Science News

A study by Argonne and MIT reveals the significant impacts of losing public transit in the Chicago region, from pollution spikes to increased traffic congestion to economic downturns.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF are developing battery housings that are as light and recyclable as possible, including those made of plastic for e-mobility.

The EOLO group of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) presents a new method for analyzing the long-term mechanical fatigue of floating offshore wind turbines.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology used in image recognition possesses a structure mimicking human vision and brain neurons. There are three known methods to reduce the amount of data required for calculating and computing the visual and neuronal components. Until now, the application ratio of these methods was determined through trial and error.

Across the African continent, more than 300 new hydropower projects are planned to meet the growing demand for electricity. Some of these will require big dams, which can have major negative environmental impacts. Another looming problem with hydropower is that the water cycle is affected by climate change. Water availability will be reduced and become more variable in some locations in the next decades.

Nearly a year after a submersible carrying five passengers imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic, another manned deep dive in the North Atlantic is reportedly in the works.

New Zealand plans to commission about eight gigawatts of solar photovoltaic projects—more than the maximum power demand of the whole country on a typical winter's day—by 2028, according to the government's latest generation investment survey.

A research team led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a liquid metal-based electronic logic device that mimics the intelligent prey-capture mechanism of Venus flytraps. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-iodine batteries get a lot of attention because they are safe, do not cost much, and have a high theoretical capacity. Zinc has a high theoretical capacity (820 mAh g-1) and iodine is found in large amounts in the Earth's crust. However, the limited cycle life of zinc-iodine batteries remains a significant challenge for their market viability.

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, unmanned systems such as autonomous driving and embodied intelligence are continuously being promoted and applied in real-world scenarios, leading to a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Visual perception, a core means of information acquisition, plays a crucial role in these intelligent systems. However, achieving efficient, precise, and robust visual perception in dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable environments remains an open challenge.

Researchers at TU Wien have investigated how an artificial intelligence categorizes images. The results show astonishing similarities to visual systems in nature.

As our reliance on electric vehicles and renewable energy systems grows, so does the demand for efficient and sustainable battery technologies. The challenges of performance degradation, safety concerns, and environmental impact loom large.

People around the world rely on trucks to deliver the goods they need, and so-called long-haul trucks play a critical role in those supply chains. In the United States, long-haul trucks moved 71% of all freight in 2022. But those long-haul trucks are heavy polluters, especially of the carbon emissions that threaten the global climate. According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, in 2022 more than 3% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions came from long-haul trucks.

Researchers have achieved a significant advancement in battery technology that could improve how energy is stored and utilized, particularly for large-scale applications.

An engineering research team at the University of Alberta has identified a new material for coatings that offers promise for high-temperature applications like hydrogen combustion engines.

Despite the remarkable progress achieved in rigid perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, with reported efficiencies reaching up to 33.9%, the utilization of flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells has remained elusive. This challenge stems from the difficulty of enhancing light absorption in ultrathin silicon bottom cells while preserving their mechanical flexibility.

"Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don't seem to be listening," the U.N.'s secretary-general said after May marked another month of back-to-back global heat records.

Researchers have developed a low-cost, energy-efficient method for making materials that can capture carbon dioxide directly from the air.

Large language models behind popular generative AI platforms like ChatGPT gave different answers when asked to respond to the same reasoning test and didn't improve when given additional context, finds a new study by researchers at University College London.

Have you ever wondered what a spacecraft and a pacemaker have in common? Both are powered by plutonium-238 (238Pu), a versatile isotope, known for its ideal heating properties.