Hi Tech & Innovation news

Electronics & Semiconductors

Shape-morphing brain sensor adheres to curved surfaces for ultrasound neurostimulation

Transcranial focused ultrasound, a non-invasive technique to stimulate specific areas of the brain using high-frequency sound waves, could be a promising treatment strategy for many neurological disorders. Most notably, it ...

Engineering

Scientists develop novel digital encoding system using fluorescent pixels

A team of scientists has developed a novel digital encoding and data storage system based on a combination of microcapsules containing different luminescent dyes and phase change materials. This work represents an important ...

Engineering

Lasers provide boon for manufacturing of ceremonial Thai umbrellas

Seen atop pagodas, inside Buddhist ordination halls, and in royal palaces, the tiered umbrella is one of Thailand's oldest and most sacred ornamental symbols. Constructing one of these ornate pieces, also called chatras, ...

Engineering

New origami-inspired system turns flat-pack tubes into strong building materials

Engineers at RMIT University have designed an innovative tubular structural system that can be packed flat for easier transport and pop up into strong building materials. This breakthrough is made possible by a self-locking ...

Engineering

New device simplifies manipulation of 2D materials for twistronics

A discovery six years ago took the condensed-matter physics world by storm: Ultra-thin carbon stacked in two slightly askew layers became a superconductor, and changing the twist angle between layers could toggle their electrical ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Japan plans driverless bullet trains

Shinkansen bullet trains could be whizzing around Japan without drivers from the mid 2030s, one of its main rail operators said, motivated in part by the country's demographic crisis.

Engineering

Revolutionizing 3D printing through microwave technology

In the rapidly evolving world of 3D printing, the pursuit of faster, more efficient and versatile production methods is never-ending. Traditional 3D printing techniques, while groundbreaking, are often time-consuming and ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Tiny micro supercapacitor for wearable devices

A tiny microsupercapacitor (MSC) that is as small as the width of a person's fingerprint and can be integrated directly with an electronic chip has been developed. This has attracted major attention as a novel technology ...

Engineering

New system uses floor vibrations to detect building occupants

Thanks to a new system developed at EPFL, building owners can detect the number of occupants and track their movement using sensors installed on floor slabs. This novel approach could be particularly useful for enhancing ...

Computer Sciences

3-D hand pose estimation using a wrist-worn camera

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) working in collaboration with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of St Andrews and the University of New South Wales have developed a wrist-worn ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Translation tools, air purifiers: face masks go high-tech

From monitoring vital signs to filtering filthy air and even translating speech into other languages, the coronavirus-fuelled boom in mask-wearing has spawned an unusual range of high-tech face coverings.

Hi Tech & Innovation

Singapore's world-first face scan plan sparks privacy fears

Singapore will become the world's first country to use facial verification in its national ID scheme, but privacy advocates are alarmed by what they say is an intrusive system vulnerable to abuse.

Hi Tech & Innovation

UK Space Agency backs medical drone delivery project

A medical drone delivery service founded by trainee doctors that aims to transport coronavirus samples, test kits and protective equipment between hospitals has won the backing of Britain's Space Agency.

Hi Tech & Innovation

Designing approximate computation to save energy

If you think about computation, the words correctness, speed and precision probably come to mind. But the researchers of the OPRECOMP project beg to differ. They aim for developing a radically different, more flexible type ...

Software

Creating software that will unlock the power of exascale

Leading research organizations and computer manufacturers in the U.S. are collaborating on the construction of some of the world's fastest supercomputers—exascale systems capable of performing more than a billion billion ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Using AI to detect seemingly perfect deep-fake videos

One year ago, Maneesh Agrawala of Stanford helped develop a lip-sync technology that allowed video editors to almost undetectably modify speakers' words. The tool could seamlessly insert words that a person never said, even ...