Tech Xplore news

Tech Xplore / Jumping spiders inspire ultra-efficient 3D camera

By borrowing a trick from tiny jumping spiders, Northwestern University engineers have developed an extremely energy-efficient 3D camera. Called SpiderCam, the new device senses depth the same way that jumping spiders judge ...

Jun 7, 2026
Tech Xplore / Plastic waste yields jet fuel through new process costing as little as $1 per kilogram

Aviation is one of the sectors that contributes most to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change on Earth. One proposed strategy for mitigating or counterbalancing the effects of these emissions is to substitute existing ...

Jun 5, 2026
Tech Xplore / Semiconductors enter 'multi-tasking' era: New device cuts required components by 75% and quadruples processing speed

Less than two decades after smartphones fit into the palm of our hands, artificial intelligence is now running on devices worn on our wrists. The challenge is that while devices continue to shrink, the amount of data they ...

Jun 5, 2026
Tech Xplore / Grounded in reality, new AI model spots fake images with less training

Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images have become increasingly more sophisticated than early ones that showed humans with more than five fingers on a hand, making it even harder to determine whether photos are authentic. ...

Jun 5, 2026
Tech Xplore / AI fails classic attention test, with longer word lists triggering dramatic accuracy collapse

Giving AI a classic psychological test reveals an inherent weakness in LLM decision-making abilities. Suketu Patel and colleagues explored how transformer-based machine attention differs from human attention by testing AI ...

Jun 5, 2026
Tech Xplore / Standalone 'leaf' produces liquid fuel from sun, water and CO₂ with record efficiency

A Yale-led research team has developed the first standalone device that produces the liquid fuel methanol using only sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide as the ingredients. The artificial "leaf," like its namesake in nature, ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / Looping lasers whisk molten metals together during 3D printing, opening new alloy design route

Like modern-day alchemists, metallurgists are constantly discovering and perfecting recipes for better alloys. A crucial step in those recipes is to get different metals to mix evenly. Unveiling a new utensil for the metallurgical ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / AI model predicts building fire spread, redirecting evacuees to safer exits in real time

A fire alarm jolts you from your office desk, and you head for the nearest exit. But what if the closest exit has already been blocked by the fire? Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / AI worm adapts across networks, turning any online device into potential target

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has discovered a new class of cyberthreat that gives hackers more power and reach at far less cost. It can be built with free AI models. Every online device is a potential ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / New app lets anyone operate a robot from their phone

Someone with no computing experience may soon be able to remotely control a robot from anywhere on the planet using a smartphone, thanks to new technology developed by Georgia Tech. The new technology is also set to revolutionize ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / Framework generates 'shadow art' from scan of any object

Some people have a gift for creating beautiful works of art. Others appreciate art but do not have the talent to create it. Researchers at Cornell Tech and the Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science have ...

Jun 4, 2026
Tech Xplore / Battleship-trained AI learns to ask sharper questions, boosting win rate from 8% to 82%

In 2026, the hype for artificial intelligence agents is louder than ever before. These semi-autonomous programs can "think" and execute well-defined tasks in areas like customer service and software development, typically ...

Jun 4, 2026