Tech Xplore news

Tech Xplore / Nano-tin interlayer steadies solid-state batteries, holding 81% capacity after 500 cycles

A research team led by Dr. Nam Ki-Hun at the Battery Materials and Process Research Center of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has successfully developed a nano-tin (Sn) interlayer control technology ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / How everyday devices could train AI faster while keeping personal data on-device

A new method developed by MIT researchers can accelerate a privacy-preserving artificial intelligence training method by about 81%. This advance could enable a wider array of resource-constrained edge devices, like sensors ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / What will it take to make AI-enabled robots safer?

The effort to "align" AI with human values is falling dangerously short in robotic systems, according to researchers from Penn Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Oxford. In a new paper appearing ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / FingerEye bridges touch and vision to improve robot handling before and after contact

To reliably complete various manual tasks, robots should be able to handle a variety of objects, ranging from items found in households to tools used in specific professional settings. While many existing robotic systems ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Solar photoreforming turns plastic waste into clean fuel at low temperatures

Scientists are advancing a promising solution to two of the world's biggest challenges—plastic pollution and clean energy—by transforming waste plastics into valuable fuels using sunlight.

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Computer-designed thermoelectric generator achieves more than 8-fold improvement in efficiency

A thermoelectric generator with a shape that no human designer would likely have imagined has now been created by a computer—and it performs more than eight times better than conventional designs. Rather than relying on intuition ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Meta-earplugs reduce booming voice effect, low-frequency rumbling sounds

Workplace hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses. While hearing loss is preventable with earplugs, they can be uncomfortable, and users often remove them despite the risks. Low-frequency sounds, such ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / A solar cell moonlights as an LED, both absorbing and emitting light more efficiently

Imagine a display that harvests ambient light when it is not actively in use, offsetting some of its own energy consumption. Materials physics shows that this is possible; the same semiconductor material can, in principle, ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Robotically assembled building blocks could make construction more efficient and sustainable

Robotically assembled building blocks could be a more environmentally friendly method for erecting large-scale structures than some existing construction techniques, according to a new study by MIT researchers published in ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Molecular interface tweak unlocks more reliable perovskite solar cells, challenging common assumption

Perovskite solar cells are a rapidly advancing photovoltaic technology that has seen a dramatic rise in power conversion efficiency in recent years. A key driver of this progress is the use of molecular charge-selective contacts—ultrathin ...

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Agentic AI threatens research funding system

In a new analysis, two UCL researchers argue that the present system used to allocate billions in research funding was designed for a world without AI agents and may no longer be fit for that purpose.

Apr 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Bananas, cups and peelers: Robots learn how to handle curved objects like fruits and tools

It does not take much to confuse some robots. A machine might be great at handling a simple object like a box, yet when it tries to work with a more irregular shape like a banana, it often fails.

Apr 27, 2026