Technology
press releases.

Technology2 May 2024

NASA selects BAE systems to develop air quality instrument for NOAA

NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected BAE Systems (formerly known as Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation) of Boulder, Colorado, to develop an instrument to monitor air quality and provide information about the impact of air pollutants on Earth for NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program. This cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at approximately $365 million. It includes the development of one ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

NREL invites robots to help make wind turbine blades

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have successfully leveraged robotic assistance in the manufacture of wind turbine blades, allowing for the elimination of difficult working conditions for humans and the potential to improve the consistency of the product. Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted. Research at the laboratory demonstrates the ability of a robot to trim, grind, and sand blades. Those necessary steps occur after the two sides of the blade are made using a mold ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

UTA scientists test for quantum nature of gravity

Einstein’s theory of general relativity explains that gravity is caused by a curvature of the directions of space and time. The most familiar manifestation of this is the Earth’s gravity, which keeps us on the ground and explains why balls fall to the floor and individuals have weight when stepping on a scale. In the field of high-energy physics, on the other hand, scientists study tiny invisible objects that obey the laws of quantum mechanics—characterized by random fluctuations that create ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

SCAI announces recipients of 2024 early career research grants

Today, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) announced the recipients of the 3rd Annual SCAI Early Career Research Grants. SCAI offers this initiative to support the next generation of interventional cardiologists, providing a platform for junior-level investigators within 10 years of completing an interventional cardiology fellowship to study high-priority, clinically important topics and have their findings disseminated through various professional channels. This year’s grants are funded by support from Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, and Shockwave Medical. “Research funding is often ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

Artificial intelligence yields promising results for advancing coronary angiography

Long Beach, Calif. – May 2, 2024 – New insights from the AI-ENCODE study showed artificial intelligence (AI) successfully allowed the automated extraction of key functional and physiological data from routine angiograms. The late-breaking results were presented today at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) 2024 Scientific Sessions. Coronary angiography is a widely used diagnostic procedure for identifying coronary artery disease (CAD), performed in over one million patients annually in the United States. Currently, data extracted from coronary angiograms are confined to detecting blockages in the coronary arteries. However, AI technology ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

Toxic chemicals can be detected with new AI method

Swedish researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg have developed an AI method that improves the identification of toxic chemicals – based solely on knowledge of the molecular structure. The method can contribute to better control and understanding of the ever-growing number of chemicals used in society, and can also help reduce the amount of animal tests. The use of chemicals in society is extensive, and they occur in everything from household products to industrial processes. Many chemicals reach our waterways and ecosystems, where they may cause negative effects on humans and other ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

Random robots are more reliable

Northwestern University engineers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm designed specifically for smart robotics. By helping robots rapidly and reliably learn complex skills, the new method could significantly improve the practicality — and safety — of robots for a range of applications, including self-driving cars, delivery drones, household assistants and automation. Called Maximum Diffusion Reinforcement Learning (MaxDiff RL), the algorithm’s success lies in its ability to encourage robots to explore their environments as randomly as possible in order to gain a diverse set of ...

Read the release

Technology2 May 2024

Artificial intelligence enhances monitoring of threatened marbled murrelet

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Artificial intelligence analysis of data gathered by acoustic recording devices is a promising new tool for monitoring the marbled murrelet and other secretive, hard-to-study species, research by Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service has shown. The threatened marbled murrelet is an iconic Pacific Northwest seabird that’s closely related to puffins and murres, but unlike those birds, murrelets raise their young as far as 60 miles inland in mature and old-growth forests. “There are very few species like it,” said co-author Matt Betts of the OSU College of Forestry. “And there’s no ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

Efficient stochastic parallel gradient descent training for on-chip optical processors

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI 10.29026/oea.2024.230182 , discusses efficient stochastic parallel gradient descent training for on-chip optical processors. With the explosive growth of global data volume, space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology has been emerged as a promising solution to enhance the communication capacity. Over the past few decades, SDM has been realized in few-mode fibers, multi-core fiber and free-space optical communication systems. However, all of above solutions face challenges of signal crosstalk because of the mixing between different channels during the ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

Unraveling the efficiency losses and improving methods in quantum dot-based infrared up-conversion photodetectors

