विज्ञान समाचार

An intricate, honeycomb-like structure of struts and beams could withstand a supersonic impact better than a solid slab of the same material. What's more, the specific structure matters, with some being more resilient to impacts than others.

The cowcatcher is a unique device located at the front end of rail vehicles. It is generally installed at the bottom frame of the head car and can remove obstacles by colliding with foreign objects on the track ahead of the vehicle. This ensures the safety of the train and the prevention of major safety accidents such as derailment.

A new analysis from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that, coupled with building envelope improvements, installing geothermal heat pumps in around 70% of U.S. buildings could save as much as 593 terawatt-hours of electricity generation annually and avoid seven gigatons of carbon-equivalent emissions by 2050.

Princeton researchers have created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to predict the behavior of crystalline materials, a key step in advancing technologies such as batteries and semiconductors. Although computer simulations are commonly used in crystal design, the new method relies on a large language model, similar to those that power text generators like ChatGPT.

A 1,907-foot tall building could soon be erected as the tallest skyscraper in the United States. Can you guess where it may be built?

Sensors that monitor infrastructure, such as bridges or buildings, or are used in medical devices, such as prostheses for the deaf, require a constant supply of power. The energy for this usually comes from batteries, which are replaced as soon as they are empty. This creates a huge waste problem. An EU study forecasts that in 2025, 78 million batteries will end up in the rubbish every day.

A change in sunlight direction has likely recharged its batteries.

In recent years, engineers have been trying to identify new technologies to sustainably generate and store energy. One promising solution leverages the energy produced by osmosis when two fluids with a different salt concentration meet, such as when a freshwater body (e.g., a river) flows into a saltwater body (e.g., the sea).

Researchers have developed a robotic sensor that incorporates artificial intelligence techniques to read braille at speeds roughly double that of most human readers.

A longtime wildlife photographer has "seen some sharks doing some really wild things" – but nothing prepared him for capturing what's believed to be the first-ever images of a live newborn great white shark.

Social robots can help us with many things: teaching, learning, caring. Because they're designed to interact with humans, they're designed to make us comfortable—and that includes the way they talk. But how should they talk? Some research suggests that people like robots to use a familiar accent or dialect, while other research suggests the opposite.

Morello, Spinello, Staartjes, Bue, Garbossa, Germans, Regli, Serra (2023) Early versus delayed mobilization after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a systematic review and meta-analysis of efficacy and safety. Neurosurg Focus (IF: 4.1) 55(6) E11

Against a backdrop of looming skyscrapers, a robot dinosaur raises its feathery wings, sending its prey fleeing in terror.

Lithium-ion batteries stand out as one of the most prevalent rechargeable battery technologies in the present era. Within these batteries, lithium-cobalt oxides (LiCoO2) are widely used as the materials for positive electrodes or cathodes (the conductors through which electric current either enters or exits a substance). The cathode plays a pivotal role in lithium-ion batteries and influences their capacity, performance over many charge-discharge cycles, and ability to manage heat.

Conventional search and rescue operations after major disasters face many problems. A team from Malaysia writing in the International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, now suggests a practical solution that involves a real-time human detection system using a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

In late October, two research helicopters from the manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, made a dozen test flights over Long Island Sound, Connecticut taking care to avoid other aircraft in the area around them. Except the ordinary-looking helicopters were flying autonomously—guided by NASA-designed software—and those other aircraft were virtual, part of a simulation to test pilotless flight systems. This was the first time two autonomous aircraft were flying at one another using NASA designed collision avoidance software.

In the realm of clean energy, metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a focus, capturing significant attention for their extraordinary advancements. In just over a decade, their certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) has skyrocketed to 26.1%, approaching the upper limits seen in traditional crystalline silicon cells. What sets PSCs apart is their potential to surpass the 30% PCE threshold.

My teenage son regularly complains about his room being too warm, even during winter. While the rest of the house is at a comfortable temperature, the video game PC he plays emits a significant amount of heat.

With every passing day, it seems like it is getting harder to trust what you see—and hear—on the internet. Deepfakes and doctored audio have become easier to create with the press of a button. New research by three School of Information students and alums will make it easy to determine the authenticity of an audio clip.

Inefficient UK homes, which were built decades ago, can now do away with their gas boilers and get all their energy needs off-grid by retrofitting a combination of existing renewable energy technologies, new research shows.