https://techxplore.com/ en-us Tech Xplore internet news portal provides the latest news on electronics, technology, and engineering. In a step toward developing next-generation, AI-enabled 6G wireless networks, scientists have demonstrated a laser-driven engine made from an easy-to-manufacture ceramic material that uses white light to move information over large distances. While conventional LED-based visible light communication (VLC) systems typically operate over only a few meters, the novel photonic engine—described in a study published in Matter—can move data over 1.2 kilometers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-laser-powered-intelligent-6g-networks.html Telecom Fri, 22 May 2026 11:00:02 EDT news698575201 Soft robotics—machines made of flexible, muscle-like materials—can bend and stretch in fluid ways that put the rigid robots of old sci-fi movies to shame. But the flexibility that lets them pick ripe tomatoes or navigate a search-and-rescue site comes at a cost: Soft robotics are notoriously difficult to control. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-soft-robotics-ai-cousin-reservoir.html Robotics Fri, 22 May 2026 10:20:04 EDT news698663701 Modern smartphones are packed with incredible technology, from high-resolution cameras and advanced graphics chips to AI processors. In premium models, this hardware includes LiDAR (light detection and ranging), which helps power augmented reality features and improve depth sensing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-smartphones-track-hidden-lidar.html Software Fri, 22 May 2026 10:07:44 EDT news698663209 Over the past few decades, roboticists worldwide have introduced increasingly advanced robots that can understand human instructions, move in their surroundings and reliably complete basic manual tasks. While they perform well in some scenarios, many of these robots still struggle to translate the instructions of users into precise and executable actions that would allow them to successfully complete desired tasks. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-framework-robots-complex-language-precise.html Robotics Fri, 22 May 2026 09:40:05 EDT news698591508 A new skin-like computing patch developed at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) can analyze health data using artificial intelligence in an unprecedented way. Unlike today's wearable devices, it carries out its AI computations directly on the body, in mere milliseconds, without relying on a wireless connection. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-powered-stretchable-patch-algorithms.html Electronics & Semiconductors Thu, 21 May 2026 17:20:04 EDT news698602201 A team of Chinese scientists has developed a new passivation strategy that significantly improves both the efficiency and operational stability of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The study has been published in the journal Matter on May 21. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-perovskitesilicon-tandem-solar-cells-certified.html Engineering Thu, 21 May 2026 16:00:06 EDT news698597161 McGill University researchers have discovered a new way to fold flat sheets into smooth, curved shells that can switch from floppy and flexible to stiff and load-bearing on demand. By designing a special origami pattern and threading cable-like elements through it, they can control the material's final three-dimensional shape and how rigid it becomes. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-origami-pattern-flat-sheets-3d.html Engineering Thu, 21 May 2026 15:40:03 EDT news698596321 Researchers at the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Information Security have developed a new security standard to counter a novel form of cyberattack—one they had previously identified themselves. The attacks specifically target web protocols used, for example, to manage login processes. This affects, among others, industries that handle sensitive data—such as health care, insurance, and banking. Researchers from Stuttgart will present their defense mechanism at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP2026) held in San Francisco May 18–21. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-defense-mechanism.html Computer Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:03 EDT news698589482 The use of biometric data in personal devices has been popular with consumers for tracking things like heart rate and sleep stages, but it is becoming increasingly common for identification purposes too. Identifying data can be used for device security authentication, secure access control and identity verification for financial transactions, which can make everyday activities like making purchases, using devices or entering your home more convenient, while providing enhanced security. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-earphone-users-heartbeat-authentication.html Hi Tech & Innovation Thu, 21 May 2026 13:50:01 EDT news698589354 Cornell engineers have developed a robotic collective that behaves less like a machine and more like a material that flows, reshapes, and adapts to its environment without centralized control. The system, called the Cross-Link Collective, consists of dozens of small robots that have limited mobility individually, but together exhibit coordinated and sustained motion. