Technology
press releases.

Technology11 Oct 2024

Using AI and iNaturalist, scientists build one of the highest resolution maps yet of California plants

With the help of deep learning, University of California, Berkeley, scientists have leveraged citizen science data from the app iNaturalist to create the highest resolution maps yet of plant distributions throughout California. iNaturalist is a widely-used cellphone app, originally developed by UC Berkeley students, that allows people to upload photos and the location data of plants, animals or any other life they encounter and then crowdsource their identity. The app currently has more than 8 million users worldwide who collectively have uploaded more than 200 million observations. The researchers used a ...

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Technology11 Oct 2024

Illuminating quantum magnets: Light unveils magnetic domains

When something draws us in like a magnet, we take a closer look. When magnets draw in physicists, they take a quantum look. Scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University and the University of Tokyo have successfully used light to visualize tiny magnetic regions, known as magnetic domains, in a specialized quantum material. Moreover, they successfully manipulated these regions by the application of an electric field. Their findings offer new insights into the complex behavior of magnetic materials at the quantum level, paving the way for future technological advances. Most of us are familiar with magnets that stick to metal surfaces. But what about those that do not? Among ...

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Technology10 Oct 2024

UTA professor earns NSF grants to study human-computer interaction

Fillia Makedon, a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded two new National Science Foundation (NSF) grants involving human-computer interaction. In one, she will study extended reality to assess attention levels in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD); in the other, she will look at how human-robot interaction could help visually impaired persons perform job duties remotely from home using telerobotic technologies. The NSF awarded ...

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Technology10 Oct 2024

SNU-KAIST researchers jointly develop a new visible light communication encryption technology using chiral nanoparticles

Seoul National University(SNU) College of Engineering announced that a joint research team led by Professor Ki Tae Nam from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at SNU and Professor Junil Choi from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed a novel visible light communication encryption technology with high security using chiral nanoparticles. Just as a lighthouse provides a guiding beam in the vast darkness of the sea, light-based information transmission has been a crucial means of communication throughout human history. ...

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Technology10 Oct 2024

Inspired by Spider-Man, a lab recreates web-slinging technology

Every kid who has read a comic book or watched a Spider-Man movie has tried to imagine what it would be like to shoot a web from their wrist, fly over streets, and pin down villains. Researchers at Tufts University took those imaginary scenes seriously and created the first web-slinging technology in which a fluid material can shoot from a needle, immediately solidify as a string, and adhere to and lift objects. These sticky fibers, created at the Tufts University Silklab, come from silk moth cocoons, which are boiled in solution and broken down into their building block proteins called fibroin. ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

No bolts about it: New technology improves structural strength

In a collaborative effort between Texas A&M University and Sandia National Laboratories, researchers have significantly improved a new joining technology, interlocking metasurfaces (ILMs), designed to increase the strength and stability of a structure in comparison to traditional techniques like bolts and adhesives, using shape memory alloys (SMAs). ILMs offer the potential to transform mechanical joint design in manufacturing for aerospace, robotics and biomedical devices. “ILMs are poised to redefine joining technologies ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

Can advanced AI can solve visual puzzles and perform abstract reasoning?

Artificial Intelligence has learned to master language, generate art, and even beat grandmasters at chess. But can it crack the code of abstract reasoning—those tricky visual puzzles that leave humans scratching their heads? Researchers at USC Viterbi School of Engineering Information Sciences Institute (ISI) are putting AI’s cognitive abilities to the test, pushing the multi-modal large language models (MLLMs) to solve visual problems once reserved for human IQ tests. The result? A glimpse into how far AI has come—and where it still stumbles. USC Viterbi ISI Research ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

New research on octopus-inspired technology successfully maneuvers underwater objects

Using mechanisms inspired by nature to create new technological innovations is a signature of one Virginia Tech research team. The group led by Associate Professor Michael Bartlett has created an octopus-inspired adhesive, inspired by the shape of octopus suckers, that can quickly grab and controllably release challenging underwater objects. Having the ability to grab and release these underwater objects like heavy rocks, small shells, and soft beads, and other debris could be a powerful tool for underwater salvage and even rescue operations. Their findings have been published in Advanced Science. This work was performed with undergraduate researchers Austin Via, Aldo Heredia, ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

