https://techxplore.com/ en-us Tech Xplore internet news portal provides the latest news on electronics, technology, and engineering. Reinforced concrete floor slabs account for about 40% of buildings' embodied carbon emissions. Until now, however, there has been no practical alternative for complex, multistory buildings. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-compact-concrete-sustainable-wood-based.html Engineering Wed, 23 Sep 2026 23:00:01 EDT news709372789 In the wake of the U.S. Screen Actors Guild strike over AI protections and U.K. musicians' silent album protesting proposed changes to copyright law, more than a dozen AI-produced tracks have appeared on the Billboard charts since 2022. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-success-christian-gospel-country.html Business Wed, 23 Sep 2026 21:40:06 EDT news709383915 Modern data centers, high-precision measurement systems and high-resolution radar sensors rely on extremely broadband amplifier chips that combine low noise with high output power. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF have developed a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) with strong performance in these areas. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-broadband-amplifier-centers-sensors.html Hardware Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:20:01 EDT news709372735 When people hear the term "green building," they often imagine expensive technologies, costly developments or environmentally friendly features that only wealthy buyers can afford. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-south-africa-green-major-cities.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:20:10 EDT news709383865 Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Anupam Pandey's research team has found that microscopic folds in soft materials can act like tiny, programmable traffic gates for liquid droplets. The folds can stop droplets, let them pass or merge them together without surface coatings or additional hardware. Remarkably, the droplets never touch the fold. They sense it from a distance and slow down, stop short or change course in response. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-soft-surfaces-rewritable-merge-droplets.html Engineering Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:00:07 EDT news709401481 How many times have you asked someone to hold open a door while carrying something, or fumbled with your front-door keys with your arms full of groceries? Wouldn't it be great if you could give yourself the extra hand you need? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-wearable-robotic-limbs.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:20:01 EDT news709396047 A four-legged robot that can complete a marathon on a single battery charge has been demonstrated by a team from KAIST. The robot, which completed the Sangju Marathon in South Korea in 4 hours and 19 minutes alongside human runners, traveled three times as far per charge than existing robots and could pave the way for improved battery life in legged robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-robot-dog-marathon-battery.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:00:16 EDT news709395301 A research team at the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), led by professor Ruibang Luo of the School of Computing and Data Science and professor Can Li of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has developed Gungnir, a blockchain-inspired DNA data storage codec. The framework improves digital information recovery from severely damaged DNA sequences, potentially extending the practical lifespan of DNA data archives from less than a decade to centuries. The paper is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-blockchain-dna-storage-codec-recovers.html Computer Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:40:01 EDT news709395061 As our skies increasingly crowd with buzzing, hovering, flitting drones, spare a thought for the humble hopping robot. Hopping, a popular form of locomotion in the insect and amphibian worlds, is nearly two orders of magnitude more energy-efficient than flying. Unlike a mosquito that must constantly expend energy to stay aloft, a flea only works out when it jumps. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-tiny-robot-precisely-height.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:20:08 EDT news709394701 The FBI said Wednesday it was investigating a criminal hacking group's claims that it had stolen "very sensitive data" belonging to thousands of agents and applicants and that it had compromised the bureau's jobs website. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-fbi-apparent-breach-jobs-website.html Security Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:20:04 EDT news709388452 The Tesla Model Y has been the sales king of small electric SUVs since the moment it arrived. Many rivals have chased its success, but none have come close. Now it's Rivian's turn. The Rivian R2 is the California EV automaker's first small electric SUV, and it's gunning for the Model Y. Rivian's R1T truck and larger R1S SUV are excellent EVs, but their $80,000-ish price tags put them out of reach for most shoppers. At a starting price of about $45,000, the R2 is finally a Rivian many Americans can afford. To help you decide, Edmunds compared these two head-to-head to find out which is the better buy. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-rivian-r2-tesla-electric-suv.html Automotive Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:00:17 EDT news709388401 A distributed computing framework can group large volumes of English text more accurately and efficiently than older methods, according to research published in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems. The system could support faster analysis in education, government and business by automatically sorting related blocks of text into groups, or clusters. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-groups-english-text-accurately-conventional.html Computer Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:40:09 EDT news709387494 For many of us, the last—and only—time we've seen a walking hand was Thing in "The Addams Family" movies or TV series. Now there's another. Engineers from the Soft Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich have adapted an off-the-shelf detached robotic hand so it can crawl across different surfaces, balance and interact with its environment. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-robotic-keys.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:30:01 EDT news709387524 Screens are becoming smaller and sharper. This can be seen, for example, in augmented reality glasses and the electronic viewfinders of cameras, some of which have a screen diagonal of less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inches). https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-tiny-oled-pixels-microchips-chemical.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:00:09 EDT news709386182 For decades, nonproliferation scientists and engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have helped convert the fuel in dozens of research reactors around the world so they can operate safely and more securely. They find ways to change systems that rely on highly enriched uranium fuel, which can be used to make weapons, to systems that use low-enriched uranium fuel. With every fuel conversion, Argonne has gained experience, insight and a reputation for expertise in solving some of the toughest reactor conversion problems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-major-world-medical-isotope-giant.