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-robotic-centralized.html Robotics Thu, 21 May 2026 13:40:06 EDT news698587802 Music lovers may one day be able to blast their favorite artists, headphone-free, without angering the neighborhood or colleagues, thanks to researchers at Penn State. The team designed a system that can manipulate sound waves so that they are only audible at a precise spot slightly wider than an inch. Despite this tiny focal point, their system can produce high-quality audio, potentially offering listeners a crisp, yet private, sound experience. The team detailed their work in a paper recently published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-3d-speaker-focus-audio-private.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 21 May 2026 13:20:07 EDT news698587561 Researchers at Adelaide University have discovered a promising new strategy that could deliver fast battery charging. The team, led by Professor Shi-Zhang Qiao, an ARC Industry Laureate Fellow in the University's School of Chemical Engineering, created pouch battery cells using interfacial anion-reduction catalysis to record a charge of more than 85% after six minutes. The cells also provided about 240.4 watt-hours per kilogram after fewer than six minutes of charging. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-minutes-recharge-battery-advance-rewrite.html Energy & Green Tech Thu, 21 May 2026 13:00:01 EDT news698586361 Online shoppers could one day face fewer misleading fake reviews thanks to a newly tested AI-powered detection system developed by researchers at the University of East London. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-fake-accuracy-amazon-yelp.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 21 May 2026 12:00:01 EDT news698582341 As electric vehicle (EV) adoption grows in the United States and globally, the demand for EV batteries and their critical materials—such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite—is expected to surge dramatically. This makes the resilience of the supply chain underpinning battery production increasingly important. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ev-battery-imports-domestic.html Business Thu, 21 May 2026 11:40:02 EDT news698582221 In 2025, EPFL scientists published an improved approach to tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (TVAM): a 3D printing method that uses laser light to harden a rotating vial of photosensitive resin into a desired shape. In that work, the researchers used holograms to encode 3D forms by modulating the alignment (phase) of light waves rather than their brightness (amplitude), as previous methods had done, preserving far more of the laser's power. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-holographic-boosts-tissue-3d-efficiency.html Engineering Thu, 21 May 2026 11:20:04 EDT news698580421 At any given time, technology does two things to employment: It replaces traditional jobs, and it creates new lines of work. Machines replace farmers, but enable, say, aeronautical engineers to exist. So, if tech creates new jobs, who gets them? How well do they pay? How long do new jobs remain new, before they become just another common task any worker can do? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-technology-jobs-young-skilled-workers.html Business Thu, 21 May 2026 10:01:36 EDT news698576317 Investing before 2030 to pivot away from coal in steel production is now 53%, or roughly 800 billion US dollars cheaper than what it would cost to reduce the same amount of emissions later on in other parts of the economy or through carbon removals (1.5 trillion dollars), in a scenario that returns warming below 1.5°C. The findings are a part of a new study appearing in Nature Climate Change led by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-steel-decisions-early-coal-exit.html Business Thu, 21 May 2026 05:00:05 EDT news698512142 Once only achievable in the far-fetched imaginations of science fiction writers, 3D printing has gone mainstream. Relatively inexpensive machines allow individuals to design and print everything from board games and desk accessories to replacement parts for household appliances and more. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-recyclable-resin-enables-high-precision.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 20 May 2026 15:00:12 EDT news698507810 Patrick Traynor, Ph.D., has questions. When the professor and interim chair of the University of Florida Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering saw reports in the media positing that scientific literature is increasingly being generated by artificial intelligence, he wondered, "How do they know?" https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-detectors-probe-efficacy-danger-ai.html Security Wed, 20 May 2026 13:20:07 EDT news698500982 A research team at Google co-led by Michael Brenner, Catalyst Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Google research scientist, has produced a new artificial intelligence system that can automatically write scientific software programs that surpass the performance of human-written programs. The paper is published in the journal Nature. