news

EPFL researchers have developed a compact and efficient medium-frequency transformer. Their device is poised to enhance the flexibility and efficiency of tomorrow's smart grids and DC power distribution networks. An EPFL-made prototype has been thoroughly tested and presented in several tutorials designed for experts from the academic and industrial worlds.

On-chip system that detects signals at sub-terahertz wavelengths could help steer driverless cars through fog and dust. Autonomous vehicles relying on light-based image sensors often struggle to see through blinding conditions, such as fog. But MIT researchers have developed a sub-terahertz-radiation receiving system that could help steer driverless cars when traditional methods fail.

Quantum science comes to energy grid network protection Our partnership with Oak Ridge and EPB shows that utilities can realize the benefits of quantum security using a mix of distinct but interoperable communication systems. Ray Newell LOS ALAMOS, N.M. Feb.

Researchers have found that certain ultra-thin magnetic materials can switch from insulator to conductor under high pressure, a phenomenon that could be used in the development of next-generation electronics and memory storage devices.

Device made from flexible, inexpensive materials could power large-area electronics, wearables, medical devices, and more. Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity that could power electronics.

X-ray experiments at Berkeley Lab provide first demonstration of room temperature switching in ultrathin material that could serve as a 'topological transistor' Billions of tiny transistors supply the processing power in modern smartphones, controlling the flow of electrons with rapid on-and-off switching.

By Peter Gangl In order to design machines which - depending on the concrete application - perform as well as possible, mathematical methods for the optimization of the geometry of the machines can be used. Nowadays, electrical machines are ubiquitous in our lives. In order to design machines which - depending on the concrete application - perform as well as possible, mathematical methods for the optimization of the geometry of the machines can be used.

For News Media THIS NEWS IS EMBARGOED BY THE JOURNAL SCIENCE UNTIL 2 P.M. EST, NOV. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have made a material that can transition from an electricity-transmitting metal to a nonconducting insulating material without changing its atomic structure. "This is quite an exciting discovery," says Chang-Beom Eom, professor of materials science and engineering.

Treaty compliance aided by spotting illicit artillery exchange and duplication LOS ALAMOS, N.M. Nov. Researchers using magnetic signals have found unique "fingerprints” on steel, which could help to verify weapons treaties and reduce the use of counterfeit bolts in the construction industry.

Innsbruck quantum physicists have constructed a diode for magnetic fields and then tested it in the laboratory. The device, developed by the research groups led by the theorist Oriol Romero-Isart and the experimental physicist Gerhard Kirchmair, could open up a number of new applications. Electric diodes are essential electronic components that conduct electricity in one direction but prevent conduction in the opposite one.

imec, Ghent University, and SEED Co. Ltd. have developed a contact lens with autonomous electronics, opening the door to unique applications such as lenses with sensors and/or drug-delivery systems for the treatment of eye disorders. At the imec technology forum Japan (ITF Japan 2018), imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, Ghent University, and contact lens manufacturer SEED Co.

ESA Space Engineering & Technology Preparing for the Future Shaping the Future 16 November 2018 In mid-December, twin discs will begin glowing blue on the underside of a minibus-sized spacecraft in deep space. At that moment Europe and Japan's BepiColombo mission will have just come a crucial step closer to Mercury.

Simple, scalable wireless system uses the RFID tags on billions of products to sense contamination. MIT Media Lab researchers have developed a wireless system that leverages the cheap RFID tags already on hundreds of billions of products to sense potential food contamination - with no hardware modifications needed.

Fibers containing systems for mixing, separating, and testing fluids may open up new possibilities for medical screening. Microfluidics devices are tiny systems with microscopic channels that can be used for chemical or biomedical testing and research. In a potentially game-changing advance, MIT researchers have now incorporated microfluidics systems into individual fibers, making it possible to process much larger volumes of fluid, in more complex ways.

A new material for energy-efficient data storage reaches computer operating temperature Multiferroics are considered miraculous materials for future data storage - as long as their special properties can be preserved at computer operating temperatures. This task has now been accomplished by researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, with colleagues from Institut Laue-Langevin ILL in Grenoble.

Technique from MIT could lead to tiny, self-powered devices for environmental, industrial, or medical monitoring. The microscopic devices, which the team calls "syncells" (short for synthetic cells), might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.

Technique could be used to detect light or electrical fields in living tissue. Researchers commonly study brain function by monitoring two types of electromagnetism - electric fields and light. However, most methods for measuring these phenomena in the brain are very invasive. MIT engineers have now devised a new technique to detect either electrical activity or optical signals in the brain using a minimally invasive sensor for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

By studying the effects of Basel's electricity levy, researchers at the University of Lucerne investigated how tax incentives work in practice and how their impact on energy consumption could be increased. The National Council and the Council of States decided not to debate the proposals of the Federal Council on the second phase of the Energy Strategy 2050 concerning the climate and energy tax incentive KELS.

Cost-effective method produces semiconducting films from materials that outperform silicon. The vast majority of computing devices today are made from silicon, the second most abundant element on Earth, after oxygen. Silicon can be found in various forms in rocks, clay, sand, and soil. And while it is not the best semiconducting material that exists on the planet, it is by far the most readily available.

Conventional lithium niobite modulators, the longtime workhorse of the optoelectronic industry, may soon go the way of the vacuum tube and floppy disc. Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a new method to fabricate and design integrated, on-chip modulators 100 times smaller and 20 times more efficient than current lithium niobite (LN) modulators.