Category Technology/Electronics

Metal-breathing Bacteria could transform Electronics, Biosensors, and more

Study of bacterium links biology, materials science, and electrical engineering. When the Shewanella oneidensis bacterium “breathes” in certain metal and sulfur compounds anaerobically, it produces materials that could be used to enhance electronics, electrochemical energy storage, and drug-delivery devices.

The ability of this bacterium to produce molybdenum disulfide – a material that is able to transfer electrons easily, like graphene – is the focus of research published in Biointerphases by a team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“This has some serious potential if we can understand this process and control aspects of how the bacteria are making these and other materials,” said Shayla Sawyer, an associate professor of electrical, computer, and systems ...

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Quantum Loop: US unveils blueprint for ‘virtually unhackable’ Internet

Officials say quantum technology could become the basis for a more secure internet architecture

US officials and scientists have begun laying the groundwork for a more secure “virtually unhackable” internet based on quantum computing technology.

At a presentation Thursday, Department of Energy (DOE) officials issued a report that lays out a blueprint strategy for the development of a national quantum internet, using laws of quantum mechanics to transmit information more securely than on existing networks.
The agency is working with universities and industry researchers on the engineering for the initiative with the aim of creating a prototype within a decade.

In February, scientists from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago created a 52-mile (83-kilomete...

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Software of Autonomous Driving Systems

Researchers at TU Graz and AVL are working to make autonomous driving systems safer. © Lunghammer – TU Graz

Researchers have been developing software systems of autonomous driving systems. They have now developed a method for generating safety-critical simulation scenarios and an adaptive control procedure for compensating for internal errors.

The future has already arrived. (Partially) autonomous cars are already on our roads today with automated systems such as braking or lane departure warning systems. As a central vehicle component, the software of these systems must continuously and reliably meet high quality criteria...

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Photon-based processing units enable more Complex Machine Learning

The photonic tensor core performs vector-matrix multiplications by utilizing the efficient interaction of light at different wavelengths with multistate photonic phase change memories. CREDIT: Mario Miscuglio
The photonic tensor core performs vector-matrix multiplications by utilizing the efficient interaction of light at different wavelengths with multistate photonic phase change memories. CREDIT: Mario Miscuglio

Using photons to create more powerful and power-efficient processing units for artificial intelligence. Machine learning performed by neural networks is a popular approach to developing artificial intelligence, as researchers aim to replicate brain functionalities for a variety of applications.

A paper in the journal Applied Physics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, proposes a new approach to perform computations required by a neural network, using light instead of electricity...

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