Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Soft robot detects damage, heals itself      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Engineers have created a soft robot capable of detecting when and where it was damaged -- and then healing itself on the spot.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Health benefits of using wind energy instead of fossil fuels      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study finds that the health benefits associated with wind power could more than quadruple if operators turned down output from the most polluting fossil-fuel-based power plants when energy from wind is available. However, compared to wealthier communities, disadvantaged communities would reap a smaller share of these benefits.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: Quantum Computers Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Pulses driven by artificial intelligence tame quantum systems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Machine learning drives self-discovery of pulses that stabilize quantum systems in the face of environmental noise.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Making 'transport' robots smarter      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Imagine a team of humans and robots working together to process online orders -- real-life workers strategically positioned among their automated coworkers who are moving intelligently back and forth in a warehouse space, picking items for shipping to the customer. This could become a reality sooner than later, thanks to researchers who are working to speed up the online delivery process by developing a software model designed to make 'transport' robots smarter.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Researchers create method for making net-zero aviation fuel      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a potential breakthrough in green aviation: a recipe for a net-zero fuel for planes that will pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mathematics: Modeling
Published

A simpler path to better computer vision      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Research finds using a large collection of simple, un-curated synthetic image generation programs to pretrain a computer vision model for image classification yields greater accuracy than employing other pretraining methods that are more costly and time consuming, and less scalable.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

A far-sighted approach to machine learning      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new technique enables artificial intelligence agents to think much farther into the future when considering how their behaviors can influence the behaviors of other AI agents, toward the completion of a task. This approach improves long-term performance of cooperative or competitive AI agents.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: Quantum Computers
Published

Quantum algorithms save time in the calculation of electron dynamics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Quantum computers promise significantly shorter computing times for complex problems. But there are still only a few quantum computers worldwide with a limited number of so-called qubits. However, quantum computer algorithms can already run on conventional servers that simulate a quantum computer. A team has succeeded in calculating the electron orbitals and their dynamic development using an example of a small molecule after a laser pulse excitation. In principle, the method is also suitable for investigating larger molecules that cannot be calculated using conventional methods.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Self-organization: What robotics can learn from amoebae      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a new model to describe how biological or technical systems form complex structures without external guidance.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Artificial neural networks learn better when they spend time not learning at all      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers discuss how mimicking sleep patterns of the human brain in artificial neural networks may help mitigate the threat of catastrophic forgetting in the latter, boosting their utility across a spectrum of research interests.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

'Butterfly bot' is fastest swimming soft robot yet      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Inspired by the biomechanics of the manta ray, researchers have developed an energy-efficient soft robot that can swim more than four times faster than previous swimming soft robots. The robots are called 'butterfly bots,' because their swimming motion resembles the way a person's arms move when they are swimming the butterfly stroke.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Full decarbonization of U.S. aviation sector is within grasp      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research shows a pathway toward full decarbonization of U.S. aviation fuel use by substituting conventional jet fuel with sustainably produced biofuels. The study found that planting the grass miscanthus on 23.2 million hectares of existing marginal agricultural lands -- land that often lays fallow or is poor in soil quality -- across the United States would provide enough biomass feedstock to meet the liquid fuel demands of the U.S. aviation sector fully from biofuels, an amount expected to reach 30 billion gallons/year by 2040.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Mimicking life: Breakthrough in non-living materials      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered a new process that uses fuel to control non-living materials, similar to what living cells do. The reaction cycle can easily be applied to a wide range of materials and its rate can be controlled -- a breakthrough in the emerging field of such reactions. The discovery is a step towards soft robotics; soft machines that can sense what is happening in their environment and respond accordingly.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Automated system to detect compressed air leaks on trains      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a proof-of-concept system to autonomously detect compressed air leaks on trains and relay the location of the leaks to mechanical personnel for repair. The automated system could reduce the time, costs and labor needed to find and repair air leaks, and it could lower the locomotive industry's overall fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

This simple material could scrub carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A simple material can separate carbon dioxide from other gases that fly out of the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. It lacks the shortcomings that other proposed carbon filtration materials have, rivaling designer compounds in its simplicity, overall stability and ease of preparation.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Revolutionary technique to generate hydrogen more efficiently from water      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have made a serendipitous scientific discovery that could potentially revolutionize the way water is broken down to release hydrogen gas -- an element crucial to many industrial processes. The team found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis, where water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a more energy-efficient method of obtaining hydrogen.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Game changers in fighting climate change: Refuels are suitable for everyday use      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Synthetic fuels produced from renewable sources, so-called refuels, are deemed potential game changers in fighting climate change. Refuels promise to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional fuels and they allow for the continued use of existing vehicle fleets with combustion engines and of the refueling infrastructure, from fuel production to transport to sales. Researchers carried out extensive fleet tests in a large-scale project with industry partners and proved that refuels can be used in all vehicles and produced in large quantities in the foreseeable future.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Europe can rapidly eliminate imports of Russian natural gas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using a new power sector model, a team of researchers has proposed a method for Europe to eliminate natural gas imports from Russia.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Why some countries are leading the shift to green energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study identifies the political factors that allow some countries to lead in adopting cleaner sources of energy while others lag behind. By analyzing how different countries responded to the current energy crisis and to the oil crisis of the 1970s, the study reveals how the structure of political institutions can help or hinder the shift to clean energy. The findings offer important lessons as governments race to limit the impacts of climate change.

Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Process converts polyethylene bags, plastics to polymer building blocks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Polyethylene plastics -- single-use bags and general-purpose bottles -- are indestructable forever plastics. That also makes them hard to recycle. Chemists have found a way to break down the polymer -- a chain of about a thousand ethylene molecules -- into three-carbon molecules, propylene, which are in high demand for making another plastic, polypropylene. The process could turn waste plastic into high-value feedstocks and reduce the need for fossil fuels to make propylene.