Bizarre Things: Computers & Math

May 2, 2024

Top Headlines

This Highly Reflective Black Paint Makes Objects More Visible to Autonomous Cars

May 2, 2024 — Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar ...

Significant New Discovery in Teleportation Research -- Noise Can Improve the Quality of Quantum Teleportation

May 2, 2024 — Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum ...

The End of the Quantum Tunnel

Apr. 26, 2024 — Quantum mechanical effects such as radioactive decay, or more generally: 'tunneling', display intriguing mathematical patterns. Researchers now show that a 40-year-old mathematical discovery can be used to fully encode and understand this ...

Trotting Robots Reveal Emergence of Animal Gait Transitions

Apr. 30, 2024 — A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal ...

Latest Headlines

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Random Robots Are More Reliable

May 2, 2024 — New algorithm encourages robots to move more randomly to collect more diverse data for learning. In tests, robots started with no knowledge and then learned and correctly performed tasks within a ...

Why Can't Robots Outrun Animals?

Apr. 24, 2024 — Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that ...

Researchers Show It's Possible to Teach Old Magnetic Cilia New Tricks

Apr. 24, 2024 — Magnetic cilia -- artificial hairs whose movement is powered by embedded magnetic particles -- have been around for a while, and are of interest for applications in soft robotics, transporting ...

Holographic Displays Offer a Glimpse Into an Immersive Future

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers have invented a new optical element that brings us one step closer to mixing the real and virtual worlds in an ordinary pair of eyeglasses using high-definition 3D holographic ...

Hey Dave, I've Got an Idea for You: What's the Potential of AI-Led Workshopping?

Apr. 23, 2024 — Sure, ChatGPT can write a poem about your pet in the style of T.S Eliot, but generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have a potentially more ...

Octopus Inspires New Suction Mechanism for Robots

Apr. 18, 2024 — A new robotic suction cup which can grasp rough, curved and heavy stone, has been developed by ...

How 3D Printers Can Give Robots a Soft Touch

Apr. 17, 2024 — Soft skin coverings and touch sensors have emerged as a promising feature for robots that are both safer and more intuitive for human interaction, but they are expensive and difficult to make. A ...

Star Trek's Holodeck Recreated Using ChatGPT and Video Game Assets

Apr. 11, 2024 — Star Trek's Holodeck is no longer just science fiction. Using AI, engineers have created a tool that can generate 3D environments, prompted by everyday ...

Breakthrough Promises Secure Quantum Computing at Home

Apr. 11, 2024 — The full power of next-generation quantum computing could soon be harnessed by millions of individuals and companies, thanks to a breakthrough guaranteeing security and privacy. This advance promises ...

Engineers Design Soft and Flexible 'Skeletons' for Muscle-Powered Robots

Apr. 8, 2024 — Engineers designed modular, spring-like devices to maximize the work of live muscle fibers so they can be harnessed to power biohybrid ...

'Smart Swarms' of Tiny Robots Inspired by Natural Herd Mentality

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers gave nanorobots a trait called adaptive time delay, which allows them to better work ...

AI Writing, Illustration Emits Hundreds of Times Less Carbon Than Humans, Study Finds

Apr. 2, 2024 — A group of scholars calculated the amount of energy used by AI tools for the tasks of writing and illustrating and compared it to the average amount of energy humans use for the same processes. Their ...

Study Uses Artificial Intelligence to Show How Personality Influences the Expression of Our Genes

Apr. 1, 2024 — An international study using artificial intelligence has shown that our personalities alter the expression of our genes. The findings shed new light on the long-standing mystery of how the mind and ...

Robot, Can You Say 'Cheese'?

Mar. 27, 2024 — What would you do if you walked up to a robot with a human-like head and it smiled at you first? You'd likely smile back and perhaps feel the two of you were genuinely interacting. But how does ...

Micro-Lisa! Making a Mark With Novel Nano-Scale Laser Writing

Mar. 26, 2024 — High-power lasers are often used to modify polymer surfaces to make high-tech biomedical products, electronics and data storage components. Now researchers have discovered a light-responsive, ...

The World Is One Step Closer to Secure Quantum Communication on a Global Scale

Mar. 25, 2024 — Researchers have brought together two Nobel prize-winning research concepts to advance the field of quantum communication. Scientists can now efficiently produce nearly perfect entangled photon pairs ...

Artificial Nanofluidic Synapses Can Store Computational Memory

Mar. 25, 2024 — In a step toward nanofluidic-based neuromorphic -- or brain-inspired -- computing, engineers have succeeded in executing a logic operation by connecting two chips that use ions, rather than ...

Robotic Metamaterial: An Endless Domino Effect

Mar. 20, 2024 — If it walks like a particle, and talks like a particle... it may still not be a particle. A topological soliton is a special type of wave or dislocation which behaves like a particle: it can move ...

Brain-Inspired Wireless System to Gather Data from Salt-Sized Sensors

Mar. 19, 2024 — In a new study, researchers describe a novel approach for a wireless communication network that can efficiently transmit, receive and decode data from thousands of microelectronic chips that are each ...

Backyard Insect Inspires Invisibility Devices, Next Gen Tech

Mar. 18, 2024 — Leafhoppers, a common backyard insect, secrete and coat themselves in tiny mysterious particles that could provide both the inspiration and the instructions for next-generation technology, according ...

Two Artificial Intelligences Talk to Each Other

Mar. 18, 2024 — Performing a new task based solely on verbal or written instructions, and then describing it to others so that they can reproduce it, is a cornerstone of human communication that still resists ...

Holographic Message Encoded in Simple Plastic

Mar. 18, 2024 — Important data can be stored and concealed quite easily in ordinary plastic using 3D printers and terahertz radiation, scientists show. Holography can be done quite easily: A 3D printer can be used ...

New Technique Helps AI Tell When Humans Are Lying

Mar. 18, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new training tool to help artificial intelligence (AI) programs better account for the fact that humans don't always tell the truth when providing personal ...

Advanced Army Robots More Likely to Be Blamed for Deaths

Mar. 14, 2024 — Advanced killer robots are more likely to blamed for civilian deaths than military machines, new research has revealed. The study shows that high-tech bots will be held more responsible for ...

Robot ANYmal Can Do Parkour and Walk Across Rubble

Mar. 13, 2024 — The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. Researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate ...

You Don't Need Glue to Hold These Materials Together -- Just Electricity

Mar. 13, 2024 — Is there a way to stick hard and soft materials together without any tape, glue or epoxy? A new study shows that applying a small voltage to certain objects forms chemical bonds that securely link ...

New AI Technology Enables 3D Capture and Editing of Real-Life Objects

Mar. 13, 2024 — Imagine performing a sweep around an object with your smartphone and getting a realistic, fully editable 3D model that you can view from any angle -- this is fast becoming reality, thanks to advances ...

Cicadas' Unique Urination Unlocks New Understanding of Fluid Dynamics

Mar. 11, 2024 — While most small insects and mammals urinate in droplets, cicadas urinate in jets. Researchers say the finding could be used to create better robots and small ...

AI-Generated Food Images Look Tastier Than Real Ones

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers have announced an intriguing discovery -- consumers generally prefer AI-generated images of food over real food images, especially when they are unaware of their true ...

New Dressing Robot Can 'Mimic' the Actions of Care-Workers

Mar. 4, 2024 — Scientists have developed a new robot that can 'mimic' the two-handed movements of care-workers as they dress an ...