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Robotics

Rise of the rice robots—creating active smart materials

Rice becomes weaker when compressed quickly, while staying stronger under slow pressure—a discovery enabling scientists to design a new material that could be used to build "soft" robots that change stiffness automatically ...

Computer Sciences

'Probably' doesn't mean the same thing to your AI as it does to you

When a human says an event is "probable" or "likely," people generally have a shared, if fuzzy, understanding of what that means. But when an AI chatbot like ChatGPT uses the same word, it's not assessing the odds the way ...

Energy & Green Tech

Hybrid perovskite device generates electricity from the sun and rain simultaneously

A team from the Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville (US), has developed a new hybrid device that allows energy to ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Borrowing from biology to power next-gen data storage

DNA, the genetic blueprints in every living organism, is nature's most efficient storage mechanism, capable of storing about 215 million gigabytes of data per gram. That storage capacity, if applied to electronics, could ...

Technology news

Computer Sciences

New roadmap for evaluating AI morality proposed

Large language models (LLMs) are dealing with an increasing amount of morally sensitive information as people turn to them for medical advice, companionship and therapy. However, they are not exactly known for possessing ...

Energy & Green Tech

How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ammonia production

Ammonia is one of the most widely produced chemicals in the world, used mostly as fertilizer, but also for the production of some plastics, textiles, and other applications. Its production, through processes that require ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Green electronics thanks to biodegradable circuit boards

They are the "heart" of every electronic device, from laptops to electric toothbrushes: printed circuit boards, also known as PCBs. These rigid boards are covered with copper traces and soldered electronic components and ...

Engineering

Flash Joule heating lights up lithium extraction from ores

A new one‑step, water‑, acid‑, and alkali‑free method for extracting high‑purity lithium from spodumene ore has the potential to transform critical metal processing and enhance renewable energy supply chains. The ...