Technology
press releases.

Technology18 Dec 2025

Archaeologists use AI to create prehistoric video game

Historians and archaeologists are constantly looking for new ways to bring the past to life. And in museums, audiovisual and digital solutions have long been a part of the presentation of cultural heritage. However, until now, developing immersive digital content about the past has been very expensive and has required specialized labour. At the same time, it has been difficult to update the content if needed. For this reason, only large commercial game developers have been successful in making (pre-)history-based video games. Popular examples are Assassin's Creed and Civilisation, which are great, but don't always place ...

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Technology18 Dec 2025

‘Personality test’ shows how AI chatbots mimic human traits – and how they can be manipulated

Researchers have developed the first scientifically validated ‘personality test’ framework for popular AI chatbots, and have shown that chatbots not only mimic human personality traits, but their ‘personality’ can be reliably tested and precisely shaped – raising implications for AI safety and ethics. The research team, led by the University of Cambridge and Google DeepMind, developed a method to measure and influence the synthetic ‘personality’ of 18 different large ...

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Technology18 Dec 2025

Deep neural networks enable accurate pricing of American options under stochastic volatility

Background and Motivation Accurately pricing American-style options, which allow early exercise at any time before expiry, remains a significant challenge in quantitative finance. This task becomes even more complex under realistic market conditions where asset volatility is not constant but fluctuates randomly, as described by stochastic volatility models like Heston's. Traditional numerical methods, often mesh-based, can be computationally intensive and struggle with high-dimensional problems. With the exponential growth of derivatives trading and the critical need for effective risk management, evidenced by billions of contracts ...

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Technology18 Dec 2025

AI images of doctors can exaggerate and reinforce existing stereotypes

AI generated images of doctors have the potential to exaggerate and reinforce existing stereotypes relating to sex, gender, race, and ethnicity, suggests a small analysis in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. Sati Heer-Stavert, GP and associate clinical professor at the University of Warwick, says AI generated images of doctors “should be carefully prompted and aligned against workforce statistics to reduce disparity between the real and the rendered.” Inaccurate portrayals of doctors in the media and everyday imagery ...

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Technology18 Dec 2025

We may never be able to tell if AI becomes conscious, argues philosopher

The only reasonable stance on conscious AI is “agnosticism”: that we won’t, and may never, be able to tell, says a philosophy-of-consciousness expert. This gulf in our knowledge could be exploited by a tech industry intent on selling the “next level of AI cleverness”, argues Dr Tom McClelland. “If you have an emotional connection with something premised on it being conscious and it’s not, that has the potential to be existentially toxic.” A University of Cambridge philosopher argues that our evidence for what constitutes consciousness is far too limited to tell if or when artificial intelligence has made the leap ...

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Technology18 Dec 2025

AI video translation shows promise but humans still hold the edge

AI video translation is not yet a perfect substitute for human translation, according to new research from the University of East Anglia. A new study shows that AI tools can be useful when speed and clarity are priorities. But human translators remain crucial for tone, cultural nuance and for sounding natural. Jiseon Han, a lecturer in digital marketing at UEA’s Norwich Business School, said: “As brands race to reach global consumers on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, a new question has emerged - can generative AI truly replace humans in video translation? “We decided to put it to ...

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Technology17 Dec 2025

KAIST-UEL team develops “origami” airless wheel to explore lunar caves

DAEJEON, SOUTH KOREA – A joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL) has developed a transformative wheel capable of navigating the Moon’s most extreme terrains, including steep lunar pits and lava tubes. The study presents a novel "origami-inspired" deployable airless wheel that can significantly expand its diameter to traverse obstacles that would trap traditional rovers. The research was published in the December ...

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Technology17 Dec 2025

Large language models unleash AI’s potential for autonomous and explainable materials discovery

Tokyo, Japan – Discovering new inorganic materials is central to advancing technologies in catalysis, energy storage, semiconductors, and more. But finding a material with just the right properties is extremely difficult. What if an AI system could think like a human expert, explore this enormous space automatically, and suggest promising new materials on its own? In a study published this month in Cell Reports Physical Science, researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo announced the development of MatAgent, an AI framework ...

