https://techxplore.com/ en-us Tech Xplore internet news portal provides the latest news on electronics, technology, and engineering. Researchers have developed a full-color near-eye display that uses three stacked holographic gratings, each engineered to direct red, green or blue light. The new design could help advance compact, energy-efficient augmented reality (AR) glasses for use in a variety of professional and consumer applications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-holographic-layers-red-green-blue.html Engineering Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705682502 Chinese scientists have developed a method that could facilitate the large-scale production of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. The method employs a multidentate anchoring molecule-assisted co-deposition strategy to improve the fabrication of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) through blade coating—a technique that applies a thin film to a substrate with a blade and is suitable for large-scale manufacturing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-blade-coating-strategy-advances-scalable.html Engineering Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:40:02 EDT news705680821 Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are increasingly popular alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Sodium (Na) is much more abundant in Earth's crust than lithium, creating an opportunity for lower costs. In addition, SIBs offer enhanced safety and low-temperature performance. Indeed, SIBs are already being commercialized for applications ranging from portable electronics to electric vehicles. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-scandium-durability-sodium-ion-battery.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:00:09 EDT news705678661 The electric grid has never mattered more—or faced more pressure. As transportation, buildings and industry electrify, ever more of modern life runs through the same network of wires. At the same time, the grid is being reshaped from both ends. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-vision-reality-neural-solver-power.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news705677101 Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) College of Design and Engineering (CDE), led by Professor Heng Chye Kiang (NUS Department of Architecture), have developed a computational framework for reconstructing the genealogy of vernacular architecture. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-method-reconstructs-architectural-lineages.html Engineering Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:20:09 EDT news705672361 Large language models are often asked to help users make choices, from what to cook for dinner to higher-stakes decisions, such as screening job applicants or supporting medical triage. As AI is increasingly integrated into consequential decisions, concerns have been raised that the models may share some human biases, including racial and gender preferences. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-choices-based-options.html Machine learning & AI Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news705670859 Imagine that you share a ride to work with the same colleague most mornings. As it passes by a license plate reader, the camera records the car, which can be linked through vehicle records to its registered owner. Beside it, another sensor detects signals broadcast by devices traveling nearby, such as your phone and your colleague's smartwatch. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-tech-tracking-plate-readers-associating.html Security Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:00:08 EDT news705670643 There are increasing calls for tighter legislation and restrictions on social media use, particularly for children and young people. Evidence shows potential harms coexist on social media platforms alongside opportunities for crisis support and connection. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-social-media-content-safe-spaces.html Internet Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:35:16 EDT news705670487 During election seasons or major national debates, online news comment sections often become heated spaces of conflict across gender, generational and political lines. For years, there have been persistent concerns that behind some of these conflicts may lie "foreign winds," or interventions by foreign actors seeking to manipulate public opinion and deepen social divisions. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-foreign-linked-opinion-million.html Machine learning & AI Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:20:07 EDT news705665628 An email, apparently from a colleague, with the correct name, a current project, a familiar tone and a link ... who wouldn't click? Personalized phishing has always been the most effective kind and the most expensive to produce. AI removes the cost. A research team from BIFOLD/TU Berlin, Inria and Ruhr University Bochum has now put numbers to it in the largest field study of its kind to date. The study was presented at the USENIX Security Symposium 2026 in Baltimore. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-field-ai-personalized-phishing-cheaper.html Security Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:11 EDT news705665484 The trail of likes, shares and downloads we leave across the internet could help predict successful innovations years in advance, Cornell researchers showed by curating two datasets that allowed them to compare early engagement with future impact. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-today-downloads-tomorrow-scientific-impact.html Computer Sciences Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:02 EDT news705668341 A McGill University study recommends that cold-climate cities increase their electric bus fleets and expand charging capacity so vehicles can be charged slowly, a process that draws less power from the grid than fast charging. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-electric-buses-cold-climates-optimizing.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:40:09 EDT news705664562 A federation of nearly 300 French newspapers said Tuesday that it filed a complaint with the country's competition authority over Google's new AI-generated search-result summaries, fearing the feature will erode traffic to their websites. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-french-newspapers-google-ai-summaries.html Business Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:08 EDT news705664325 A nuclear plant in northern France shut down three reactors after a swarm of jellyfish clogged pumps used to cool the units, energy group EDF said Tuesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-jellyfish-shutdown-reactors-french-nuclear.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:00:03 EDT news705664309 A study of Bradfield City's First Building green roof confirms that combining native rooftop gardens with solar panels reduces urban heat, increases renewable energy generation and supports local biodiversity. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-biosolar-roof-standard-climate-resilient.