Technology
press releases.

Technology29 May 2025

UCC scientists develop new quantum visualization technique to identify materials for next generation quantum computing

Scientists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have developed a powerful new tool for finding the next generation of materials needed for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing. The significant breakthrough means that, for the first time, researchers have found a way to determine once and for all whether a material can effectively be used in certain quantum computing microchips. The major findings have been published today in the academic journal Science and are the result of a large international collaboration which includes leading theoretical work from Prof. Dung-Hai Lee in University of California, Berkeley, and material synthesis from professors Sheng Ran and Johnpierre ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Non-hand-worn, load-free VR rehabilitation system facilitates hand recovery with deep learning and ionic hydrogel technology

Innovative Rehabilitation System Boosts Traditional Hand Recovery Methods In a significant advancement for hand rehabilitation, researchers from Zhengzhou University have introduced a non-hand-worn, load-free VR hand rehabilitation system that could boost therapy development for patients recovering from conditions like stroke and osteoarthritis. The system, developed by a team led by Yanchao Mao, integrates deep learning with ionic hydrogel electrodes to recognize hand gestures based on electromyographic (EMG) signals. The ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Wildlife researchers train AI to better identify animal species in trail camera photos

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University scientists have improved artificial intelligence’s ability to identify wildlife species in photos taken by motion-activated cameras. Their study, which introduces a less-is-more approach to the data on which an AI model is trained, opens the door to wildlife image analysis that’s more accurate and also more cost effective. Motion-activated cameras are an important wildlife monitoring tool, but reviewing thousands of images manually can be prohibitively time consuming, and current AI models are at times too inaccurate to be useful for scientists and wildlife managers. “One ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Thousands of sensors reveal 3D structure of earthquake-triggered sound waves

Earthquakes create ripple effects in Earth's upper atmosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems we rely on. Nagoya University scientists and their collaborators have used Japan's extensive network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to create the first 3D images of atmospheric disturbances caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Their results show sound wave disturbance patterns in unique 3D detail and provide new insights into how earthquakes generate these waves. The results were published in the journal Earth, Planets and Space. Mapping electron density ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Deep learning-powered denoising technique for high-speed dynamic fluorescence imaging

A new deep learning-based approach has been developed to overcome one of the critical limitations in fluorescence microscopy: severe image degradation caused by noise in dynamic in vivo imaging environments. The technique, recently published in PhotoniX (May 23, 2025), introduces a self-supervised denoising network—TeD (Temporal-gradient empowered Denoising)—that improves image quality without requiring clean reference images, representing a breakthrough for applications involving rapid biological ...

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Technology29 May 2025

The future of AI regulation: why leashes are better than guardrails

Herndon, VA, May 29, 2025 – Many policy discussions on AI safety regulation have focused on the need to establish regulatory “guardrails” to protect the public from the risks of AI technology. In a new paper published in the journal Risk Analysis, two experts argue that, instead of imposing guardrails, policymakers should demand “leashes.” Director of the Penn Program on Regulation and professor at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Cary Coglianese and University of ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Portable sensor enables community lead detection in tap water

Lead contamination in municipal water sources is a consistent threat to public health. Ingesting even tiny amounts of lead can harm the human brain and nervous system — especially in young children. To empower people to detect lead contamination in their own homes, a team of researchers developed an accessible, handheld water-testing system called the E-Tongue. This device, described in ACS Omega, was tested through a citizen science project across four Massachusetts towns. “I was driven by the reality that families could be unknowingly exposed to lead,” says Pradeep ...

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Technology29 May 2025

Affordable real-time sensor system for algal bloom detection

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Park, Sun-Kyu) has successfully developed a real-time, low-cost algal bloom monitoring system utilizing inexpensive optical sensors and a novel labeling logic. The system achieves higher accuracy than state-of-the-art AI models such as Gradient Boosting and Random Forest. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) pose significant threats to water quality, public health, and aquatic ecosystems. Conventional detection methods such as satellite imaging and UAV-based remote sensing are cost-prohibitive ...