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Science; DOI 10.29026/oes.2024.230029 discusses unraveling the efficiency losses and improving methods in quantum dot-based infrared up-conversion photodetectors. Traditional infrared imagers are usually constructed by bonding an infrared PD with each pixel of a thin film transistor (TFT)-based active-matrix backplane. A feasible way to avoid the costly pixilation is to use infrared up-conversion photodetector, in which an infrared photodetector (PD) and a light-emitting diode (LED) with large effective areas are back-to-back ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

High-intensity spatial-mode steerable frequency up-converter toward on-chip integration

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Science; DOI 10.29026/oes.2024.230036 discusses high-intensity spatial-mode steerable frequency up-converter toward on-chip integration. Integrated photonic devices consisting of micro-lasers, amplifiers, optical waveguides, frequency converters, and modulators on a single chip, enabling control over photon's spatial modes, frequencies, angular momenta, and phases, are essential for preparing high-dimensional quantum entangled states, high-capacity photon information processing, all-optical communication, and miniaturization of photonic computing. However, ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

New computer algorithm supercharges climate models and could lead to better predictions of future climate change

Earth System Models – complex computer models which describe Earth processes and how they interact – are critical for predicting future climate change. By simulating the response of our land, oceans and atmosphere to manmade greenhouse gas emissions, these models form the foundation for predictions of future extreme weather and climate event scenarios, including those issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, climate modellers have long faced a major problem. Because Earth System Models integrate many complicated processes, they cannot immediately run a simulation; they must first ensure that it has reached a stable equilibrium ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

Science has an AI problem. This group says they can fix it.

AI holds the potential to help doctors find early markers of disease and policymakers to avoid decisions that lead to war. But a growing body of evidence has revealed deep flaws in how machine learning is used in science, a problem that has swept through dozens of fields and implicated thousands of erroneous papers. Now an interdisciplinary team of 19 researchers, led by Princeton University computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, has published guidelines for the responsible use of machine learning in science. “When we graduate from traditional statistical methods to machine learning methods, there are a vastly ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

Virtual reality environment for teens may offer an accessible, affordable way to reduce stress

Social media. The climate crisis. Political polarization. The tumult of a pandemic and online learning. Teens today are dealing with unprecedented stressors, and over the past decade their mental health has been in sustained decline. Levels of anxiety and depression rose after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compounding the problem is a shortage of mental health providers — for every 100,000 children in the U.S., there are only 14 child and adolescent psychiatrists. In response to this crisis, University of Washington researchers studied whether virtual reality might help reduce stress ...

Read the release

Technology1 May 2024

Improved AI process could better predict water supplies

PULLMAN, Wash. -- A new computer model uses a better artificial intelligence process to measure snow and water availability more accurately across vast distances in the West, information that could someday be used to better predict water availability for farmers and others. Publishing in the Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the interdisciplinary group of Washington State University researchers predict water availability from areas in the West where snow amounts aren’t being physically measured. Comparing ...

Read the release

Technology30 Apr 2024

Illinois researchers develop an AI model to reduce uncertainty in evapotranspiration prediction

URBANA, Ill. – When scientists look at the Earth’s available water for ecosystem services, they don’t just look at precipitation. They must also account for water moving from the ground to the atmosphere, a process known as evapotranspiration (ET). ET includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However, measuring ET is challenging. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ...

Read the release

Technology30 Apr 2024

Scientists solve chemical mystery at the interface of biology and technology

Link to release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2024/04/30/oects/ Researchers who want to bridge the divide between biology and technology spend a lot of time thinking about translating between the two different “languages” of those realms. “Our digital technology operates through a series of electronic on-off switches that control the flow of current and voltage,” said Rajiv Giridharagopal, a research scientist at the University of Washington. “But our bodies operate on chemistry. In our brains, neurons ...

Read the release

Technology30 Apr 2024

AI speech analysis may aid in assessing and preventing potential suicides, says Concordia PhD candidate Alaa Nfissi

Speech is critical to detecting suicidal ideation and a key to understanding the mental and emotional state of people experiencing it. Suicide hotline counsellors are trained to quickly analyze speech variation to better help callers through a crisis. But just as no system is perfect, there is room for error in interpreting a caller’s speech. In order to assist hotline counsellors to properly assess a caller’s condition, Concordia PhD student Alaa Nfissi has developed a model for speech emotion recognition (SER) using artificial intelligence tools. The model analyzes and codes waveform modulations in ...

