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Energy & Green Tech

Scientists improve catalytic converter efficiency to cut harmful pollution from hydrogen engines

Hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines offer great promise in the fight against climate change because they are powerful without emitting any earth-warming carbon. They can power heavy-duty trucks and buses and are ...

Computer Sciences

AI-powered software narrates surroundings for visually impaired in real time

A world of color and texture could soon become more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, via new software that narrates what a camera records.

Robotics

New data augmentation algorithm could facilitate the transfer of skills across robots

In recent years, roboticists have developed a wide range of systems designed to tackle various real-world tasks, ranging from completing household chores to delivering packages or finding target objects in delineated environments.

Energy & Green Tech

Streamlining solar cell structure and fabrication for more affordable energy

A new fabrication technique for substantially enhancing the prospects of commercializing perovskite solar cells through improved stability, reliability, efficiency and affordability is underway at City University of Hong ...

Computer Sciences

Synapses as a model: Solid-state memory in neuromorphic circuits

Certain tasks—such as recognizing patterns and language—are performed highly efficiently by a human brain, requiring only about one ten-thousandth of the energy of a conventional, so-called "von Neumann" computer. One ...

Energy & Green Tech

Colorful solar panels could make the technology more attractive

Solar panels aren't just for rooftops anymore—some buildings even have these power-generating structures all over their facades. But as more buildings and public spaces incorporate photovoltaic technologies, their monotonous ...

Engineering

New research 'uncovers' hidden objects in high resolution

Imagine driving home after a long day at work. Suddenly, a car careens out of an obscured side street and turns right in front of you. Luckily, your autonomous car saw this vehicle long before it came within your line of ...

Engineering

Tweaking turbine angles squeezes more power out of wind farms

A new control algorithm for wind farms that alters how individual turbines are oriented into the wind promises to boost farms' overall efficiency and energy output by optimizing how they deal with their turbulent wake.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Marrying models with experiments to build more efficient solar cells

In a single day, enough sunlight strikes Earth to power the world for an entire year—that is, if we can find a way to capture that energy cheaply and efficiently. While the cost of solar energy has decreased dramatically, ...

Engineering

AI may come to the rescue of future firefighters

In firefighting, the worst flames are the ones you don't see coming. Amid the chaos of a burning building, it is difficult to notice the signs of impending flashover—a deadly fire phenomenon wherein nearly all combustible ...