systems

High-speed internet access has gone from an amenity to a necessity for working and learning from home, and the COVID-19 pandemic has more clearly revealed the disadvantages for American households that lack a broadband connection. To tackle this problem, Michigan State University researchers have developed a new tool to smooth the collection of federal broadband access data … [Read more...] about Research uncovers broadband gaps in US to help close digital divide

Humans expect that AI is Benevolent and trustworthy. A new study reveals that at the same time humans are unwilling to cooperate and compromise with machines. They even exploit them. Picture yourself driving on a narrow road in the near future when suddenly another car emerges from a bend ahead. It is a self-driving car with no passengers inside. Will you push forth and assert … [Read more...] about Humans are ready to take advantage of benevolent AI

Organic semiconductors have earned a reputation as energy efficient materials in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) that are employed in large area displays. In these and in other applications, such as solar cells, a key parameter is the energy gap between electronic states. It determines the wavelength of the light that is emitted or absorbed. The continuous adjustability … [Read more...] about Tuning the energy gap: A novel approach for organic semiconductors

The 30,000 or so genes making up the human genome contain the instructions vital to life. Yet each of our cells expresses only a subset of these genes in their daily functioning. The difference between a heart cell and a liver cell, for example, is determined by which genes are expressed -- and the correct expression of genes can mean the difference between health and … [Read more...] about Microscopic imaging without a microscope? New technique visualizes all gene expression from a tissue sample

Small pieces of plastic are everywhere, stretching from urban environments to pristine wilderness. Left to their own devices, it can take hundreds of years for them to degrade completely. Catalysts activated by sunlight could speed up the process, but getting these compounds to interact with microplastics is difficult. In a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS … [Read more...] about Bacteria-sized robots take on microplastics and win by breaking them down

On Earth right now, there are about 10 trillion gigabytes of digital data, and every day, humans produce emails, photos, tweets, and other digital files that add up to another 2.5 million gigabytes of data. Much of this data is stored in enormous facilities known as exabyte data centers (an exabyte is 1 billion gigabytes), which can be the size of several football fields and … [Read more...] about Could all your digital photos be stored as DNA? A technique for labeling and retrieving DNA data files from a large pool could help make DNA data storage feasible

Adolescents who stopped studying maths exhibited greater disadvantage -- compared with peers who continued studying maths -- in terms of brain and cognitive development, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 133 students between the ages of 14-18 took part in an experiment run by researchers from the Department of … [Read more...] about Lack of math education negatively affects adolescent brain and cognitive development: A new study suggests that not having any math education after the age of 16 can be disadvantageous

Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world's smart speakers. The trouble is that they're capable of hearing everything else, too. But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart home -- or listen for the signal that would turn … [Read more...] about ‘PrivacyMic’: For a smart speaker that doesn’t eavesdrop: Prototype technology could enable smart home systems that don’t record speech

Research, development, and production of novel materials depend heavily on the availability of fast and at the same time accurate simulation methods. Machine learning, in which artificial intelligence (AI) autonomously acquires and applies new knowledge, will soon enable researchers to develop complex material systems in a purely virtual environment. How does this work, and … [Read more...] about Machine learning speeds up simulations in material science: Faster and more accurate methods come in useful in various applications from energy storage to medicines

The movement of electrons can have a significantly greater influence on spintronic effects than previously assumed. This discovery was made by an international team of researchers led by physicists from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). Until now, a calculation of these effects took, above all, the spin of electrons into consideration. The study was published … [Read more...] about Important contribution to spintronics has received little consideration until now