Read the release

Technology30 Apr 2024

Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions

With the help of a form of machine learning called deep reinforcement learning (DRL), the EPFL robot notably learned to transition from trotting to pronking – a leaping, arch-backed gait used by animals like springbok and gazelles – to navigate a challenging terrain with gaps ranging from 14-30cm. The study, led by the BioRobotics Laboratory in EPFL’s School of Engineering, offers new insights into why and how such gait transitions occur in animals. “Previous research has introduced energy efficiency and musculoskeletal injury avoidance as the two main explanations ...

Read the release

Technology29 Apr 2024

Maps developed with artificial intelligence confirm low levels of phosphorus in Amazonian soil

As the impacts of climate change increasingly affect the daily lives of residents in several countries, including Brazil, the resilience of forests, especially tropical ones such as the Amazon, has become a frequent topic of research. In addition to studying various factors that influence the way vegetation reacts to global warming, scientists are seeking to improve vegetation models – tools that play a crucial role in understanding and managing ecosystems, contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. And it is exactly this combination that is described in research published in the journal Earth System Science Data by a group associated ...

Read the release

Technology29 Apr 2024

New system boosts efficiency of quantum error correction

The fragile qubits that make up quantum computers offer a powerful computational tool, yet also present a conundrum: How can engineers create practical, workable quantum systems out of bits that are so easily disturbed — and wiped of data — by tiny changes in their environment? Engineers have long struggled with how to make quantum computers less error-prone, often by developing ways to detect and correct errors rather than prevent them in the first place. However, many such error-correction schemes involve duplicating information across hundreds or thousands of physical qubits at once, which quickly becomes hard to scale up in an efficient way. Now, ...

Read the release

Technology29 Apr 2024

AI algorithms can determine how well newborns nurse, study shows

A modified pacifier and AI algorithms to analyze the data it produces could determine if newborns are learning the proper mechanics of nursing, a recent study shows. Specifically, the researchers from the University of California San Diego measured if babies are generating enough suckling strength to breastfeed and whether they are suckling in a regular pattern based on eight independent parameters. The results, published in the April 18 online edition of IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering ...

Read the release

Technology29 Apr 2024

Robots can’t outrun animals. A new study explores why

The question may be the 21st century’s version of the fable of the tortoise and the hare: Who would win in a foot race between a robot and an animal? In a new perspective article, a team of engineers from the United States and Canada, including University of Colorado Boulder roboticist Kaushik Jayaram, set out to answer that riddle. The group analyzed data from dozens of studies and came to a resounding “no.” In almost all cases, biological organisms, such as cheetahs, cockroaches and even humans, seem to be able to outrun their robot counterparts. The researchers, led by Samuel Burden at the University of Washington and ...

Read the release

Technology29 Apr 2024

Tech Extension Co. and Tech Extension Taiwan to build next-generation 3D integration manufacturing lines using Tokyo Tech's BBCube Technology

Tech Extension Co., Ltd. (referred to hereinafter as TEX)[1] and Tech Extension Taiwan Co., Ltd. (referred to hereinafter as TEX-T)[2] have agreed with Innolux Corporation (referred to hereinafter as INNOLUX)[3] to build in a cleanroom of INNOLUX a manufacturing line intended for next-generation 3D integration[4] based on the Bumpless Build Cube (BBCube[5]), which is a technology achieved through the Tokyo Institute of Technology WOW Alliance[6]. TEX will transfer WOW technology[7] and COW technology[8], which are both based on the BBCube technology platform, to this manufacturing line intended for next-generation 3D integration. ...

Read the release

Technology27 Apr 2024

Experts developing way to harness Nobel Prize winning CRISPR technology to deal with antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

**ECCMID has now changed its name to ESCMID Global, please credit ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID, Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April) in all future stories** Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is continuing to increase globally, with rates of AMR in most pathogens increasing and threatening a future in which every day medical procedures may no longer be possible and infections thought long dealt with could kill regularly again. As such, new tools to battle AMR are vitally needed. In a new research review at this year’s ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID – Barcelona 27-30 April) shows ...

Read the release