Category Physics

Researchers have developed a new kind of nanoelectronic device that could dramatically cut the energy consumed by artificial intelligence hardware by mimicking the human brain. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, developed a form of hafnium oxide that acts as a highly stable, low-energy “memristor”—a component designed to mimic the efficient way neurons are connected in the brain. The results are reported in the journal Science Advances.

Current AI systems rely on conventional computer chips that shuttle data back and forth between memory and processing units. This constant movement consumes large amounts of electricity, and global demand is exploding as AI adoption expands across industries.

Brain...

Seoul National University College of Engineering has announced that a research team led by Prof. Jeonghun Kwak of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with co-first authors Dr. Juhyung Park and Dr. Sun Hong Kim, has developed a flexible and thin “pseudo-transverse thermoelectric generator” capable of producing electricity from body heat. The research findings appear in Science Advances.

Thermoelectric generators, which convert temperature differences into electricity, are attracting attention as a next-generation energy technology for wearable electronics because they can supply power without batteries. In particular, thin-film thermoelectric generators are lightweight and flexible, allowing them to be comfortably attached to skin or clothing.

However, this thi...

Edge computing is an emerging IT architecture that enables the processing of data locally by smartphones, autonomous vehicles, local servers, and other IoT devices instead of sending it to be processed at a centralized large data center. This approach could allow artificial intelligence (AI) models and other computational systems to perform tasks rapidly, while consuming less power.

Despite the potential of this approach, typically local devices have a limited battery capacity and restricted computing capabilities. This means they often need to send data to remote cloud servers via the internet to complete complex calculations...

Every eleven years, the sun’s magnetic field flips. Sunspots—dark, cooler regions on the sun’s surface that mark intense magnetic activity and often trigger solar eruptions—appear at mid-latitudes and migrate toward the star’s equator in a butterfly-shape pattern before fading as the cycle resets. While this spectacle on the star’s surface has long been visible to astronomers, where this powerful cycle begins inside the star has remained hidden until now.

Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have analyzed nearly three dec...