Technology
press releases.

Technology20 Sep 2024

SkAI launched to further explore universe

Funded by a five-year, $20 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Simons Foundation, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications is partnering with other academic institutions and federal laboratories in the Midwest to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to advance astrophysics research and exploration of the universe. Led by Northwestern University, the collaboration will establish the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky or SkAI (pronounced “sky”), one of two AI research centers that will help astronomers better understand the cosmos. Located close to NCSA’s home in Illinois, SkAI will ...

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Technology20 Sep 2024

Korean research team proposes AI-powered approach to establishing a 'carbon-neutral energy city’

A joint research team from the Renewable Energy System Laboratory and the Energy ICT Research Department at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed key technologies to realize "Urban Electrification" using artificial intelligence (AI). Urban electrification aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels and introduce renewable energy sources, such as building-integrated solar technology, to transform urban energy systems. While this concept is relatively unfamiliar in the Republic of Korea, it is being promoted as a key strategy in the U.S. and Europe for achieving carbon neutrality and creating sustainable urban environments. In ...

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Technology20 Sep 2024

AI is learning to read your emotions, and here’s why that can be a good thing

Using a fusion of traditional and novel technological methods, researchers are hoping to better quantify emotions to transform the face of the emotion quantification field Human emotions are complex and are not always easily able to be boiled down to a recognizable pattern. Determining one’s emotional state can be difficult human-to-human, and the many nuances of existence as an emotional entity seem impossible to train a non-human entity to understand, identify and learn from. However, a considerable amount of work and research has been put into training artificial intelligence (AI) to observe, quantify and recognize various states of emotion in humans. ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

Study: AI could lead to inconsistent outcomes in home surveillance

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A new study from researchers at MIT and Penn State University reveals that if large language models were to be used in home surveillance, they could recommend calling the police even when surveillance videos show no criminal activity. In addition, the models the researchers studied were inconsistent in which videos they flagged for police intervention. For instance, a model might flag one video that shows a vehicle break-in but not flag another video that shows a similar activity. Models often disagreed with one another over whether to call the police ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

UTIA researchers win grant for automation technology for nursery industry

University of Tennessee Extension and UT AgResearch scientists have been awarded part of a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study ways to use automation and robotics to address the labor shortage in the nursery crops industry. Growing plants in a nursery is highly dependent on manual labor, making this industry particularly prone to worker shortages. An increasingly scarce workforce is limiting production, economic development and prosperity in the rural communicates where nurseries ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

Mysteries of the bizarre ‘pseudogap’ in quantum physics finally untangled

By cleverly applying a computational technique, scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the ‘pseudogap,’ a long-standing puzzle in quantum physics with close ties to superconductivity. The discovery, presented in the September 20 issue of Science, will help scientists in their quest for room-temperature superconductivity, a holy grail of condensed matter physics that would enable lossless power transmission, faster MRI machines and superfast levitating trains. Certain materials involving copper and oxygen display superconductivity (where electricity flows without resistance) at relatively high — but still frigid — temperatures below ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

AI model can reveal the structures of crystalline materials

For more than 100 years, scientists have been using X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of crystalline materials such as metals, rocks, and ceramics. This technique works best when the crystal is intact, but in many cases, scientists have only a powdered version of the material, which contains random fragments of the crystal. This makes it more challenging to piece together the overall structure. MIT chemists have now come up with a new generative AI model that can make it much easier to determine the structures of these powdered crystals. The prediction model could help researchers characterize ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

The African Engineering and Technology Network signs eighth university partner

Carnegie Mellon University Africa announced today that the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec) has signed its eighth university partner, Al Akhawayn University. The network, launched in 2022, provides a vehicle for technology-focused universities in Africa to engage in deep collaboration to drive inclusive 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, the American University in Cairo, Université Cheikh ...

