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Categories: Energy: Batteries, Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published Eco-friendly and affordable battery for low-income countries



A battery made from zinc and lignin that can be used over 8000 times. This has been developed with a vision to provide a cheap and sustainable battery solution for countries where access to electricity is limited.
Published Coming out to a chatbot?



Today, there are dozens of large language model (LLM) chatbots aimed at mental health care -- addressing everything from loneliness among seniors to anxiety and depression in teens. But the efficacy of these apps is unclear. Even more unclear is how well these apps work in supporting specific, marginalized groups like LGBTQ+ communities.
Published Cats purrfectly demonstrate what it takes to trust robots



Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well as human interaction.
Published AI systems are already skilled at deceiving and manipulating humans



Many artificial intelligence (AI) systems have already learned how to deceive humans, even systems that have been trained to be helpful and honest. Researchers describe the risks of deception by AI systems and call for governments to develop strong regulations to address this issue as soon as possible.
Published Good vibrations: New tech may lead to smaller, more powerful wireless devices



What if your earbuds could do everything your smartphone can, but better? A new class of synthetic materials could allow for smaller devices that use less power.
Published A better way to control shape-shifting soft robots



A new machine-learning technique can train and control a reconfigurable soft robot that can dynamically change its shape to complete a task. The researchers also built a simulator that can evaluate control algorithms for shape-shifting soft robots.
Published Generative AI that imitates human motion



Walking and running is notoriously difficult to recreate in robots. Now, a group of researchers has overcome some of these challenges by creating an innovative method that employs central pattern generators -- neural circuits located in the spinal cord that generate rhythmic patterns of muscle activity -- with deep reinforcement learning. The method not only imitates walking and running motions but also generates movements for frequencies where motion data is absent, enables smooth transition movements from walking to running, and allows for adapting to environments with unstable surfaces.
Published Discover optimal conditions for mass production of ultraviolet holograms



Scientists delve into the composition of nanocomposites for ultraviolet metasurface fabrication.
Published 'Digital afterlife': Call for safeguards to prevent unwanted 'hauntings' by AI chatbots of dead loved ones



Researchers lay out the need for design safety protocols that prevent the emerging 'digital afterlife industry' causing social and psychological harm.
Published Disorder improves battery life



What determines the cycle life of batteries? And, more importantly, how can we extend it? An international research team has discovered that local disorder in the oxide cathode material increases the number of times Li-ion batteries can be charged and discharged.
Published Stilling the quantum dance of atoms



Researchers have discovered a way to stop the quantum dance of atoms 'seen' by electrons in carbon-based organic molecules. This development will help improve the performance of light emitting molecules used in displays and bio-medical imaging.
Published Caterbot? Robatapillar? It crawls with ease through loops and bends



Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting courses.
Published Stretchable e-skin could give robots human-level touch sensitivity



A stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of precision and control of force.
Published Cost-effective, high-capacity, and cyclable lithium-ion battery cathodes



Charge-recharge cycling of lithium-superrich iron oxide, a cost-effective and high-capacity cathode for new-generation lithium-ion batteries, can be greatly improved by doping with readily available mineral elements.
Published Random robots are more reliable



New algorithm encourages robots to move more randomly to collect more diverse data for learning. In tests, robots started with no knowledge and then learned and correctly performed tasks within a single attempt. New model could improve safety and practicality of self-driving cars, delivery drones and more.
Published Significant new discovery in teleportation research -- Noise can improve the quality of quantum teleportation



Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum state.
Published This highly reflective black paint makes objects more visible to autonomous cars



Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar sensors that often act as these vehicles' 'eyes' have difficulty detecting dark-colored objects. New research describes a highly reflective black paint that could help these cars see dark objects and make autonomous driving safer.
Published Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions



A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.
Published The end of the quantum tunnel



Quantum mechanical effects such as radioactive decay, or more generally: 'tunneling', display intriguing mathematical patterns. Researchers now show that a 40-year-old mathematical discovery can be used to fully encode and understand this structure.
Published How electric vehicle drivers can escape range anxiety



Two of the biggest challenges faced by new and potential electric vehicle (EV) drivers are range anxiety and speed of charging, but these shouldn't have to be challenges at all. Researchers discovered that a change in refueling mindset, rather than improving the size or performance of the battery, could be the answer to these concerns.