Computer chips that combine the use of light and electricity are shown to increase computational performance, while reducing energy consumption, compared with conventional electronic chips. The photonic computing chips, described in two papers in Nature this week, might address the growing computing demands driven by advancing artificial intelligence technology.

The growth in the complexity of artificial intelligence and deep learning models is pushing conventional electronic computing to its limits and has ever-increasing energy demands. Photonic computing, which uses photons rather than electrons, presents a potential solution to these challenges.

Multiplication and accumulation—central computational operations for artificial intelligence—can be performed faster and more effic...

Black holes are fundamental to the structure of galaxies and critical in our understanding of gravity, space, and time. A stellar mass black hole is a type of black hole that forms from the gravitational collapse of a massive star at the end of its life cycle. These black holes typically have masses ranging from about 3 to 20 times the mass of our sun.

Sometimes black holes generate beams of ionized gas (plasma) that shoot outward at nearly light spee...

Researchers have developed a handheld device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting certain types of heart disease.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, developed a device that makes it easy for people with or without medical training to record heart sounds accurately. Unlike a stethoscope, the device works well even if it’s not placed precisely on the chest: its larger, flexible sensing area helps capture clearer heart sounds than traditional stethoscopes.

The device can also be used over clothing, making it more comfortable for patients – especially women – during routine check-ups or community heart health screening programmes.

The heart sound recordings can be saved on the device, which can then be used to detect signs of heart v...

Despite its uniquely rich inventory of organic molecules, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may be able to support only a minuscule amount of biomass, if life exists on the moon, according to a study using bioenergetic modeling.

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like “sand,” its topography has long fascinated scientists and invited speculation on whether lifeforms might lurk beneath the moon’s thick, hazy atmosphere.

An international team of researchers co-led by Antonin Affholder at the U of A Department of Ec...