers a whole new kind of motor

Researchers at UNSW have developed a new type of motor that spins, not with rigid components, but with a droplet of liquid metal. The breakthrough could transform soft robotics, flexible electronics, and medical devices.

Energy & Green Tech

A new approach to energy harvesting opened up by the quantum world

Touch the back of a laptop and it often feels warm. This is because part of the energy used for computation and communication escapes to the outside as heat. Yet even this "waste heat" still contains a great deal of usable ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Soft, 3D transistors could host living cells for bioelectronics

New research from the WISE group (Wearable, Intelligent, Soft Electronics) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU-WISE) has addressed a long-standing bioelectronic challenge: the development of soft, 3D transistors.

Hi Tech & Innovation

What a virtual zebrafish can teach us about autonomous AI

Aran Nayebi jokes that his robot vacuum has a bigger brain than his two cats. But while the vacuum can only follow a preset path, Zoe and Shira leap, play and investigate the house with real autonomy.

Engineering

Atomistic model explains how memory metals can change their shape

Shape memory alloys are exotic materials that can be deformed at room temperature and return to their "remembered," pre-deformed shape when heated. They are used in a broad range of applications, such as heart stents, dental ...

Energy & Green Tech

Smart transparent woods can block UV and save energy

Environmentally friendly buildings are highly attractive for sustainable development and efficient energy consumption. Recently, scientists have made significant strides toward the development of energy-efficient smart windows—with ...

Computer Sciences

Digital technique puts rendered fabric in the best light

The sheen of satin, the subtle glints of twill, the translucence of sheer silk: Fabric has long been difficult to render digitally because of the myriad ways different yarns can be woven or knitted together.

Energy & Green Tech

New technique could facilitate faster nuclear forensics

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have, for the first time, used a breakthrough technique with a goal of better identifying the origin of nuclear materials—a tool that could someday help efforts to prevent the ...