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Technology17 Dec 2025

AI learns to build simple equations for complex systems

A research team at Duke University has developed a new AI framework that can uncover simple, understandable rules that govern some of the most complex dynamics found in nature and technology. The AI system works much like how history’s great “dynamicists” – those who study systems that change over time – discovered many laws of physics that govern such systems’ behaviors. Similar to how Newton, the first dynamicist, derived the equations that connect force and movement, the ...

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Technology16 Dec 2025

Breakthrough AI from NYUAD speeds up discovery of life-supporting microbes

Scientists at NYU Abu Dhabi have developed a powerful new artificial intelligence tool called LA⁴SR that can rapidly identify previously overlooked proteins in microalgae - tiny organisms that produce much of the Earth’s oxygen and support entire aquatic ecosystems. This breakthrough will allow scientists to speed up the search for new natural compounds and enzymes that could support future clean energy solutions. It will also help researchers better understand how microscopic life adapts to changing environments and open new possibilities for monitoring water quality and tracking how ecosystems respond to climate shifts. Microalgae are essential ...

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Technology16 Dec 2025

UF dives deep into predicting storm damage with computer models

Though the 2025 hurricane season was relatively quiet for the United States, researchers are combining massive amounts of observational data with wildly complex computer models to predict the impact of future storms on coastal communities. The University of Florida’s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, or ESSIE, is part of a project that recently received the Excellence in Partnering Award by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program for its collaborative, ...

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Technology16 Dec 2025

Demonstration of altermagnetism in RuO₂ thin films -- A new magnetic material for the AI era

A joint research team from NIMS, The University of Tokyo, Kyoto Institute of Technology and Tohoku University has demonstrated that thin films of ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂) exhibit altermagnetism—the defining property of what is now recognized as the third fundamental class of magnetic materials. Altermagnets have the potential to overcome limitations associated with current magnetic random access memory using conventional ferromagnets and are attracting attention as promising materials for next-generation high-speed, high-density memory devices. In addition ...

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Technology16 Dec 2025

Researchers discover bias in AI models that analyze pathology samples

At a glance: A new study reveals that pathology AI models for cancer diagnosis perform unequally across demographic groups. The researchers identified three explanations for the bias and developed a tool that reduced it. The findings highlight the need to systematically check for bias in pathology AI to ensure equitable care for patients. Pathology has long been the cornerstone of cancer diagnosis and treatment. A pathologist carefully examines an ultrathin slice of human tissue under a microscope for clues that indicate the presence, type, and stage of cancer. To a human expert, looking at a swirly pink tissue sample ...

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Technology15 Dec 2025

Researchers reveal bias in a widely used measure of algorithm performance

When scientists test algorithms that sort or classify data they often turn to a trusted tool called Normalized Mutual Information (or NMI) to measure how well an algorithm’s output matches reality. But according to new research, that tool may not be as reliable as many assume. In a paper published in Nature Communications, SFI Postdoctoral Fellow Max Jerdee, Alec Kirkley (University of Hong Kong), and SFI External Professor Mark Newman (University of Michigan) show that NMI — one of the most widely used metrics in data science and network research — can produce biased results. "Normalized mutual information has been used or referenced in thousands of papers in the ...

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Technology15 Dec 2025

New agentic AI platform accelerates advanced optics design

Hyper-realistic holograms, next-generation sensors for autonomous robots, and slim augmented reality glasses are among the applications of metasurfaces, emerging photonic devices constructed from nanoscale building blocks. Now, Stanford engineers have developed an AI framework that rapidly accelerates metasurface design, with potential widespread technological applications. The framework, called MetaChat, introduces new computational tools and self-reflective AI assistants, enabling rapid solving of optics-related problems. The findings were reported recently ...

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Technology15 Dec 2025

University of Oklahoma researcher awarded funding to pursue AI-powered material design

NORMAN, Okla. – Mike Banad, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to pursue the development of advanced materials that could shape the future of energy-efficient electronics and photonics. His project uses inverse design techniques that aim to accelerate their creation and develop a systematic framework for future materials engineering that targets specific, desired properties. While the framework can be used to rapidly design a wide range of materials, Banad’s current work centers on metal-insulator transition (MIT) chalcogenides. These materials ...

