Hi Tech & Innovation news

Energy & Green Tech

Solar reactor uses old battery acid to turn plastic waste into clean hydrogen

Researchers have developed a solar-powered reactor to break down hard-to-recycle forms of plastic waste—such as drink bottles, nylon textiles and polyurethane foams—using acid recovered from old car batteries, and converting ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Sonar on stock smartwatches leads to hand-tracking advancement

Imagine tapping your thumb and index finger together twice to skip to the next song or clicking around your laptop or desktop computer without a mouse, using discreet finger motions. New first-of-its-kind wearable technology ...

Engineering

This paint changes colors when hit, revealing location and strength of impact

Imagine a paint that changes color depending on how hard its surface is hit. It could be used on football helmets to monitor concussion-level impacts, to record the handling history of shipped packages, or placed on insoles ...

Robotics

Introducing MirrorBot, a robot designed to foster human connection

While technology has made the world "smaller," it has also pulled individuals apart, thanks to mobile phones and other devices that command our attention. Cornell University researchers are using technology, in the form of ...

Engineering

UV glow test measures air disinfection performance in minutes

The effectiveness of air disinfection devices may now be measured in minutes, rather than hours, with a new technique from University of Michigan Engineering. This is important for researchers developing better antiviral ...

Energy & Green Tech

Photothermal fabric panels could cut heating energy up to 23%

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have unveiled a tool to combat climate change, fossil-fuel dependency, skyrocketing home-heating bills, and gentrification all at once—a simple fabric treated with a ...

Hardware

New memory chip survives temperatures hotter than lava

The electronics inside your phone, your car, and every satellite currently orbiting Earth share one critical weakness: heat. Push them past about 200 degrees Celsius and they start to fail. For decades, that thermal ceiling ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Vibrations in your skull may be your next password

A team led by Rutgers University researchers has developed a security system that could change how people log in to virtual and augmented reality platforms by eliminating passwords, personal identification numbers and eye ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Photonic chip packaging can withstand extreme environments

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new way to package photonic integrated circuits—tiny chips that convey information using light instead of electricity—so they can survive ...

Engineering

AI-based model measures atomic defects in materials

In biology, defects are generally bad. But in materials science, defects can be intentionally tuned to give materials useful new properties. Today, atomic-scale defects are carefully introduced during the manufacturing process ...

Engineering

Smart yarn tracks muscle activity in the body

Created from noise-resistant, conductive threads, a high-tech new smart fabric could find uses in health monitoring, sports performance and rehabilitation. The work is published in the journal Science Advances.

Engineering

Wearable AI system helps blind people navigate

A wearable system designed to assist navigation for blind and partially sighted people is presented in a study published in Nature Machine Intelligence. This system uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to survey the ...

Robotics

Robotics meets the culinary arts

RoboCake is ready. This edible robotic cake is the result of a collaboration between researchers from EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne), the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Photonic computing needs more nonlinearity: Acoustics can help

Neural networks are one typical structure on which artificial intelligence can be based. The term "neural" describes their learning ability, which to some extent mimics the functioning of neurons in our brains. To be able ...

Energy & Green Tech

A fluid battery that can take any shape

Using electrodes in a fluid form, researchers at Linköping University have developed a battery that can take any shape. This soft and conformable battery can be integrated into future technology in a completely new way. Their ...

Engineering

Augmented reality improves carpentry ease and precision

A system developed at EPFL uses augmented reality (AR) to help carpenters make extremely precise timber cuts without having to measure or mark up beams. Its hybrid approach stands to make digitally assisted technology affordable ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Holograms that can be grabbed and manipulated

Researchers have succeeded, for the first time, in displaying three-dimensional graphics in mid-air that can be manipulated with the hands. The team includes Doctor Elodie Bouzbib, from Public University of Navarra (UPNA), ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

A new way to bring personal items to mixed reality

Think of your most prized belongings. In an increasingly virtual world, wouldn't it be great to save a copy of that precious item and all the memories it holds?