Bat species richness in San Diego, C.A. decreases as artificial lights, urbanization, and unconserved land increase, with Townsend's big-eared bat especially affected

Bat species richness in San Diego, C.A. decreases as artificial lights, urbanization, and unconserved land increase, with Townsend's big-eared bat especially affected ### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0310812 Article Title: Quantification of threats to bats at localized spatial scales for conservation and management Author Countries: U.S.A. Funding: The United States Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center and Ecosystems Mission Area provided funding and support, and the National ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

New quantum timekeeper packs several clocks into one

Imagine walking into a room where several different grandfather clocks hang on the walls, each ticking at a different pace. Quantum physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have essentially recreated that room at the scale of atoms and electrons. The team’s advancement could pave the way for new kinds of optical atomic clocks, devices that track the passage of time by measuring the natural “ticking” of atoms. The group’s new clock is made from a few dozen strontium ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

The bright and dark sides of Pacific salmon biotransport

Each year millions of Pacific salmon make a grand journey from the ocean to their freshwater spawning grounds at the end of their life cycles. This migration has rippling effects through food webs and ecosystems along the way. Whether they decompose or are consumed by other animals, these salmon deliver both nutrients and contaminants they have accumulated in their bodies after spending most of their lives growing at sea. A team of researchers from UConn, the University of South Dakota, the U.S. Geological Survey, Natural ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

A matter of taste: Electronic tongue reveals AI inner thoughts

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A recently developed electronic tongue is capable of identifying differences in similar liquids, such as milk with varying water content; diverse products, including soda types and coffee blends; signs of spoilage in fruit juices; and instances of food safety concerns. The team, led by researchers at Penn State, also found that results were even more accurate when artificial intelligence (AI) used its own assessment parameters to interpret the data generated by the electronic tongue. The researchers published their results today (Oct. 9) in Nature. According to the researchers, ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

New AI models of plasma heating lead to important corrections in computer code used for fusion research

New artificial intelligence (AI) models for plasma heating can do more than was previously thought possible, not only increasing the prediction speed 10 million times while preserving accuracy, but also correctly predicting plasma heating in cases where the original numerical code failed. The models will be presented on October 11 at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in Atlanta. “With our intelligence, we can train the AI to go even beyond the limitations ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

Mcity opens for remote testing of autonomous vehicle technologies, calls for federal standards

Images/Videos As Mcity begins welcoming researchers in autonomous and connected vehicle technologies from around the U.S. to be remote users of its physical and virtual testing environment, its leadership is calling for federal standards for safety testing, arguing that the lack of clear goalposts is hampering development. The opening also coincides with a new industry partnership project announced at the NVIDIA AI Summit. Following two years of upgrades, the University of Michigan's hub for autonomous testing has officially kicked ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

Symbiotic bacterium Rickettsia affects the reproduction of a predatory insect, an effective biological control agent for agricultural pests

Many insects are naturally infected with symbiotic bacteria, which are typically transmitted vertically from mother to offspring but are not transmitted horizontally. Understanding the effects of these symbionts is important in terms of insect pest management as they can significantly affect the biology and reproduction of insects. The predatory mirid bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis, which preys on agricultural pests such as whiteflies and thrips, is an important biological control agent. Although the symbiotic bacterium Rickettsia is often found in N. tenuis, its effects on the host have not been clarified. A research team led by NARO and the University of Miyazaki has revealed that Rickettsia ...

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Technology9 Oct 2024

New breakthrough helps free up space for robots to ‘think’, say scientists

Engineers have worked out how to give robots complex instructions without electricity for the first time which could free up more space in the robotic ‘brain’ for them to ‘think’. Mimicking how some parts of the human body work, researchers from King’s College London have transmitted a series of commands to devices with a new kind of compact circuit, using variations in pressure from a fluid inside it. They say this world first opens up the possibility of a new generation of robots, whose bodies could operate independently ...

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Technology8 Oct 2024

Argonne receives funding for artificial intelligence in scientific research

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory funding as part of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Scientific Research program. These grants will drive the development of cutting-edge AI technologies that promise to accelerate scientific discovery while preserving data privacy and improving energy efficiency. Argonne Computational Mathematician Kibaek Kim received funding for the project called Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning for Science: Building Sustainable and Trustworthy Foundation Models. This project ...