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Technology28 May 2025

Horses ‘mane’ inspiration for new generation of social robots

Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners–like therapy horses who respond to human emotion–say University of Bristol researchers. Equine-assisted interventions (EAIs) offer a powerful alternative to traditional talking therapies for patients with PTSD, trauma and autism, who struggle to express and regulate emotions through words alone. The study, presented at the CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems held in Yokohama, recommends that therapeutic robots should also exhibit a level of autonomy, rather than one-dimensional displays of friendship ...

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Technology28 May 2025

Pollution from the Tijuana river affects air quality in San Diego

The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater — including sewage, industrial waste and runoff — into the Pacific Ocean every day, making it the dominant source of coastal pollution in the region. Wastewater pollution has been an ongoing problem for decades and is so severe that the nonprofit environmental group American Rivers recently named the Tijuana River America’s second most endangered river. A new study from the University of California San Diego examines how pollutants ...

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Technology28 May 2025

Can AI make critical communications chips easier to design?

Radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) are critical to advancing communications capabilities—think moving from 5G networks to 6G—and many other technological applications. But these chips are also really hard to design. A multi-university team with heavy involvement from industry leaders is working to change that. The team, led by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, plans to infuse artificial intelligence into the design process for RFICs to reduce the difficulty of making these important chips. "Design productivity is a huge problem for RFICs; in most ...

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Technology28 May 2025

Solitonic superfluorescence paves way for high-temperature quantum materials

A new study in Nature describes both the mechanism and the material conditions necessary for superfluorescence at room temperature. The work could serve as a blueprint for designing materials that allow exotic quantum states – such as superconductivity, superfluidity or superfluorescence – at high temperatures, paving the way for applications such as quantum computers that don’t require extremely low temperatures to operate. The international team that did the work was led by North ...

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Technology28 May 2025

Yeast-driven and bioimpedance-sensitive biohybrid soft robots

Recent advancements in flexible bioelectronics have demonstrated remarkable progress in achieving seamless integration at bio-tissue-electronic interfaces. However, persistent challenges such as foreign body response (FBR) due to mechanical mismatch and signal instability under dynamic physiological conditions remain critical barriers. "By synergizing bioinspired chemical modifications with microstructural topology, we developed a self-healing bioadhesive interface that eliminates reliance on external stimuli, overcoming the physiological ...

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Technology28 May 2025

The African Engineering and Technology Network signs ninth university partner

Carnegie Mellon University Africa announced today that the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec) has signed its ninth university partner, Universidade Agostinho Neto. The network, launched in 2022, provides a vehicle for technology-focused universities in Africa to engage in deep collaboration to drive digital growth, create technology development and job growth, and shape policy change. Afretec Network members span the entire continent and include Carnegie Mellon University Africa (Rwanda), Al Akhawayn University (Morocco), the American University in Cairo (Egypt), Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Senegal), University ...

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Technology28 May 2025

TU Graz study: Austria’s schools largely fail to comply with National and European Air Quality guidelines

Good indoor air quality is a basic prerequisite for human health and is crucial for the ability to concentrate at work, or while studying. A nationwide study by Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) has now shown that most Austrian schools do not comply with national and European guidelines on ventilation. In the past school year, the guideline value for the daily average CO2 concentration of 1000 ppm was exceeded in 75 per cent of the classrooms examined. In winter, the rate even rose to 88 per cent. In individual cases, the average ...

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Technology27 May 2025

Perfumes and lotions disrupt how body protects itself from indoor air pollutants

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Fragrances and lotions don't just change the way people smell, they actively alter the indoor air chemistry around the wearer, disrupting a critical natural process the body uses to protect itself from pollution, according to an international research team that includes scientists from Penn State. The new study, published in the journal Science Advances, revealed that personal care products like perfumes and even unscented lotions alter the chemical composition of the “human oxidation field,” a natural protective air shield around a person’s breathing zone ...

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Technology27 May 2025

Record-breaking performance in data security achieved with quantum mechanics

A joint team of researchers led by scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has reported the fastest quantum random number generator (QRNG) to date based on international benchmarks. The QRNG, which passed the required randomness tests of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, could produce random numbers at a rate nearly a thousand times faster than other QRNG. “This is a significant leap for any industry that depends on strong data security,” said KAUST Professor Boon Ooi, who led the study, which is published in Optics Express. KAUST ...

