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New tech can double spectral bandwidth in some 5G systems
Some materials, like wood, are insulators that block the flow of electricity. Conductors, such as copper, allow for electricity to flow through them. Other materials—semiconductors—can be either/or depending on conditions such as applied electric field or temperature. Unlike wood or copper or silicon, though, topological insulators (TIs) are an exotic... Read more
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Wi-Fi may be coming soon to a lamppost near you
As Wi-Fi is deployed more widely in cities, and perhaps at higher frequencies, it may depend on an abundant urban asset: streetlight poles.... Read more
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Artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch similar to humans
One of many special human qualities is the ability to handle objects with skill and precision. This is all down to our sense of touch, which is particularly acute in the tips of our fingers. Using our hands, we are able to explore the shape and composition of objects and... Read more
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Lighting up artificial neural networks with optomemristors
A team of international scientists have performed difficult machine learning computations using a nano-scale device, named an "optomemristor."... Read more
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Scientists to develop electronic noses to track down body odors
In April 2022, the project "Smart Electronic Olfaction for Body Odor Diagnostics"—SMELLODI for short—started with the kick-off meeting. The objective of the seven partners from Germany, Israel and Finland is to develop intelligent electronic sensor systems that can distinguish between healthy body odors and those altered by disease and transmit... Read more
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UK hosts 'world's first' hub for drones, future flying taxis
A pop-up urban port for delivery drones—and one day, potentially flying taxis—launched Monday in Britain, lifting a box of prosecco for a brief celebratory test flight hailed as groundbreaking.... Read more
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NASA funds lab to demonstrate 'replicator' 3D printer to produce cartilage in space
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced April 15 it has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a private company with funding to develop LLNL's revolutionary volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM) 3D printing technology to produce artificial cartilage tissue in space.... Read more
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World's first LED lights developed from rice husks
Milling rice to separate the grain from the husks produces about 100 million tons of rice husk waste globally each year. Scientists searching for a scalable method to fabricate quantum dots have developed a way to recycle rice husks to create the first silicon quantum dot (QD) LED light. Their... Read more
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Engineering team develops approach to enable simple cameras to see in 3D
Standard image sensors, like the billion or so already installed in practically every smartphone in use today, capture light intensity and color. Relying on common, off-the-shelf sensor technology—known as CMOS—these cameras have grown smaller and more powerful by the year and now offer tens-of-megapixels resolution. But they've still seen in... Read more
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Feel tremors under your feet or watch an ocean bed split open: VR tech brings geography lessons to life
You are standing in an apartment when you hear on the news that an earthquake has struck. Soon you feel your body sway and the ground starts to shake, the intensity increasing until the shelves on the walls and items on the table fall off.... Read more
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Virtual reality farm tour expands access to urban agriculture
One way farmers learn best practices is through their peers, but the pandemic has limited in-person meetings.... Read more
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Smart necklace recognizes 'silent' English, Mandarin commands
Speech recognition technology allows us to ask Siri to check the weather for tomorrow, or to ask Alexa to play our favorite song.... Read more
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An AI assistant for material discovery
When Tony Stark needs to travel to space in the original Iron Man movie, he asks his artificial intelligent (AI) assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. to make a suit that can survive harsh conditions.... Read more
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Team creates 3D objects that change their appearance from different viewpoints
Picture a birthday card that flickers between images of a birthday cake and flowers as you turn the card and view it from different angles. No doubt you can think of other examples of such morphing images in, say, advertisements. Until now, however, the effect has been limited to flat... Read more
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Riddell's Axiom could be breakthrough helmet for football
Riddell has developed a football helmet that might not be just the next big step in design and player safety, but a major leap.... Read more