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Technology19 Sep 2024

A new ventilator-on-a-chip model to study lung damage

COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the first time, scientists are able to directly compare the different kinds of injury that mechanical ventilation causes to cells in the lungs. In a new study, using a ventilator-on-a-chip model developed at The Ohio State University, researchers found that shear stress from the collapse and reopening of the air sacs is the most injurious type of damage. This miniature “organ-on-a-chip” model simulates not only lung injury during mechanical ventilation, but also repair and recovery, in human-derived cells in real time, said co-lead author ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

U2opia signs license to commercialize anomaly-detection technology for cybersecurity

U2opia Technology has licensed Situ and Heartbeat, a package of technologies from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory that offers a new method for advanced cybersecurity monitoring in real time. Situ, which discovers and understands otherwise-undetectable events by analyzing security data, will go to the market through a commercial license. The company will continue to explore opportunities for Heartbeat, which detects cyber attacks by focusing on the physical behavior of a protected device, through a research and development license. U2opia Technology, a woman- and minority- led company, is directed by Maurice Singleton III, chief executive officer, ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

UVA professor receives OpenAI grant to inform next-generation AI systems

Superintelligence — AI systems that surpass human intelligence — could be just a decade away, raising urgent questions about how to ensure their safety and alignment with human values, according to OpenAI. These AI systems could be hugely beneficial, but more sophisticated systems create the possibility for unpredictability. Misinterpreting human values or intent, algorithmic biases and security risks are all cause for concern, especially with highly developed AI systems where the potential consequences are far greater. Yu Meng, assistant professor of computer science at ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

Hexagonal electrohydraulic modules shape-shift into versatile robots

Stuttgart – Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) have developed hexagon-shaped robotic components, called modules, that can be snapped together LEGO-style into high-speed robots that can be rearranged for different capabilities. The team of researchers from the Robotic Materials Department at MPI-IS, led by Christoph Keplinger, integrated artificial muscles into hexagonal exoskeletons that are embedded with magnets, allowing for quick mechanical and electrical connections. The team’s work, “Hexagonal electrohydraulic modules for rapidly reconfigurable high-speed robots” will be published in Science ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

Artificial intelligence grunt work can be outsourced using a new blockchain-based framework developed by Concordians

Tomorrow’s workplace will be run on mind-boggling amounts of data. To make sense of it all, businesses, developers and individuals will need better artificial intelligence (AI) systems, better trained AI workers and more efficient number-crunching servers. While big tech companies have the resources and expertise to meet these demands, they remain beyond the reach of most small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals. To respond to this need, a Concordia-led international team of researchers has developed a new framework to make complex AI tasks more accessible ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

UC3M and Universia obtain an ENIA Chair in artificial intelligence in data economy

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) is one of 22 institutions that have been selected by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service to create an ENIA Chair to further the development of artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications. The AImpulsa UC3M-Universia Chair, as it is called, will be the only one of its kind in Spain in the area of Data Economy and will collaborate with Universia-Banco Santander, through Santander Universities. The ENIA Chairs' objectives, which depend on the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

Like humans, artificial minds can learn by thinking

Some of the greatest discoveries don’t come merely from observations but from thinking. Einstein developed theories about relativity through thought experiments, and Galileo derived insights about gravity through mental simulations. A review published September 18 in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences shows that this process of thinking is not exclusive to humans. Artificial intelligence, too, is capable of self-correction and arriving at new conclusions through “learning by thinking.” “There are some recent demonstrations of what looks like learning by thinking in AI, ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

NSF and Simons Foundation launch 2 AI Institutes to help astronomers understand the cosmos

Note: Embargoed until 8:00 a.m. ET on Sept. 18, 2024 From the early telescopes made hundreds of years ago by Galileo to the sophisticated astronomical observatories of today, people have built increasingly innovative tools to probe and measure the cosmos. Soon, researchers at two new institutes funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation will build a new breed of astronomical tools by harnessing the uniquely powerful abilities of artificial intelligence to assist and accelerate humanity's understanding of the universe. The new National Artificial Intelligence ...

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Technology18 Sep 2024

Quantum speedup and limitations on matroid property problems

Quantum computers show advantages over classical computers in some problems, such as unordered data base searching and prime factorization. Finding more problems that can take quantum speedup has become one of the focus problems in quantum computing. Before this, there is no research work on the quantum query complexity and quantum algorithm for matroid problems. It is interesting and meaningful to search for structures that can take quantum advantage in matroid problems. In order to study the possibility and limitation of acceleration of quantum computing in matroid problems, a ...

