Science News

Converting home heating systems from natural gas furnaces to electric heat pumps is seen as a way to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

AI and its related terms are now fairly well known. Many people have heard of terms such as "neural network" and may even associate "CNN" with "Convolutional Neural Network" instead of the news organization. Those with more than a passing interest in AI might even know about AlexNet, the pioneering CNN architecture that revolutionized image recognition and deep learning in 2012.

Researchers from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Google Research may have just performed digital sorcery—in the form of a diffusion model that can change the material properties of objects in images.

If one room makes you anxious and the other makes you chill, you could be a data point proving the benefit of natural building materials.

A research team has successfully developed a high-energy, high-efficiency all-solid-state sodium-air battery. This battery can reversibly utilize sodium (Na) and air without requiring special equipment. The team was led by Professor Byoungwoo Kang and Dr. Heetaek Park from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).

As climate change intensifies, the transportation sector is under significant pressure to minimize its carbon footprint. Pivotal in this transformation are new energy vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. Yet, the journey towards broad adoption of these technologies is riddled with technological, economic, and policy hurdles.

Researchers if CIDIS at ESPOL Polytechnic University have developed a new method to enhance thermal image super-resolution by employing synthetic imagery. This novel approach utilizes high-resolution images from the visible spectrum to guide the super-resolution of low-resolution thermal images, significantly improving the detail and utility of thermal imaging across various applications. The work is published in the journal Neurocomputing.

A new study published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability focuses on the air quality and climate benefits of wind and solar energy.

A trio of engineers at the University of Glasgow has designed and built an AI-based drone system that can assist in search efforts for hikers lost in the wilderness. Jan-Hendrik Ewers, David Anderson, and Douglas Thomson have published a paper describing their efforts on the arXiv preprint server.

The Brazilian yellow scorpion, or by its scientific name Tityus serrulatus, is considered the most venomous scorpion in South America.

The eyes of raptors can accurately perceive prey from kilometers away. Is it possible to model camera technology after birds' eyes? Researchers have developed a new type of camera that is inspired by the structures and functions of birds' eyes. A research team led by Prof. Kim Dae-Hyeong at the Center for Nanoparticle Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), in collaboration with Prof. Song Young Min at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), has developed a perovskite-based camera specializing in object detection.

Researchers have developed a system to address risks caused by liquefaction and subsidence, two soil deformation events triggered by earthquakes that cause buildings to tilt and sink. The team includes Professor Shinya Inazumi and Ph.D. student Yuxin Cong from the Graduate School of Engineering and Science, both at Shibaura Institute of Technology.

Renewable energy is the way of the future, but issues such as variability and surplus generation have so far created headaches in the move to fully utilizing these energy solutions. New research led by Murdoch University, School of Engineering and Energy, Associate Professor Ali Arefi has found that using interconnected scattered microgrids may be the answer.

Ceramic electrolysis cells with new electrodes show good results and no signs of electrode deterioration after 1,000 hours of testing at DTU. Electrolysis cells play a key role in converting green electricity from wind turbines and solar cells into fuels such as hydrogen, methanol and ammonia that can help reduce CO2 emissions and promote sustainable transportation and industry.

A new study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) evaluates the performance of software that estimates a person's age based on the physical characteristics evident in a photo of their face.

A new study maps how energy and food systems depend on stored water to generate hydropower and feed irrigation. Dams and reservoirs won't be able to meet the demand in coming decades.

Social media giant Meta says its bid to thwart coordinated disinformation campaigns created through ever-improving generative AI is working, despite widespread concerns.

A research group led by Prof. Ge Ziyi from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed three isomeric bisphosphonate-anchored self-assembled molecules (SAMs) to achieve highly efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The work was published in Advanced Materials.

University of Illinois Chicago engineers have helped design a new method to make hydrogen gas from water using only solar power and agricultural waste, such as manure or husks. The method reduces the energy needed to extract hydrogen from water by 600%, creating new opportunities for sustainable, climate-friendly chemical production.

Over 100 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell asked the readers of National Geographic to do something bold and fresh—"to found a new science." He pointed out that sciences based on the measurements of sound and light already existed. But there was no science of odor. Bell asked his readers to "measure a smell."