Computers

There are plenty of negatives associated with smart technology -- tech neck, texting and driving, blue light rays -- but there is also a positive: the digital age is not making us stupid, says University of Cincinnati social/behavioral expert Anthony Chemero. "Despite the headlines, there is no scientific evidence that shows that smartphones and digital technology harm our … [Read more...] about Smart technology is not making us dumber

UCLA engineers have demonstrated successful integration of a novel semiconductor material into high-power computer chips to reduce heat on processors and improve their performance. The advance greatly increases energy efficiency in computers and enables heat removal beyond the best thermal-management devices currently available. The research was led by Yongjie Hu, an associate … [Read more...] about Novel heat-management material keeps computers running cool

Quantum computers promise great advances in many fields -- from cryptography to the simulation of protein folding. Yet, which physical system works best to build the underlying quantum bits is still an open question. Unlike regular bits in your computer, these so-called qubits cannot only take the values 0 and 1, but also mixtures of the two. While this potentially makes them … [Read more...] about Understanding potential topological quantum bits

As smart watches are increasingly able to monitor the vital signs of health, including what's going on when we sleep, a problem has emerged: those wearable, wireless devices are often disconnected from our body overnight, being charged at the bedside. "Quality of sleep and its patterns contain a lot of important information about patients' health conditions," says Sunghoon Ivan … [Read more...] about Skin in the game: Transformative approach uses the human body to recharge smartwatches

Children learn a huge number of words in the early preschool years. A two-year-old might be able to say just a handful of words, while a five-year-old is quite likely to know many thousands. How do children achieve this marvelous feat? The question has occupied psychologists for over a century: In countless carefully designed experiments, researchers titrate the information … [Read more...] about How children integrate information

Additive manufacturing has the potential to allow one to create parts or products on demand in manufacturing, automotive engineering, and even in outer space. However, it's a challenge to know in advance how a 3D printed object will perform, now and in the future. Physical experiments -- especially for metal additive manufacturing (AM) -- are slow and costly. Even modeling … [Read more...] about Using AI to predict 3D printing processes: Engineers use Frontera supercomputer to develop physics-informed neural networks for additive manufacturing

What if a microscope allowed us to explore the 3D microcosm of blood vessels, nerves, and cancer cells instantaneously in virtual reality? What if it could provide views from multiple directions in real time without physically moving the specimen and worked up to 100 times faster than current technology? UT Southwestern scientists collaborated with colleagues in England and … [Read more...] about Novel microscopy method provides look into future of cell biology

Researchers from Brown University and MIT have developed a new data science framework that allows users to process data with the programming language Python -- without paying the "performance tax" normally associated with a user-friendly language. The new framework, called Tuplex, is able to process data queries written in Python up to 90 times faster than industry-standard … [Read more...] about New data science platform speeds up Python queries

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have engineered the world's tiniest technology, with a thickness of only two atoms. According to the researchers, the new technology proposes a way for storing electric information in the thinnest unit known to science, in one of the most stable and inert materials in nature. The allowed quantum-mechanical electron tunneling through the … [Read more...] about Technology only two atoms thick could enable storage of information in thinnest unit

When it comes to understanding and predicting trends in energy use, the internet is a tough nut to crack. So say energy researchers Eric Masanet, of UC Santa Barbara, and Jonathan Koomey, of Koomey Analytics. The two just published a peer-reviewed commentary in the journal Joule discussing the pitfalls that plague estimates of the internet's energy and carbon impacts. The paper … [Read more...] about Common errors in internet energy analysis: Errors can lead well-intentioned studies to predict massive energy growth in IT, which often doesn’t materialize