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:20:13 EDT news709384382 Millions of pounds of nutrient-rich ice cream are discarded after production each year, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. Nearly 5% of the raw materials used in ice cream production end up as waste—representing millions of dollars in lost product per year. This waste primarily comes from batches discarded because of quality issues and waste generated during equipment cleaning. Regulations aimed at preventing cross-contamination with allergens have also greatly increased the amount of discarded ice cream over the past two decades. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-fat-ice-cream-economically-recycled.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:20:05 EDT news709381142 A simple pattern of black-and-white stripes could cause an autonomous vehicle or robot to misjudge how far away an obstacle is, potentially triggering an unexpected maneuver or even a collision, according to new University of Florida research. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-simple-visual-patterns-ai-powered.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 10:00:04 EDT news709372295 You may recall the scene in the comedy Raising Arizona in which Nicolas Cage pulls a pair of pantyhose over his head before attempting, with limited success, to rob a convenience store of a pack of diapers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-stocking-masks-criminal-comeback.html Security Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:20:01 EDT news709372322 If you're one of Google Discover's millions of daily users, you've doubtless come across all manner of content without actively searching for it. A Spanish user, for instance, might see headlines promising to reveal the secret recipes of avant-garde chef Ferran Adrià, what time 46-year-old TV presenter Pilar Rubio goes to bed, the latest unmissable deals from Lidl or the new car that will allow them to say "adiós" to annual inspections. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-google-online-personalized-content.html Internet Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:00:15 EDT news709372143 When an AI chatbot agrees with our reasoning in resolving a social dilemma, we may become more confident in our opinions. But when the chatbot disagrees, we may simply dismiss the challenge rather than reconsider our views. That's according to new research from the University of Michigan examining how people respond when artificial intelligence weighs in on personal and interpersonal dilemmas. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-people-technology-view.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:40:04 EDT news709367882 Traffic jams are usually treated as a problem to be measured after they form. Anton Rozhkov and his colleagues are exploring a different approach: giving planners state-of-the-art tools that can anticipate congestion, locate where it is most likely to emerge and translate complex traffic models into plain-language guidance. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-framework-cities-future-traffic.html Automotive Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:20:02 EDT news709361942 Drivers who don't wear their seat belts were found to do so in situations when seat belts would help the most, according to a new study by researchers at the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. The analysis found that situations such as driving after sundown or at high speeds were more predictive of whether someone skipped a seat belt than demographics. The research is published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-high-conditions-unbuckled.html Automotive Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:00:11 EDT news709358462 Humanoid robots, robotic systems with a human-like body structure, could assist people in homes, offices, health care facilities, public spaces and various other environments. Before they can be reliably deployed in these settings, however, robots should be able to safely navigate cluttered and dynamic environments. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-humanoid-robots-narrow-gaps-obstacles.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:20:01 EDT news709302867 Meta has disrupted more than 3.7 million scam-linked accounts, pages and other content this year based on information provided by Singapore police, the company said Wednesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-meta-million-scammers-accounts-singapore.html Internet Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:40:03 EDT news709357004 Meta has spent billions to stay competitive in artificial intelligence, but the tech giant faces growing pushback as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to announce new products built for the AI era Wednesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-meta-ai-smart-glasses-privacy.html Consumer & Gadgets Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:20:04 EDT news709356735 Cornell University physics researchers have made robots that can, for the first time, sense the temperature of their surroundings and react together to change it. "Little things can have a large impact," said Itai Cohen, a leader in developing microscopic robots and a corresponding author on the study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-microrobots-environment.html Robotics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:00:12 EDT news709293086 Anthropic and OpenAI on Tuesday released new, cheaper artificial intelligence models within hours of each other, days after the heads of both companies called for a slowdown in AI development. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-anthropic-openai-cheaper-ai-safety.html Machine learning & AI Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:38:44 EDT news709357100 For years, artificial intelligence researchers have warned of ways the technology could wipe out humanity: AI bots could design an unstoppable disease, unleash a nuclear war, or transform all of Earth into paper clip factories, as one thought experiment goes. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-doomsday-scenarios-humanity.html Machine learning & AI Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:31:50 EDT news709356683 In a summer filled with revelations about artificial intelligence's rapid development, researchers were especially alarmed by runaway bots finding their way onto the internet and, in at least one instance, coordinating there with one another. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-internet-takeover-gain-urgency.html Machine learning & AI Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:01:58 EDT news709354873 Virginia's Smart Airspace program reached new heights this summer when two advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft flew newly developed routes throughout central and southwest Virginia. The flights, performed by manufacturers Electra and Textron Systems, marked the first demonstrations of the Virginia Tech-led Smart Airspace program, which is part of Virginia's Advanced Air Mobility Strategic Plan. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-virginia-smart-airspace-network-flights.html Automotive Tue, 22 Sep 2026 22:40:01 EDT news709290692