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Technology15 Dec 2025

Penn and UMich create world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months and cost just a penny each. Barely visible to the naked eye, each robot measures about 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers, smaller than a grain of salt. Operating at the scale of many biological microorganisms, the robots could advance medicine by monitoring the health of individual cells and manufacturing by helping construct microscale devices. Powered by light, the robots carry ...

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Technology15 Dec 2025

Tech savvy users have most digital concerns

UCL Press release Under embargo until Monday 15 December at 00:01 GMT Tech savvy users have most digital concerns Digital concerns around privacy, online misinformation, and work-life boundaries are highest among highly educated, Western European millennials, finds a new study from researchers at UCL and the University of British Columbia. The research, published in Information, Communication & Society, also found individuals with higher ...

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Technology12 Dec 2025

AI can pick up cultural values by mimicking how kids learn

Artificial intelligence systems absorb values from their training data. The trouble is that values differ across cultures. So an AI system trained on data from the entire internet won’t work equally well for people from different cultures. But a new University of Washington study suggests that AI could learn cultural values by observing human behavior. Researchers had AI systems observe people from two cultural groups playing a video game. On average, participants in one group behaved more altruistically. ...

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Technology12 Dec 2025

University of Toronto launches Electric Vehicle Innovation Ontario to accelerate advanced EV technologies and build Canada’s innovation advantage

Toronto, Ontario - The University of Toronto today announced the launch of Electric Vehicle Innovation Ontario (EVIO), a new industry–academic partnership that will accelerate the development and commercialization of next-generation electric vehicle (EV) and mobility technologies. Led by the University of Toronto, in collaboration with seven other southern Ontario universities, EVIO will embed 37 highly skilled graduate researchers directly inside 20 Ontario EV and mobility companies. The researchers will work on real-world challenges in battery chemistry, charging reliability, power electronics, mobility software, cold-weather ...

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Technology12 Dec 2025

Concern over growing use of AI chatbots to stave off loneliness

AI chatbot systems, such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot, are used increasingly as confidants of choice, but turning to AI chatbots for companionship and emotional support is a cause for concern, especially in younger people, say experts in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. They warn that “we might be witnessing a generation learning to form emotional bonds with entities that lack capacities for human-like empathy, care, and relational attunement” and say evidence based strategies for reducing ...

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Technology11 Dec 2025

Tiny new device could enable giant future quantum computers

Researchers have made a major advance in quantum computing with a new device that is nearly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the breakthrough optical phase modulators could help unlock much larger quantum computers by enabling efficient control of lasers required to operate thousands or even millions of qubits—the basic units of quantum information. Critically, the team of scientists have developed these devices using scalable manufacturing, avoiding complex, custom builds in favor of those used to make the same technology behind ...

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Technology11 Dec 2025

Chip-scale magnetometer uses light for high-precision magnetic sensing

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed a precision magnetometer based on a special material that changes optical properties in response to a magnetic field. The device, which is integrated onto a chip, could benefit space missions, navigation and biomedical applications. High-precision magnetometers are used to measure the strength and direction of magnetic fields for various applications. However, many of today’s magnetometers must operate at extremely low temperatures — close to 0 kelvin — or require relatively large and heavy apparatus, which significantly restricts their practicality. “Our device operates at room temperature and can be fully integrated ...

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Technology11 Dec 2025

Dr. Bilal Akin wins 2026 O'Donnell Award in Engineering for transformative work in EV energy systems and industrial automation

Groundbreaking electrical engineer Bilal Akin, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from TAMEST. He was chosen for his cutting-edge advancement of sustainable and high-efficiency energy conversion systems for electric vehicles (EVs) and industrial automation. Dr. Akin’s research focuses on making power electronics systems more efficient, reliable and sustainable, with major ...

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Technology11 Dec 2025

Dr. Fan Zhang receives 2026 O'Donnell Award in Physical Sciences for groundbreaking discoveries in quantum matter and topological physics

Pioneering theoretical physicist Fan Zhang, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Physical Sciences from TAMEST. He was chosen for his transformational research exploring new topological quantum matter, which has changed how we think about physics. Dr. Zhang studies how millions of electrons in atomically thin materials interact to produce collective quantum effects such as magnetic, superconducting and topological phases. His ...

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