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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
A Florida State University research team has discovered a new crystal structure of organic-inorganic hybrid materials that could open the door to new applications for...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Theoretical physicists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used computer simulations to show how special light pulses could create robust channels where electricity...
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INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers Spin Artificial Spider Silk
Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Karolinska Institutet has, step by step, developed a way of "spinning" artificial spider silk.
Question of the Week: Communications
Would you use a flexible phone?
This week's Question: The Korea Herald reported last week that Samsung is developing a "fold-in" phone. The device's flexible display folds open into a 7-inch tablet. According to the article, the team is expected to ship more than 100,000 units during the third quarter of 2017. The paper reported that the...
INSIDER: Materials
Researchers Design Lightweight, 'Stronger-Than-Steel' Material
A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has successfully designed a new 3D material with five percent the density of steel and ten times the strength. By compressing and fusing flakes of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon, the sponge-link configuration...
Question of the Week: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Will the voice become a mainstream way to control our devices?
This year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas showcased many new consumer products featuring voice control. LG, for example, introduced a smart refrigerator equipped with Amazon's Alexa voice service. Other CES technologies with voice-recognition capabilities included...
INSIDER: Energy
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new strategy for fabricating more efficient plastic solar cells. The work has implications for developing...
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INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
While abundant in nature, cellulose is difficult and expensive to find in pure or high-quality form. A Swedish research team has developed an efficient, accurate, and...
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INSIDER: Motion Control
A robotic capture module system prototype was built to help NASA engineers understand the operations required to collect a multi-ton boulder from an asteroid’s surface. The hardware...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Inspecting the condition of dikes and other sea defense structures is typically a task for robots, working in a team and in a highly autonomous way. But if they move around across the dikes,...
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Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
Is nine hours a day too much "screen time?"
This week's Question: A recent study from Common Sense Media found that parents spend more than nine hours (9:22) a day with screen media, with the vast majority of that time being spent with personal screen media (7:43) and only a little more than 90 minutes devoted to work screen media. Most parents...
INSIDER: Motion Control
Boosting the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles by “harvesting” the energy generated by their shock absorbers and feeding it back into batteries or electrical systems such as air...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
A team of physicists from ITMO University, MIPT, and The University of Texas at Austin have developed an unconventional nanoantenna that scatters light in a particular direction depending on the...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Technion researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that laser emissions can be created through the interaction of light and water waves. This “water-wave laser” could someday be...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Next-generation solar cells made of super-thin films of semiconducting material hold promise because they’re relatively inexpensive and flexible enough to be applied just about anywhere....
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INSIDER: Communications
For wireless communication, we’re all stuck on the same traffic-clogged highway — it’s a section of the electromagnetic spectrum known as radio waves. Advancements have made the...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Computer chips in development at the University of Wisconsin–Madison could make future computers more efficient and powerful by combining tasks usually kept separate by...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
A new, ultrathin film that is both transparent and highly conductive to electric current has been produced by a cheap and simple method devised by an international...
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INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Machine-Learning System Recognizes Sounds from Video
A machine learning system from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recognizes sounds by watching video. The neural network interprets natural sounds in terms of image categories, without hand-annotated training data.
Question of the Week: Aerospace
Will we be a “multi-planetary” species?
This week's Question: In recent years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested into space ventures. SpaceX, an advanced spacecraft manufacturer founded by Elon Musk, has completed more than 30 successful launches since 2006, delivered cargo to the International Space Station, and secured...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
AI Algorithm 'Learns' Beyond its Training
A new machine-learning training method developed at the University of Toronto enables neural networks to learn directly from human-defined rules. The achievement supports new possibilities for artificial intelligence in medical diagnostics and self-driving cars.
INSIDER: Lighting
Glowing Crystals Cleanse Contaminated Drinking Water
Motivated by public hazards associated with contaminated sources of drinking water, a group of scientists has successfully developed and tested tiny, glowing crystals that detect and trap heavy-metal toxins like mercury and lead.
Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Are you optimistic about AI possibilities?
This week's Question: Today's featured INSIDER story demonstrated a new achievement in artificial intelligence. According to a recently released Stanford University report developed by a standing group of AI scientists, the ability for robots to be self-determined and concerned with their own longevity is...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Drones and Biobots Map Disaster Areas
North Carolina State University researchers will use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and insect cyborgs, or biobots, to map large, unfamiliar locations.
Question of the Week: Automotive
Will you use "car concierge" services?
This week's Question: Automaker Volvo is inviting 300 owners of XC90 SUVs and S90 sedans to try out a new app that connects car owners with convenience services. Through the pilot program, users can receive remote fuel delivery, valet car cleaning, and maintenance from their phones. Authorized providers of the...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a rocket motor concept that could be used to power CubeSat low-cost satellites. The Los Alamos team recently tested a...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
A new morphing wing architecture could greatly simplify the manufacturing process and reduce fuel consumption of aircraft by improving the wing’s aerodynamics, as well as...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
By forcefully embedding two silicon atoms in a diamond matrix, Sandia researchers have demonstrated for the first time on a single chip all the components needed to create a quantum...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
For more than a decade, engineers have been eyeing the finish line in the race to shrink the size of components in integrated circuits. They knew that the laws of physics had set a 5-nanometer...
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