Hi Tech & Innovation news

Hi Tech & Innovation

The barista is human but an AI agent runs this experimental Swedish cafe

The coffee might be poured by a human hand, but behind the counter something far less traditional is calling the shots at an experimental cafe in Stockholm.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Copper's biggest rival yet? New carbon nanotube fibers could reshape wiring for EVs, drones and aircraft

Spanish researchers have demonstrated a scalable manufacturing process for carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers with electrical conductivity comparable to that of copper and aluminum. The result, published in Science, is a breakthrough ...

Energy & Green Tech

Digital twin innovation cuts energy costs in water purification

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are charting a new course in water purification to reduce energy consumption and costs while ensuring safe drinking water.

Engineering

Scientists program materials just by spinning them

There is something universally appealing about the slap bracelet, and the way a simple tap causes it to switch between a straight shape and a curled one. What you probably didn't know is that a slap bracelet's satisfying ...

Engineering

Move over cassette tapes, adhesive tape has memory too

Materials can store information about their past—like a crease in a piece of paper that has been unfolded is a "memory" of being folded—that can be retrieved or read out and used for various purposes. In everyday life, combination ...

Engineering

Hidden math link helps designers build fantastic shapes

Termite mounds are remarkable structures that regulate temperature, balance airflow, and maintain structural stability in some of Earth's harshest climates. And like other irregular, disordered systems, they can be difficult ...

Software

Extended reality tool lets dancers analyze movement

It's been said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Writing, or talking, about dancing can be similarly futile. A Cornell doctoral student has helped develop a tool that lets dancers use video and ...

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

Printed neurons communicate with living brain cells

Northwestern University engineers printed artificial neurons that don't just imitate the brain—they talk to it. In a new study, the Northwestern team developed flexible, low-cost devices that generate electrical signals realistic ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Tiny cameras in earbuds let users talk with AI about what they see

University of Washington researchers developed the first system that incorporates tiny cameras in off-the-shelf wireless earbuds to allow users to talk with an AI model about the scene in front of them. For instance, a user ...

Robotics

Electrofluidic fiber muscles could enable silent robotic systems

Muscles are remarkably effective systems for generating controlled force, and engineers developing hardware for robots or prosthetics have long struggled to create analogs that can approach their unique combination of strength, ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Leather gets a power upgrade with laser-written microsupercapacitors

Researchers have developed a simple and eco-friendly way to use a laser to turn natural leather into flexible and wearable energy devices. The new approach could lay the groundwork for more sustainable wearable electronics. ...