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Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Web crawler

A web crawler (also known as a web spider or web robot) is a program or automated script which browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. This process is called Web crawling or spidering. Many legitimate sites, in particular search engines, use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data. Web crawlers are mainly used to create a copy of all the visited pages for later processing by a search engine, that will index the downloaded pages to provide fast searches. Crawlers can also be used for automating maintenance tasks on a Web site, such as checking links or validating HTML code. Also, crawlers can be used to gather specific types of information from Web pages, such as harvesting e-mail addresses (usually for spam).

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Computers & Math News

October 16, 2025

UMass Amherst engineers have built an artificial neuron powered by bacterial protein nanowires that functions like a real one, but at extremely low voltage. This allows for seamless communication with biological cells and drastically improved energy ...
Vast amounts of valuable research data remain unused, trapped in labs or lost to time. Frontiers aims to change that with FAIR² Data Management, a groundbreaking AI-driven system that makes datasets reusable, verifiable, and citable. By uniting ...
A team of engineers at North Carolina State University has designed a polymer “Chinese lantern” that can rapidly snap into multiple stable 3D shapes—including a lantern, a spinning top, and more—by compression or twisting. By adding a ...
Our everyday GPS struggles in “urban canyons,” where skyscrapers bounce satellite signals, confusing even advanced navigation systems. NTNU scientists created SmartNav, combining satellite corrections, wave analysis, and Google’s 3D building ...
Mars may look calm, but new research reveals it’s a world of fierce winds and swirling dust devils racing at hurricane-like speeds. Using deep learning on thousands of satellite images from European orbiters, scientists have discovered that ...
Scientists at Skoltech developed a new mathematical model of memory that explores how information is encoded and stored. Their analysis suggests that memory works best in a seven-dimensional conceptual space — equivalent to having seven senses. ...
Researchers have found a way to extract almost every photon from diamond color centers, a key obstacle in quantum technology. Using hybrid nanoantennas, they precisely guided light from nanodiamonds into a single direction, achieving 80% efficiency ...
In a remarkable leap for quantum physics, researchers in Japan have uncovered how weak magnetic fields can reverse tiny electrical currents in kagome metals—quantum materials with a woven atomic structure that frustrates electrons into forming ...
An international team has confirmed that large quantum systems really do obey quantum mechanics. Using Bell’s test across 73 qubits, they proved the presence of genuine quantum correlations that can’t be explained classically. Their results show ...
Researchers at Columbia have created a chip that turns a single laser into a “frequency comb,” producing dozens of powerful light channels at once. Using a special locking mechanism to clean ...
HydroSpread, a breakthrough fabrication method, lets scientists build ultrathin soft robots directly on water. These tiny, insect-inspired machines could transform robotics, healthcare, and environmental ...
Scientists at OIST have, for the first time, directly tracked the elusive “dark excitons” inside atomically thin materials. These quantum particles could revolutionize information technology, as they are more stable and resistant to ...

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updated 12:56 pm ET