Computers

Social media may make it easier for people to engage online, but I does not provide certain benefits of real-life human interactions, says a Michigan State University researcher. "Problematic social media use has been associated with depression, anxiety and social isolation, and having a good social support system helps insulate people from negative mental health," said Dar … [Read more...] about Need to vent? Turn to real-life support, not social media: Research finds social support provided over social media does not improve mental health for excessive social media users

The human world is, increasingly, an urban one -- and that means elevators. Hong Kong, the hometown of physicist Zhijie Feng (Boston University),* adds new elevators at the rate of roughly 1500 every year...making vertical transport an alluring topic for quantitative research. "Just in the main building of my undergraduate university, Hong Kong University of Science and … [Read more...] about When will your elevator arrive? Two physicists do the math

"Image" is everything in the $20 billion market for AR/VR glasses. Consumers are looking for glasses that are compact and easy to wear, delivering high-quality imagery with socially acceptable optics that don't look like "bug eyes." University of Rochester researchers at the Institute of Optics have come up with a novel technology to deliver those attributes with maximum … [Read more...] about A new way to make AR/VR glasses

Researchers have developed a brain-like computing device that is capable of learning by association. Similar to how famed physiologist Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to associate a bell with food, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Hong Kong successfully conditioned their circuit to associate light with pressure. The research will be published April 30 … [Read more...] about New brain-like computing device simulates human learning: Like Pavlov’s dog, device can be conditioned to learn by association

According to Michael Twidale, professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, bad usability can be an irritation for everyone but "especially awful" for the underprivileged. In "Everyone Everywhere: A Distributed and Embedded Paradigm for Usability," which was recently published in the Journal of the Association for Information … [Read more...] about Researchers promote usability for everyone, everywhere

Using naturalistic driving data and machine learning techniques, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed highly accurate algorithms for detecting mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older drivers. Naturalistic driving data refer to data captured through … [Read more...] about Driving behaviors harbor early signals of dementia

In 2018, industry and academic researchers revealed a potentially devastating hardware flaw that made computers and other devices worldwide vulnerable to attack. Researchers named the vulnerability Spectre because the flaw was built into modern computer processors that get their speed from a technique called "speculative execution," in which the processor predicts instructions … [Read more...] about Computer scientists discover new vulnerability affecting computers globally

Tomorrow's cutting-edge technology will need electronics that can tolerate extreme conditions. That's why a group of researchers led by Michigan State University's Jason Nicholas is building stronger circuits today. Nicholas and his team have developed more heat resilient silver circuitry with an assist from nickel. The team described the work, which was funded by the U.S. … [Read more...] about A silver lining for extreme electronics

The field of soft robotics has exploded in the past decade, as ever more researchers seek to make real the potential of these pliant, flexible automata in a variety of realms, including search and rescue, exploration and medicine. For all the excitement surrounding these new machines, however, UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineering professor Elliot Hawkes wants to ensure that … [Read more...] about How to level up soft robotics: Mechanical engineer offers perspective on the maturation of the field of soft robotics

The Mayo Clinic data scientists who developed highly accurate computer modeling to predict trends for COVID-19 cases nationwide have new research that shows how important a high rate of vaccination is to reducing case numbers and controlling the pandemic. Vaccination is making a striking difference in Minnesota and keeping the current level of positive cases from becoming an … [Read more...] about High vaccination rate is key to future course of COVID-19 pandemic, computer modeling shows