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press releases.

Technology21 Mar 2025

Device enables direct communication among multiple quantum processors

Quantum computers have the potential to solve complex problems that would be impossible for the most powerful classical supercomputer to crack. Just like a classical computer has separate, yet interconnected, components that must work together, such as a memory chip and a CPU on a motherboard, a quantum computer will need to communicate quantum information between multiple processors. Current architectures used to interconnect superconducting quantum processors are “point-to-point” in connectivity, meaning they require a series of transfers between network nodes, with compounding error rates. On the way ...

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Technology21 Mar 2025

Nanotech-induced cooling improves crop yields in arid climates

Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed and combined a new nanoplastic and biodegradable mulch to passively cool greenhouses in hot, arid climates like those in the Middle East. Applying their technology, they lowered temperatures of miniature greenhouses by 25 degrees Celsius and increased crop yields of Chinese cabbage by nearly 200%. The study can be read in Nexus. The nanoplastic consists of polyethylene, the most widely produced plastic in the world, infused with nanoparticles consisting of the molecule cesium tungsten oxide. These nanoparticles absorb ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

Groundbreaking study finds AI-driven interviews with children may boost accuracy in witness accounts

Groundbreaking Study Finds AI-Driven Interviews with Children May Boost Accuracy in Witness Accounts In a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal PLOS ONE, an international team of researchers led by scholars from New York University Shanghai and Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland explored the potential of artificial intelligence to assist in sensitive child investigative interviews. The study compared how effectively a Large Language Model (LLM), specifically ChatGPT, and untrained human interviewers were able to interview children about a mock event ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

New framework to measure economic well-being considers new and free goods and services; addition of digital goods boosts growth

Welfare measurement is among the most fundamental questions in economics. Policymakers and others use gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for welfare, but this application does not reflect the benefits of introducing new and free goods and services, such as digital goods, and may result in misunderstanding the economy. In a new study, researchers developed a framework to measure the welfare contributions of new and free goods and services and quantify their benefits. By applying the framework to several examples (e.g., Facebook, Smartphone cameras), the study found that these goods and services significantly increase welfare. The study ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

Fully AI driven weather prediction system could start revolution in forecasting

A new AI weather prediction system, Aardvark Weather, can deliver accurate forecasts tens of times faster and using thousands of times less computing power than current AI and physics-based forecasting systems, according to research published today (Thursday 20 March) in Nature. Aardvark has been developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge supported by the Alan Turing Institute, Microsoft Research and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, providing a blueprint for a completely new approach to weather forecasting with the potential to transform current practices. The ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

New AI tool generates high-quality images faster than state-of-the-art approaches

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The ability to generate high-quality images quickly is crucial for producing realistic simulated environments that can be used to train self-driving cars to avoid unpredictable hazards, making them safer on real streets. But the generative AI techniques increasingly being used to produce such images have drawbacks. One popular type of model, called a diffusion model, can create stunningly realistic images but is too slow and computationally intensive for many applications. On the other hand, the autoregressive models that power LLMs like ChatGPT are much faster, but they ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

Graz University of Technology team decodes heat conduction of complex materials

Complex materials such as organic semiconductors or the microporous metal-organic frameworks known as MOFs are already being used for numerous applications such as OLED displays, solar cells, gas storage and water extraction. Nevertheless, they still harbour a few secrets. One of these has so far been a detailed understanding of how they transport thermal energy. Egbert Zojer’s research team at the Institute of Solid State Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), in collaboration with colleagues from TU Vienna and the University of Cambridge, has now cracked this ...

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Technology20 Mar 2025

Deep in the Mediterranean, in search of quantum gravity

Quantum gravity is the missing link between general relativity and quantum mechanics, the yet-to-be-discovered key to a unified theory capable of explaining both the infinitely large and the infinitely small. The solution to this puzzle might lie in the humble neutrino, an elementary particle with no electric charge and almost invisible, as it rarely interacts with matter, passing through everything on our planet without consequences. For this very reason, neutrinos are difficult to detect. However, in rare cases, ...

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Technology19 Mar 2025

South Africa and China establish record-breaking 12,900 km ultra-secure quantum satellite link

Scientists from South Africa and China have successfully established the world’s longest intercontinental ultra-secure quantum satellite link, spanning 12,900 km. Using the Chinese quantum microsatellite Jinan-1, launched into low Earth orbit, this milestone marks the first-ever quantum satellite communication link established in the Southern Hemisphere. In this demonstration, quantum keys were generated in real-time through Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), enabling the secure encryption of images transmitted between ground stations in China and South Africa via one-time pad encryption—considered unbreakable. The results from this pioneering ...