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Technology17 Sep 2024

Fifth of GPs using AI despite lack of guidance or clear work policies, UK survey suggests

A fifth of family doctors (GPs) seem to have readily incorporated AI into their clinical practice, despite a lack of any formal guidance or clear work policies on the use of these tools, suggest the findings of an online UK-wide snapshot survey, published in the open access journal BMJ Health & Care Informatics. Doctors and medical trainees need to be fully informed about the pros and cons of AI, especially because of the inherent risks of inaccuracies (‘hallucinations’), algorithmic biases, and the potential to compromise patient privacy, ...

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Technology17 Sep 2024

Terasaki Institute CEO Dr. Ali Khademhosseini awarded the AIChE’s 2024 Andreas Acrivos Professional Progress

Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., CEO and Director of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI), is honored with the 2024 Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). This distinguished honor recognizes outstanding progress in the field of chemical engineering. Named after Dr. Andreas Acrivos, Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering, emeritus at the City College of New York, whose pioneering work in fluid ...

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Technology17 Sep 2024

In step toward solar fuels, durable artificial photosynthesis setup chains two carbons together

Images A key step toward reusing CO2 to make sustainable fuels is chaining carbon atoms together, and an artificial photosynthesis system developed at the University of Michigan can bind two of them into hydrocarbons with field-leading performance. The system produces ethylene with efficiency, yield and longevity well above other artificial photosynthesis systems. Ethylene is a hydrocarbon typically used in plastics, so one direct application of the system would be to harvest carbon dioxide that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere for making plastics. "The performance, or the activity and stability, is about five to six times better than what is typically reported ...

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Technology16 Sep 2024

Trailblazers in plasma turbulence computer simulations win 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize

A pair of physicists with long ties to PPPL are being honored for their foundational work on turbulence in plasma. Understanding why instabilities occur and how to limit them is critical to perfecting fusion as a stable energy source for the electrical grid. Greg Hammett, a PPPL theoretical and computational principal research physicist, and Bill Dorland, former associate laboratory director for computational sciences and current Lab adviser, have won the 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics. The American ...

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Technology16 Sep 2024

Technology could boost renewable energy storage

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are critical to sustaining our planet, but they come with a big challenge: they don't always generate power when it's needed. To make the most of them, we need efficient and affordable ways to store the energy they produce, so we have power even when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining. Columbia Engineering material scientists have been focused on developing new kinds of batteries to transform how we store renewable energy. In a new study published September 5 by Nature Communications, the team used K-Na/S batteries that combine inexpensive, readily-found elements -- ...

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Technology16 Sep 2024

Purdue deep-learning innovation secures semiconductors against counterfeit chips

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Researchers in Purdue University’s College of Engineering have developed a patent-pending optical counterfeit detection method for chips used in semiconductor devices. The Purdue method is called RAPTOR, or residual attention-based processing of tampered optical responses. It leverages deep learning to identify tampering. It improves upon traditional methods, which face challenges in scalability and discriminating between natural degradation and adversarial tampering. Alexander Kildishev, professor in the Elmore ...

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Technology16 Sep 2024

Baek conducting air quality monitoring & simulation analysis

Baek Conducting Air Quality Monitoring & Simulation Analysis B.H. Baek, Research Associate Professor, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, College of Science, received funding for: “EPA Air Quality Modeling and Simulation Analysis (AQM- Office of Air Quality, Planning Standards (OAQPS) Program.” Baek will perform work in support of the U.S. EPA Office of Air Quality Policy and Standards (OAQPS) Air Quality Modeling and Simulation Analysis. Baek received $27,316 from General ...

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Technology16 Sep 2024

Generative AI model study shows no racial or sex differences in opioid recommendations for treating pain

A new study from Mass General Brigham researchers provides evidence that large language models (LLMs), used for generative artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT-4 and Google’s Gemini, demonstrated no differences in suggested opioid treatment regimens for different races or sexes. Results are published in PAIN. “I see AI algorithms in the short term as augmenting tools that can essentially serve as a second set of eyes, running in parallel with medical professionals,” said corresponding author Marc Succi, ...

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