Tech Xplore news
Tech Xplore / AI agents debate more effectively when given personalities and the ability to interrupt
In a typical online meeting, humans don't always wait politely for their turn to speak. They interrupt to express strong agreement, stay silent when they are unsure, and let their personalities shape the flow of the discussion. ...
Tech Xplore / Why light poles failed in Hurricane Ian despite meeting design standards
When Hurricane Ian moved across Florida in 2022, several aluminum light poles on a Central Florida bridge collapsed or cracked, even though wind speeds remained below the structures' design limits. A new University of Florida ...
Tech Xplore / New design tool 3D-prints woven metamaterials that stretch and fail predictably
Metamaterials—materials whose properties are primarily dictated by their internal microstructure, and not their chemical makeup—have been redefining the engineering materials space for the last decade. To date, however, ...
Tech Xplore / From trash to takeoff: Pilot plant produces 100 kg of sustainable aviation fuel per day from landfill gas
The aviation industry accounts for a significant share of global carbon emissions. In response, the international community is expanding mandatory use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is produced from organic waste ...
Tech Xplore / Extending optical fiber's ultralow loss performance to photonic chips
Caltech scientists have developed a way to guide light on silicon wafers with low signal loss approaching that of optical fiber at visible wavelengths. This accomplishment paves the way for a new generation of ultra-coherent ...
Tech Xplore / Fungi turn shredded mattress foam into lightweight building insulation
Swinburne researchers have turned old, unwanted mattresses into safe and sustainable building insulation materials using fungi. The team grew a common fungus together with shredded mattress foam to create a new material that ...
Tech Xplore / 'Discovery learning' AI tool predicts battery cycle life with just a few days' data
An agentic AI tool for battery researchers harnesses data from previous battery designs to predict the cycle life of new battery concepts. With information from just 50 cycles, the tool—developed at University of Michigan ...
Tech Xplore / A programmable, Lego-like material for robots emulates life's flexibility
Mechanical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a proof-of-concept method for programming mechanical properties into solid Lego-like building blocks. By controlling the solidity of hundreds of individual cells in ...
Tech Xplore / Unhackable metasurface holograms: Security technology can lock information with light color and distance
A research team led by Professor Junsuk Rho at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has developed a secure hologram platform that operates solely based on the wavelength of light and the spacing between metasurface ...
Tech Xplore / Neptunium study yields plutonium insights for space exploration
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are breathing new life into the scientific understanding of neptunium, a unique, radioactive, metallic element—and a key precursor for production of ...
Tech Xplore / Your future home might be framed with printed plastic
The plastic bottle you just tossed in the recycling bin could provide structural support for your future house. MIT engineers are using recycled plastic to 3D print construction-grade beams, trusses, and other structural ...
Tech Xplore / They're robots, and they're here to help: Computer scientist improves robot interactions with human beings
Friendly robots, the ones people love to love, are quirky: R2-D2, C-3PO, WALL-E, BB-8, Marvin, Roz and Baymax. They're emotional, prone to panic or bossy, empathetic and able to communicate like humans do—even when they ...