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Technology8 Oct 2024

Research to use machine learning to ’reverse-engineer’ new composite materials

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- When creating new materials for our modern needs, materials science engineers face a basic problem: Designing it to be strong when faced with loads in one direction may lead to structural weaknesses when facing stress from a different direction. Binghamton University, State University of New York Assistant Professors Mir Jalil Razavi and Dehao Liu want to develop a solution using artificial intelligence and machine learning to suggest unique types of composite materials that meet specific mechanical behavior requirements. “When we look at materials now, we usually tune mechanical properties in one ...

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Technology8 Oct 2024

JAMA Network launches JAMA+ AI

October 8, 2024 (Chicago) — The JAMA Network today announces the launch of JAMA+ AI, an engaging, interactive channel that amplifies the best of the JAMA Network’s content exploring the science of artificial intelligence and digital medicine and its application in health and health care. JAMA+ AI is a window into the premier scientific content, educational reviews, and commentary on AI and medicine published across JAMA, JAMA Network Open, and the 11 JAMA specialty journals. JAMA+ AI builds on that content with new multimedia materials, including interviews ...

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Technology8 Oct 2024

AI speeds up the discovery of energy and quantum materials.

Researchers from Tohoku University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled a new AI tool for high-quality optical spectra with the same accuracy as quantum simulations, but working a million times faster, potentially accelerating the development of photovoltaic and quantum materials. Understanding the optical properties of materials is essential for developing optoelectronic devices, such as LEDs, solar cells, photodetectors, and photonic integrated circuits. These devices are pivotal in the semiconductor industry's current resurgence. Traditional means of calculation using the basic laws of physics involve complex ...

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Technology7 Oct 2024

Researcher receives grant to enhance quantum machine learning education

At a time when data are doubling every two years, the U.S. is projected to create over 40 billion gigabytes of data by 2025. To prepare for the influx, Kennesaw State University associate professor Yong Shi, an expert in quantum machine learning (QML), aims to unlock insights from the data surge and educate future QML researchers. Shi, along with colleagues Dan Lo, professor of computer science, and Luisa Nino, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, recently secured a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop open-source, hands-on QML training materials ...

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Technology7 Oct 2024

George Mason researchers conducting AI exploration for snow water equivalent

George Mason Researchers Conducting AI Exploration For Snow Water Equivalent Forecasting In Western U.S. With Physics-Informed Neural Network & GeoWeaver Ziheng Sun, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS), Geography and Geoinformation Science, College of Science; Mingrui Liu, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC); and Keren Zhou, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, CEC, are studying the dynamics of snow water equivalent (SWE). SWE measures the amount of water available in snow. The researchers will use ...

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Technology7 Oct 2024

SwRI’s Nathan Andrews named AIAA Associate Fellow

SAN ANTONIO — October 7, 2024 —Southwest Research Institute’s Nathan Andrews has been named an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). AIAA Associate Fellows are recognized for overseeing important engineering or scientific work and outstanding contributions to their field. To receive this honor, nominees must be recommended by at least three other associate fellows, be a senior member in good standing of the AIAA and have at least 12 years of professional experience. AIAA selects only one Associate Fellow for each 150 members each ...

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Technology7 Oct 2024

Targeting failure with new polymer technology to enhance sustainability

Targeting failure with new polymer technology to enhance sustainability Sustainability is a complex problem with many different players and influenced by policies, society, and technical perspective. We are reminded every day in the media of the unnecessary amount of waste that we are generating with pervasive pictures of plastic garbage patches floating in the oceans or stranded on our beaches. Scientists within ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences (SMS) and the Biodesign Institute’s Center ...

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Technology4 Oct 2024

Unleashing the power of generative AI on smart collaborative innovation network platform to empower research and technology innovation

A dedicated team of researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is pioneering cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies on a collaborative innovation network platform, aimed at transforming science, technology and innovation (STI) services to empower research and innovation. This innovative project is set to revolutionise the related service delivery by creating a secure GenAI model and digitally transforming processes, thereby facilitating research development and technology innovation, while enhancing data security and service efficiency. STI services, including ...

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