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Technology19 Mar 2025

CNT wires for wearable electronic devices from the existing fiber manufacturing process!

Dr. Han Joong Tark's team at KERI's Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center has successfully fabricated ‘functional wires’, which are the foundation of wearable electronic devices, by directly applying the existing synthetic fiber processing methods. Wearable electronic devices, which can be attached to or worn on the body, such as on the wrist, ear, or eyes, have long become a part of our daily lives in various forms like smartwatches, glasses, and earphones. The key to these devices is that they must be lightweight while maintaining long-lasting performance. While there have been various efforts to achieve this, one of the most important elements is the conductive ...

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Technology19 Mar 2025

Coffee-making robot breaks new ground for AI machines

An AI-powered robot that can prepare cups of coffee in a busy kitchen could usher in the next generation of intelligent machines, a study suggests. Using a combination of cutting-edge AI, sensitive sensors and fine-tuned motor skills, the robot can interact with its surroundings in more human-like ways than ever before, researchers say. The new technology, developed by a team at the University of Edinburgh, could transform robots’ ability to carry out tasks that previously could only be done by people. While robots are adept at working in tightly controlled settings such as factories ...

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Technology18 Mar 2025

Whose air quality are we monitoring?

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality monitors are disproportionally located in predominately white neighborhoods, according to University of Utah research. The EPA’s network consistently failed to capture air quality in communities of color across six major pollutants, particularly lead and sulfur dioxide, followed by ozone and carbon monoxide. EPA regulatory monitors are the key data source driving decisions about pollution reduction, urban planning and public health initiatives. Without equal monitor distribution, the data may misrepresent pollution concentrations, leaving marginalized groups at risk. “It’s ...

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Technology18 Mar 2025

‘Democratizing chemical analysis’: FSU chemists use machine learning and robotics to identify chemical compositions from images

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University chemists have created a machine learning tool that can identify the chemical composition of dried salt solutions from an image with 99% accuracy. By using robotics to prepare thousands of samples and artificial intelligence to analyze their data, they created a simple, inexpensive tool that could expand possibilities for performing chemical analysis. The work was published in Digital Discovery. “We are living in the age of artificial intelligence and big data,” ...

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Technology18 Mar 2025

Virginia Tech researchers publish revolutionary blueprint to fuse wireless technologies and AI

There’s a major difference between humans and current artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities: common sense. According to a new visionary paper by Walid Saad, professor in the College of Engineering and the Next-G Wireless Lead at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, a true revolution in wireless technologies is only possible through endowing the system with the next generation of AI that can think, imagine, and plan akin to humans. Published in the Proceedings of the IEEE Journal's Special Issue on the Road to 6G with Ph.D. student Omar Hashash and postdoctoral associate Christo Thomas, the paper's findings suggest: The missing link in the wireless revolution is ...

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Technology18 Mar 2025

AI ring tracks spelled words in American Sign Language

ITHACA, N.Y. – A Cornell University-led research team has developed an artificial intelligence-powered ring equipped with micro-sonar technology that can continuously and in real time track fingerspelling in American Sign Language (ASL). In its current form, SpellRing could be used to enter text into computers or smartphones via fingerspelling, which is used in ASL to spell out words without corresponding signs, such as proper nouns, names and technical terms. With further development, the device – believed to be the first of its kind – could revolutionize ASL translation by continuously tracking entire signed words and sentences. “Many other technologies that recognize ...

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Technology18 Mar 2025

Scientists unlock new dimension in light manipulation, ushering a new era in photonic technology

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University have made a ground-breaking discovery paving the way for a transformative era in photonic technology. For decades, scientists have theorised the possibility of manipulating the optical properties of light by adding a new dimension—time. This once-elusive concept has now become a reality thanks to nanophotonics experts from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team’s breakthrough emerged from experiments with nanomaterials known as transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) - a special ...

