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Machine learning & AI

As chatbot sophistication grows, AI debate intensifies

California start-up OpenAI has released a chatbot capable of answering a variety of questions, but its impressive performance has reopened the debate on the risks linked to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Consumer & Gadgets

An architecture that gives users full control of their smartphones

In recent years, many smartphone users have become concerned about the privacy of their data and the extent to which companies might have access to this data. As things stand today, the applications that users can run on ...

Energy & Green Tech

Large band bending at SnS interface opens door for highly efficient thin-film solar cells

Tin sulfide (SnS) solar cells have shown immense promise in the rush to develop more environmentally friendly thin-film solar cells. Yet for years SnS solar cells have struggled to achieve a high conversion efficiency. To ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Zinc batteries offer greater safety, but many improvements needed to compete with lithium

Zinc batteries potentially offer a much lower fire risk than their market-leading yet fire-prone lithium-ion cousins, but researchers have concluded that the technology still needs a major boost to performance on a number ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Building energy-efficient computing platforms

The massive growth of data centers that consume enormous amounts of energy has contributed significantly to power shortages worldwide. With rising demand for faster and more intelligent computers and devices, there is a pressing ...

Energy & Green Tech

An amorphous high-capacity iron fluorosulfate cathode

Chemists and engineers have been trying to create increasingly efficient, affordable and stable battery technologies to power a wide range of electronic devices. To do this, they have been leveraging the multi-redox reactions ...

Engineering

New process allows 3D printing of microscale metallic parts

Engineers at Caltech have developed a method for 3D printing pure and multicomponent metals, at a resolution that is, in some cases, an order of magnitude smaller than previously possible. The process, which uses water-based ...

Engineering

Communications system achieves fastest laser link from space yet

In May 2022, the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload onboard a small CubeSat satellite was launched into orbit 300 miles above Earth's surface. Since then, TBIRD has delivered terabytes of data at record-breaking rates ...

Engineering

Inexpensive airborne testbeds could study hypersonic technologies

Miniature satellites known as CubeSats are taking on larger roles in space missions that might previously have been carried out by more expensive conventional spacecraft. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology ...

Robotics

Caregiving simulator advances research in assistive robotics

Caregiving robots would be transformative for people with disabilities and their caretakers, but few research groups are working in this space. A new robotic simulation platform developed by Cornell researchers may help more ...

Energy & Green Tech

Ultra-sensitive optical sensor can reduce hydrogen's risks

In the pursuit of clean and renewable energy, hydrogen plays an important role. But a major challenge facing this transition is that the gas is explosive when mixed with air. For this reason, it is crucial to be able to detect ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Self-driving lorries hit the road in Sweden

Barrelling down a motorway south of Stockholm in a 40-ton lorry and trailer, the driver keeps a careful eye on the road but, jarringly, no hands on the wheel.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Researchers realize perovskite-based phase heterojunction solar cells

Over the past few decades, engineers and material scientists have created increasingly advanced and efficient solar technologies. Some of these technologies are based on photovoltaics with a so-called heterojunction structure, ...

Engineering

Breaking the scaling limits of analog computing

As machine-learning models become larger and more complex, they require faster and more energy-efficient hardware to perform computations. Conventional digital computers are struggling to keep up.