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-automates-scientific-software-outperforming.html Software Wed, 20 May 2026 13:00:05 EDT news698500058 A code-reuse attack named "Segmentation Fault Oriented Programming (SFOP)" exploits weaknesses in signal handling and Intel CET in Linux systems. SFOP is capable of bypassing Intel CET in any program by producing segmentation faults in sequence. The program under attack is first made to access a restricted area of memory and then repeatedly crashed by executing invalid instructions. Every time it receives a SIGSEGV signal in return, the attacker registers a signal handler that succeeds in crashing the program. SFOP is enabled by 12 previously unknown weaknesses that affect Linux signals. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-consequences-serial-code-reuse-sfop.html Security Wed, 20 May 2026 12:55:44 EDT news698500194 Two artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can assist throughout multiple processes involved in scientific research—such as generating hypotheses, designing experiments, and analyzing data—are presented in Nature. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-scientific-discoveries.html Hi Tech & Innovation Wed, 20 May 2026 12:00:03 EDT news698496303 Tech giant Alibaba released on Wednesday a new artificial intelligence chip it said performed three times as well as its predecessor, showcasing growing domestic chipmaker prowess as US titan Nvidia struggles for access to China. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-alibaba-unveils-ai-chip-nvidia.html Electronics & Semiconductors Wed, 20 May 2026 09:40:04 EDT news698487831 In 2024, global average temperatures exceeded 1.5o C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. This threshold was set as an aspirational limit by the 2015 Paris Agreement and was considered a line beyond which the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and human vulnerability become stark. Crossing this threshold is a signal that reducing emissions alone will not be enough. Increasingly, scientists, engineers, and policymakers around the globe agree that we will need to actively pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere to help reduce the impacts of this pollutant. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-carbon-capture-atmosphere-scale-bottleneck.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 20 May 2026 06:20:05 EDT news698469971 Google will soon unleash a wealth of new artificial intelligence-powered tools and systems, including an AI assistant that will help users by proactively performing tasks on their behalf. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-google-slew-ai-advances-personal.html Machine learning & AI Wed, 20 May 2026 05:07:26 EDT news698472400 Imagine navigating a city street during rush hour—cars and bikes zipping by, pedestrians hustling down a crowded sidewalk, your eyes adjusting to the shop windows' glare in one moment and a dark underpass the next. Our brain, of course, does all this without us being aware of the complex processes going on in that moment. In real time, our eyes and brain create a three-dimensional, accurate representation of a dynamic scene, constantly calculating distances between objects with myriad shapes, sizes, and surfaces. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-virtual-screen-machines-3d.html Robotics Wed, 20 May 2026 05:00:04 EDT news698398261 A new University of California San Diego study unveils the first empirical evidence that a modern artificial intelligence system can pass the Turing test—a major scientific benchmark that asks whether a machine can imitate human conversation so convincingly that people can't reliably tell it apart from a real person. In a series of experiments, people were often unable to tell the difference between humans and advanced large language models (LLMs). https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-human-real-humans-classic.html Security Tue, 19 May 2026 17:40:06 EDT news698430421 Removing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air, a process called direct air capture (or DAC), is one of several approaches being developed to help reduce the concentration of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Among the methods being scaled up, one of the more established involves exposing air to a strongly alkaline liquid, typically a solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH), commonly known as lye. The liquid chemically binds the CO2, converting it into dissolved salts called carbonates and bicarbonates. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-custom-device-carbon-capture-reactions.html Engineering Tue, 19 May 2026 17:20:01 EDT news698429101 New research by an international team of scientists finds that fully phasing out fossil fuels worldwide by 2050 would require global electricity generation to expand by roughly 60 to 80% beyond the levels projected in conventional 1.5°C climate pathways. The study also shows that eliminating fossil fuels could significantly reduce dependence on CO2 removal technologies and underground carbon storage. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-full-fossil-fuel-phase-require.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 19 May 2026 16:00:03 EDT news698424961 In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) could fly through a collapsed building to map the scene, giving rescuers information they need to quickly reach survivors. But this remains an extremely challenging problem for an autonomous robot, which would need to swiftly adjust its trajectory to avoid sudden obstacles while staying on course. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-source-framework-drones-dodge-obstacles.html Robotics Tue, 19 May 2026 15:20:04 EDT news698422499