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Computer Sciences

Can advanced AI can solve visual puzzles and perform abstract reasoning?

Artificial Intelligence has learned to master language, generate art, and even beat grandmasters at chess. But can it crack the code of abstract reasoning—those tricky visual puzzles that leave humans scratching their heads?

Energy & Green Tech

Small turbines can capture wasted energy and generate electricity from man-made wind sources

A pair of electrical engineers at Distance University of Madrid, working with a colleague from Mision Critica-Data Center, ZFB Technology Services, in Columbia, has developed a methodology for generating electricity from ...

Robotics

Octopus-inspired adhesive shows promise for underwater salvage operations

Using mechanisms inspired by nature to create new technological innovations is a signature of one Virginia Tech research team. The group led by Associate Professor Michael Bartlett has created an octopus-inspired adhesive, ...

Business

The changing geography of 'energy poverty': Study shows homes in the South and Southwest could use more aid

A growing portion of Americans who are struggling to pay for their household energy live in the South and Southwest, reflecting a climate-driven shift away from heating needs and toward air conditioning use, an MIT study ...

Robotics

Meet the robotic 'finger' ready to check your pulse

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have developed a soft robotic "finger" with a sophisticated sense of touch that can perform routine doctor's office examinations, including taking a patient's ...

Energy & Green Tech

Electrified reactor cuts emissions by 60% in key industries

Industries such as chemical manufacturing, fertilizer production and hydrogen generation could significantly cut emissions, improve efficiency and lower costs using a newly developed electrified reactor as an alternative ...

Computer Sciences

Study addresses challenges in digital animation of coiled hair

We have grown accustomed to seeing many aspects of our everyday world depicted using computer graphics, but some phenomena remain difficult for even the most experienced animators. Hair, specifically the highly coiled hair ...

Engineering

New modeling tool aids marine hydrokinetic energy projects

Researchers have created a new modeling tool that can be used to help develop ocean-based hydrokinetic energy projects. The tool can be used both to help design more robust marine hydrokinetic technologies and to inform risk ...

Machine learning & AI

Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel

British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton and American John Hopfield won the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for their pioneering work on the foundations of artificial intelligence, with both sounding the alarm over the technology ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Reduced power consumption in semiconductor devices

Stepping stones are placed to help travelers to cross streams. As long as there are stepping stones that connect both sides of the water, one can easily get across with just a few steps. Using the same principle, a research ...

Engineering

Eliminating low-frequency noise using a chiral metabeam

The soft whirring sound of low-frequency vibrations cannot be easily detected because it is not loud. But once detected, it can be hard to ignore. Often, residents complain of the annoyance caused by low-frequency vibrations ...

Energy & Green Tech

Researchers develop a cobalt-free cathode for lithium-ion batteries

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt, a mineral plagued by price volatility and geopolitical complications.

Energy & Green Tech

Lithium-ion battery material breaks barrier on fast charging

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, discovered a key material needed for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries. The commercially relevant approach ...

Engineering

Artificial soft surface autonomously mimics shapes of nature

Engineers at Duke University have developed a scalable soft surface that can continuously reshape itself to mimic objects in nature. Relying on electromagnetic actuation, mechanical modeling and machine learning to form new ...

Robotics

Smart microrobots walk autonomously with electronic 'brains'

Cornell University researchers have installed electronic "brains" on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size—smaller than an ant's head—so that they can walk autonomously without being externally ...

Engineering

A new way to make electricity using ocean waves

A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new way to generate electricity using ocean waves. In their paper published in the journal One Earth, the group describes how their new device works ...

Robotics

Can eyes on self-driving cars reduce accidents?

Robotic eyes on autonomous vehicles could improve pedestrian safety, according to a new study at the University of Tokyo. Participants played out scenarios in virtual reality (VR) and had to decide whether to cross a road ...

Engineering

Passive cooling system could benefit off-grid locations

As the world gets warmer, the use of power-hungry air conditioning systems is projected to increase significantly, putting a strain on existing power grids and bypassing many locations with little or no reliable electric ...

Engineering

Sensing pressure using paper

Several industrial, automotive and health care applications rely on accurate and precise measurement of pressure. Flexible and wearable pressure sensors are typically fabricated using petroleum-based polymers. The solid waste ...

Engineering

Machine learning generates 3D model from 2D pictures

Researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a machine learning algorithm that can create a continuous 3D model of cells from a partial set of 2D images that were ...

Hardware

Hydrogels pave the way for the future of soft robotics

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering have created an open-source, commercially available fiber extruder to benefit future research with hydrogels and soft robotics.