Tech Xplore news

Tech Xplore / Brain-inspired approach can teach AI to doubt itself just enough to avoid overconfidence

Most contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) systems learn to complete tasks via machine learning and deep learning. Machine learning is a computational approach that allows models to uncover patterns in data that are useful ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / Ultralight carbon fiber lattices achieve aluminum-level performance at a fraction of the weight

Researchers at Seoul National University have developed a new class of ultralight structural materials that combine the load-bearing strength of engineering materials with the weight of foam. Using a method called 3D node ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / Evolving AI may arrive before AGI and create hard-to-control risks

Evolutionary biology holds clues for the future of AI, argue researchers from the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Eötvös Loránd University, and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. In a new ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / A virtual violin produces realistic sounds before wood is ever carved

There is no question that violin-making is an art form. It requires a musician's ear, a craftsperson's skill, and a historian's appreciation of lessons learned over time. Making a violin also takes trust: Violin makers (luthiers) ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / The friendlier AI gets, the more it can backfire

Major AI platforms, including OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as social apps like Replika and Character.ai, are increasingly designing chatbots to be warm, friendly, and empathetic. However, new research from the Oxford Internet ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / What are the reasons for traffic jams? Whether traffic flows or not depends on more than just the roads

If a city's suburban railway network is expanded, additional flats are likely to be built in an agglomeration that is better connected as a result. The opposite also holds true: If new buildings spring up like mushrooms in ...

Apr 29, 2026
Tech Xplore / Programmable 3D-printed filaments mimic artificial muscles with heat-driven bending and twisting

Nature is replete with slender filaments that bend and coil—from climbing grape vines, to folded proteins, to elephant trunks that can pick up a peanut but also take down a tree.

Apr 29, 2026
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 / 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