Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Why can't robots outrun animals?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that many animals are capable of feats that would be impossible for robots that exist today.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General
Published

Computer game in school made students better at detecting fake news      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A computer game helped upper secondary school students become better at distinguishing between reliable and misleading news.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Physics: Optics
Published

Holographic displays offer a glimpse into an immersive future      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have invented a new optical element that brings us one step closer to mixing the real and virtual worlds in an ordinary pair of eyeglasses using high-definition 3D holographic images.

Computer Science: General
Published

Opening up the potential of thin-film electronics for flexible chip design      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The mass production of conventional silicon chips relies on a successful business model with large 'semiconductor fabrication plants' or 'foundries'. New research by shows that this 'foundry' model can also be applied to the field of flexible, thin-film electronics.

Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Frog species evolved rapidly in response to road salts      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When we think of evolution, we think of a process that happens over hundreds or thousands of years. In research recently published, a species of frog that has evolved over the course of merely 25 years. The adaptation was spurred on by something many assume is innocuous: salt.

Computer Science: Encryption Computer Science: General
Published

This tiny chip can safeguard user data while enabling efficient computing on a smartphone      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new chip can efficiently accelerate machine-learning workloads on edge devices like smartphones while protecting sensitive user data from two common types of attacks -- side-channel attacks and bus-probing attacks.

Computer Science: General Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

Super Mario hackers' tricks could protect software from bugs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Video gamers who exploit glitches in games can help experts better understand buggy software, students suggest.

Computer Science: General Physics: Optics
Published

2D materials rotate light polarization      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Physicists have shown that ultra-thin two-dimensional materials such as tungsten diselenide can rotate the polarization of visible light by several degrees at certain wavelengths under small magnetic fields suitable for use on chips.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Lemur's lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: General
Published

Accelerating the discovery of new materials via the ion-exchange method      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have unveiled a new means of predicting how to synthesize new materials via the ion-exchange. Based on computer simulations, the method significantly reduces the time and energy required to explore for inorganic materials.

Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

New research shines a light on how expert mapmakers see the world differently      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found differences between experienced Ordnance Survey (OS) mapmakers and novices in the way that they interpret aerial images for mapmaking, which could lead to improved training processes for new recruits.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Teaching a computer to type like a human      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new typing model simulates the typing process instead of just predicting words.

Computer Science: General
Published

Skyrmions move at record speeds: A step towards the computing of the future      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered that the magnetic nanobubbles known as skyrmions can be moved by electrical currents, attaining record speeds up to 900 m/s. Anticipated as future bits in computer memory, these nanobubbles offer enhanced avenues for information processing in electronic devices. Their tiny size provides great computing and information storage capacity, as well as low energy consumption. Until now, these nanobubbles moved no faster than 100 m/s, which is too slow for computing applications. However, thanks to the use of an antiferromagnetic material as medium, the scientists successfully had the skyrmions move 10 times faster than previously observed. These results offer new prospects for developing higher-performance and less energy-intensive computing devices.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Data-driven music: Converting climate measurements into music      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A geo-environmental scientist from Japan has composed a string quartet using sonified climate data. The 6-minute-long composition -- entitled 'String Quartet No. 1 'Polar Energy Budget'-- is based on over 30 years of satellite-collected climate data from the Arctic and Antarctic and aims to garner attention on how climate is driven by the input and output of energy at the poles.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

How 3D printers can give robots a soft touch      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Soft skin coverings and touch sensors have emerged as a promising feature for robots that are both safer and more intuitive for human interaction, but they are expensive and difficult to make. A recent study demonstrates that soft skin pads doubling as sensors made from thermoplastic urethane can be efficiently manufactured using 3D printers.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Making crops colorful for easier weeding      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Graphene Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

A single atom layer of gold: Researchers create goldene      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, and production of value-added chemicals.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: General
Published

Millions of gamers advance biomedical research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

4.5 million gamers around the world have advanced medical science by helping to reconstruct microbial evolutionary histories using a minigame included inside the critically and commercially successful video game, Borderlands 3. Their playing has led to a significantly refined estimate of the relationships of microbes in the human gut. The results of this collaboration will both substantially advance our knowledge of the microbiome and improve on the AI programs that will be used to carry out this work in future.

Biology: Zoology Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General
Published

New computer vision tool wins prize for social impact      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of computer scientists working on two different problems -- how to quickly detect damaged buildings in crisis zones and how to accurately estimate the size of bird flocks -- recently announced an AI framework that can do both. The framework, called DISCount, blends the speed and massive data-crunching power of artificial intelligence with the reliability of human analysis to quickly deliver reliable estimates that can quickly pinpoint and count specific features from very large collections of images.

Computer Science: General Physics: General
Published

'Surprising' hidden activity of semiconductor material spotted by researchers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research suggests that materials commonly overlooked in computer chip design actually play an important role in information processing, a discovery which could lead to faster and more efficient electronics. Using advanced imaging techniques, an international team found that the material that a semiconductor chip device is built on, called the substrate, responds to changes in electricity much like the semiconductor on top of it.