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Electric vehicle prowess helps China's flying car sector take off

A worker in white gloves inspects the propellers of a boxy two-seater aircraft fresh off the assembly line at a Chinese factory trialing the mass production of flying cars.

Machine learning & AI

Can bigger-is-better 'scaling laws' keep AI improving forever? History says we can't be too sure

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman—perhaps the most prominent face of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom that accelerated with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022—loves scaling laws.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Intelligent photodetectors 'sniff and seek' like retriever dogs to recognize materials directly from light spectra

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in collaboration with UC Berkeley, have developed a new type of intelligent image sensor that can perform machine-learning inference during the act of photodetection ...

Engineering

Researchers pioneer pathway to mechanical intelligence by breaking symmetry in soft composite materials

A research team has developed soft composite systems with highly programmable, asymmetric mechanical responses. By integrating "shear-jamming transitions" into compliant polymeric solids, this innovative work enhances key ...

Technology news

Engineering

Climate-friendly metals can come from deep-sea ores

The demand for metals will increase significantly in the coming years, primarily because the climate-friendly transformation of the economy is only possible through the electrification of industrial processes, transport and ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Mirror-image molecules boost organic solar cell performance

Organic solar cells are made from conductive polymers, which makes them cheap, light, and flexible. However, one drawback is that their efficiency lags behind the best silicon devices—but this may soon change—as researchers ...

Engineering

Coffee waste helps make lower carbon concrete

RMIT researchers are advancing new ways to cut the carbon footprint of infrastructure by turning everyday organic waste into useful construction materials.