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Business

Factory and warehouse rooftops offer untapped opportunity to help disadvantaged communities bridge solar energy divide

Lower-income communities across the United States have long been much slower to adopt solar power than their affluent neighbors, even when local and federal agencies offer tax breaks and other financial incentives.

Robotics

Robotic face makes eye contact, uses AI to anticipate and replicate a person's smile before it occurs

What would you do if you walked up to a robot with a human-like head and it smiled at you first? You'd likely smile back and perhaps feel the two of you were genuinely interacting. But how does a robot know how to do this? ...

Engineering

Solar-powered emission-free technology converts saltwater into drinking water

Scientists have developed a new solar-powered system to convert saltwater into fresh drinking water which they say could help reduce dangerous waterborne diseases like cholera.

Engineering

Engineers find a new way to convert carbon dioxide into useful products

MIT chemical engineers have devised an efficient way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, a chemical precursor that can be used to generate useful compounds such as ethanol and other fuels.

Electronics & Semiconductors

A solar cell you can bend and soak in water

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and collaborators have developed an organic photovoltaic film that is both waterproof and flexible, allowing a solar cell to be put onto clothes and still function ...

Energy & Green Tech

Japan unveils next-generation passenger plane project

Japan announced plans on Wednesday to develop a next-generation passenger jet over the next decade after the last struggling attempt, led by a private company, was scrapped a year ago.

Computer Sciences

Pixel perfect: Engineers' new approach brings images into focus

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an efficient new method to turn blurry images into clear, sharp ones. Called Progressively Deblurring Radiance Field (PDRF), this approach deblurs images 15 times faster than previous ...

Computer Sciences

New algorithm unlocks high-resolution insights for computer vision

Imagine yourself glancing at a busy street for a few moments, then trying to sketch the scene you saw from memory. Most people could draw the rough positions of the major objects like cars, people, and crosswalks, but almost ...

Energy & Green Tech

Reimagining the future of solar energy

Scientists are always on the lookout for ways to make our world a better place, and one area they're focusing on is solar energy. One idea in this area is to make solar cells more efficient by concentrating more solar light ...

Robotics

Research could advance soft robotics manufacturing and design

Soft robots use pliant materials such as elastomers to interact safely with the human body and other challenging, delicate objects and environments. A team of Rice University researchers has developed an analytical model ...

Business

New technique helps AI tell when humans are lying

Researchers have developed a new training tool to help artificial intelligence (AI) programs better account for the fact that humans don't always tell the truth when providing personal information. The new tool was developed ...