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Technology17 Mar 2025

Twisting atomically thin materials could advance quantum computers

By taking two flakes of special materials that are just one atom thick and twisting them at high angles, researchers at the University of Rochester have unlocked unique optical properties that could be used in quantum computers and other quantum technologies. In a new study published in Nano Letters, the researchers show that precisely layering nano-thin materials creates excitons—essentially, artificial atoms—that can act as quantum information bits, or qubits. “If we had just a single ...

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Technology17 Mar 2025

Magnetic microalgae on a mission to become robots

Stuttgart – A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart developed a biohybrid micro swimmer covered with magnetic material, whose swimming ability is largely unaffected by the coating. The team from the Physical Intelligence Department at MPI-IS published their work in the journal Matter, which covers a wide range of materials science research. In nature, the ten-micron small, single-cell microalgae are fantastic swimmers, propelled by their two whip-like ...

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Technology17 Mar 2025

New AI model analyzes full night of sleep with high accuracy in largest study of its kind

New York, NY [March 17, 2025]—Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine have developed a powerful AI tool, built on the same transformer architecture used by large language models like ChatGPT, to process an entire night’s sleep. To date, it is one of the largest studies, analyzing 1,011,192 hours of sleep. Details on their findings were reported in the March 13 online issue of the journal Sleep [https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf061]. The model, called patch foundational transformer for sleep (PFTSleep), ...

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Technology17 Mar 2025

A breakthrough in green hydrogen peroxide production: KIST develops carbon catalyst utilizing airborne oxygen

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the world's top 100 industrial chemicals with a wide range of applications in the chemical, medical, and semiconductor industries. Currently, hydrogen peroxide is mainly produced through the anthraquinone process, but this process has several problems, including high energy consumption, the use of expensive palladium catalysts, and environmental pollution due to by-products. In recent years, an environmentally friendly method of producing hydrogen peroxide by electrochemical reduction of oxygen using inexpensive carbon catalysts has gained attention. However, this method has been limited by the high cost of injecting high-purity oxygen gas and ...

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Technology16 Mar 2025

Ground breaking advances in construction robotics in extreme environments unveiled in review

As the new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation progresses, scientific research is expanding towards the macroscopic, delving into the microscopic, and advancing into extreme conditions, which becoming the developmental trends at the forefront of global science and technology. With the implementation of national strategies such as the high-quality development of green and low-carbon, China faces a series of new scientific and technological challenges in the field of construction under extreme environments. Among these, construction robotics in extreme environments, which meets the needs for high-risk operations, highly repetitive ...

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Technology14 Mar 2025

BU researchers develop computational tools to safeguard privacy without degrading voice-based cognitive markers

(Boston)—Digital voice recordings contain valuable information that can indicate an individual’s cognitive health, offering a non-invasive and efficient method for assessment. Research has demonstrated that digital voice measures can detect early signs of cognitive decline by analyzing features such as speech rate, articulation, pitch variation and pauses, which may signal cognitive impairment when deviating from normative patterns. However, voice data introduces privacy challenges due to the personally identifiable information embedded in recordings, ...

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Technology14 Mar 2025

Artificial photosynthesis: Researchers mimic plants

Photosynthesis is a marvellous process: plants use it to produce sugar molecules and oxygen from the simple starting materials carbon dioxide and water. They draw the energy they need for this complex process from sunlight. If humans could imitate photosynthesis, it would have many advantages. The free energy from the sun could be used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to build carbohydrates and other useful substances. It would also be possible to produce hydrogen, as photosynthesis splits water into its components oxygen and hydrogen. Photosynthesis: a Complex Process ...

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Technology13 Mar 2025

Study highlights noninvasive hearing aid

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – March 13, 2025 – A study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine highlights a new approach in addressing conductive hearing loss. A team of scientists, led by Mohammad J. Moghimi, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, designed a new type of hearing aid that not only improves hearing but also offers a safe, non-invasive alternative to implantable devices and corrective surgeries. The study recently published in Communications Engineering, a Nature Portfolio journal. Conductive ...

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Technology13 Mar 2025

AI reveals new insights into the flow of Antarctic ice

As the planet warms, Antarctica’s ice sheet is melting and contributing to sea-level rise around the globe. Antarctica holds enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 190 feet, so precisely predicting how it will move and melt now and in the future is vital for protecting coastal areas. But most climate models struggle to accurately simulate the movement of Antarctic ice due to sparse data and the complexity of interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and frozen surface. In a paper published March 13 in Science, researchers at Stanford University used machine learning to analyze high-resolution ...

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