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Technology27 May 2025

NCSA shapes students’ computing dreams

Students Pushing Innovation (SPIN) participant Mankeerat Singh Sidhu and National Center for Supercomputing Applications graduate student researcher Hetarth Chopra won first place in the 2025 Cozad New Venture Challenge for Tandemn, an innovative software solution designed to help democratize artificial intelligence computing resources. Tandemn links idle graphics processing units (GPUs) into unified, high-performance networks designed for AI computing. The goal is to lower costs and barriers to GPU access while providing owners with possible users for their underutilized resources. “While everyone talks about ‘democratizing ...

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Technology27 May 2025

Can AI analogize?

Can large language models (LLMs) reason by analogy? Some outputs suggest that they can, but it has been argued that these results reflect mimicry of the results of analogical reasoning in the models’ training data. To test this claim, LLM’s have been asked to solve counterfactual problems that are unlikely to be similar to problems in training data sets. Here is an example: Let’s solve a puzzle problem involving the following fictional alphabet: [x y l k w b f z t n j r q a h v g m u o p d i c s e] Here is the ...

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Technology27 May 2025

AI aversion in social interactions

An experimental study suggests that people are less likely to behave in a trusting and cooperative manner when interacting with AI than when interacting with other humans. Scientists use experimental games to probe how humans make social decisions requiring both rational and moral thinking. Fabian Dvorak and colleagues compared how humans act in classic two-player games when playing with another human to how humans act when playing with a large-language model acting on behalf of another human. Participants played the Ultimatum ...

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Technology23 May 2025

Oral microbiota transmission partially mediates depression and anxiety in newlywed couples

Background and objectives Oral microbiota dysbiosis and altered salivary cortisol levels have been linked to depression and anxiety. Given that bacterial transmission can occur between spouses, this study aimed to investigate whether the transmission of oral microbiota between newlywed couples mediates symptoms of depression and anxiety. Methods Validated Persian versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory were administered to 1,740 couples who had been married for six months. The researchers compared 268 healthy control spouses with 268 affected cases in a cross-sectional study. Data were analyzed using appropriate ...

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Technology23 May 2025

Nano-scale biosensor lets scientists monitor molecules in real time

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could continuously monitor the molecular state of our body? Consider the solutions that could enable, from optimized drug delivery to early detection of deadly diseases like cancer. For the last two decades, research has aimed to make this a reality by developing devices that measure a chemical or biological reaction in our bodies and send their measurements as a signal readable from outside the body. These devices, called biosensors, can now spot tiny molecules like drugs in real time, but they work only briefly. There is still no single reliable biosensor that can monitor many different substances in our bodies over long stretches. To address ...

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Technology23 May 2025

Quantum eyes on energy loss: diamond quantum imaging for next-gen power electronics

Improving energy conversion efficiency in power electronics is vital for a sustainable society, with wide-bandgap semiconductors like GaN and SiC power devices offering advantages due to their high-frequency capabilities. However, energy losses in passive components at high frequencies hinder efficiency and miniaturization. This underscores the need for advanced soft magnetic materials with lower energy losses. In a recent study published in Communications Materials, a research team led by Professor Mutsuko Hatano from the ...

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Technology22 May 2025

A rule-breaking, colorful silicone that could conduct electricity

Images A newly discovered silicone variant is a semiconductor, University of Michigan researchers have discovered—upending assumptions that the material class is exclusively insulating. "The material opens up the opportunity for new types of flat panel displays, flexible photovoltaics, wearable sensors or even clothing that can display different patterns or images," said Richard Laine, U-M professor of materials science and engineering and macromolecular science and engineering and corresponding author ...

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Technology22 May 2025

Illinois physicists develop revolutionary measurement tool, exploiting quantum properties of light

University of Illinois Physics Professor Paul Kwiat and members of his research group have developed a revolutionary new tool for precision measurement at the nanometer scale in scenarios where background noise and optical loss from the sample are present. This new optical interferometry technology leverages the quantum properties of light—specifically, extreme color entanglement—to enable faster and more precise measurements than widely used classical and quantum techniques can achieve. Colin ...

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