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 10:20:08 EDT news705661802 Australia's growing mountain of solar panel waste could become far more valuable, with University of Newcastle researchers taking a major step toward making solar panel recycling economically sustainable. The team has successfully scaled up a process that recovers valuable silver from end-of-life solar panels, demonstrating almost 100% silver recovery during the world's first continuous pilot-scale flotation trial for solar-panel recycling. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-flotation-recovers-silver-solar-panel.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:40:05 EDT news705658641 You know the feeling. Your account is suspended, your refund request is refused, or you're still being charged for a canceled subscription. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-complaints-online-platforms-ai-solution.html Business Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:20:03 EDT news705658442 One of the most promising technologies is perovskite solar cells. They are highly efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, can be manufactured as thin and flexible devices, and require less energy and lower production costs than conventional silicon modules. However, their commercial adoption has long been limited by a fundamental challenge—insufficient long-term stability when exposed to moisture, heat and oxygen. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-neutral-salt-layer-perovskite-solar.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news705657121 Artificial intelligence models are jacks of many trades, including writing, generating images, and creating 3D models. But they aren't as helpful when it comes to testing robots or designs for vehicles in diverse environments, since they don't understand physics as well as they do pixels or text. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-physics-ai-simulate-wider-range.html Computer Sciences Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:00:01 EDT news705656882 The widespread use of conversational platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini is raising important new ethical, anthropological and legal questions regarding the potential risks, misuses and shortcomings of artificial intelligence (AI). In discussing their personal experiences, some people have shared that they formed emotional attachments to AI agents or even felt that they had formed romantic relationships with them. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-people-ai-agents.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:02 EDT news705585110 The first — and only — person to break the sound barrier in a car hits the track in Utah this week with new wheels and his eye on another record. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-driver-broke-barrier-utah.html Automotive Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:00:06 EDT news705634576 Most batteries spend more than 70% of their lifetime at rest. Yet few studies have examined calendar aging, which is how a battery degrades when it is neither charging nor being used. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-aim-battery-aging-idle.html Engineering Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:40:05 EDT news705601261 Researchers at Aalto University, together with international partners, have developed the most accurate model yet of how humans read. The new model uses reinforcement learning, a type of AI used in robotics, to explain—and recreate—the choices readers make as they move through text. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-captures-humans-paving-personalized.html Hi Tech & Innovation Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:00:11 EDT news705599283 The multiplication of matrices and higher-dimensional arrays called tensors lies at the heart of modern computing. Matrix or tensor multiplication is, in fact, the most common operation carried out in artificial intelligence applications, as well as in scientific simulations and computer graphics. High-performance computers, especially those equipped with graphics processing units (GPUs), are designed to work with so-called dense matrices or tensors—those that have relatively few zero elements. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-coding-technique-needless-gpu-tasks.html Hardware Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:40:05 EDT news705596761 Meta Platforms on Monday announced the release of a new artificial intelligence model that's open for other software developers to use as CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned of the risks if control of advanced AI is concentrated under a select few companies, institutions or governments. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-zuckerberg-manifesto-source-approach-ai.html Machine learning & AI Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:40:02 EDT news705587383 A new study by University of Mannheim researchers Gunther Glenk, Philip Holler and Stefan Reichelstein examines how the assessment of carbon emissions affects incentives for producing electrolytic hydrogen. They found that even stringent accounting rules generally provide sufficient investment incentives. However, they do not necessarily guarantee low-carbon hydrogen. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-carbon-accounting-hydrogen-investment-emissions.html Business Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:20:02 EDT news705595802 The ability to change focus instantly is something most people take for granted. Every day, our eyes effortlessly switch between reading a book, recognizing a face across the room or watching a bird fly overhead. Replicating that remarkable technological flexibility, however, has proved far more difficult. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-graphene-powered-soft-lens-pave.html Electronics & Semiconductors Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news705596001 In the last decade, scientists have shown that fusion energy can work as a physical process. Next question: Can it work economically? A study co-authored by MIT professors Dennis Whyte and Andrew W. Lo proposes a framework for understanding what's needed to make fusion energy commercially viable in the marketplace. The method considers the physical inputs needed to sustain controlled fusion energy production, as well as the cost of building power plants that can compete in energy markets. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-economic-realities-fusion-power-framework.html Business Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news705595681 While asking questions to ChatGPT and similar tools to generate images has become part of daily life, behind this convenience lies the massive power consumption of huge data centers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-neuromorphic-ai-technique-usher-era.html Hi Tech & Innovation Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:00:01 EDT news705595621 A new technology has been developed that enables pretrained AI models to be expanded into larger models with specialized expert modules without training the models from scratch. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-vision-team-efficient-method-scaling.html Machine learning & AI Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:40:05 EDT news705589657