Bike-friendliness of a cycle path depends to a large extent on the surface quality. This allows people who use bicycles for work-related reasons or to complete daily errands and want to keep bike-commuting climate-neutral to perform their tasks faster and in a more pleasant way. Salzburg Research is training AI that enables smart bicycles to analyse their surroundings. The technology is suitable for evaluating cycle paths, analysing overtaking manoeuvres, collision detection and warning concepts for safe cycling. Cycling plays an…

EPFL researchers have developed a haptic device capable of reproducing the softness of various materials, from a marshmallow to a beating heart, overcoming a deceptively complex challenge that has previously eluded roboticists. The perception of softness can be taken for granted, but it plays a crucial role in many actions and interactions – from judging the ripeness of an avocado to conducting a medical exam, or holding the hand of a loved one. But understanding and reproducing softness perception is…

Argonne researchers have created a new device that acts like a superconductivity switch, helping boost the signal of tiny particles in particle colliders. Device could help facilitate the operation of new particle colliders, such as the Electron-Ion Collider. In particle colliders that reveal the hidden secrets of the tiniest constituents of our universe, minute particles leave behind extremely faint electrical traces when they are generated in enormous collisions. Some detectors in these facilities use superconductivity — a phenomenon in which…

Researchers visualize temperature-driven turbulence in liquid metal for the first time. Experiments with liquid metals could not only lead to exciting insights into geophysical and astrophysical flow phenomena, such as atmospheric disturbances at the rim of the sun or the flow in the Earth’s outer core, but also foster industrial applications, for example the casting of liquid steel. However, as liquid metals are non-transparent, suitable measurement techniques to visualize the flow in the entire volume are still lacking. A team…

…can bind together to form macroscopic complexes. Scientists from CNR Nanotec in Lecce and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw used a new generation of semiconductor photonic gratings to optically tailor complexes of quantum droplets of light that became bound together into macroscopic coherent states. The research underpins a new method to simulate and explore interactions between artificial atoms in a highly reconfigurable manner, using optics. The results have been published in the prestigious journal “Nature Physics”…

A more efficient way to capture fresh water from the air could be inspired by a phenomenon of motion first glimpsed in bowls of breakfast cereal. KAUST researchers have observed that, when water droplets condense from the air onto a cold surface coated with oil, the droplets commence a complex dance.[1] This motion — akin to a process known as the Cheerios effect whereby the floating cereal tends to cluster due to surface tension — could help to speed up the…

Quantum mechanics tells us that the fundamental unit of charge is unbreakable – but exceptions exist. A research team led by the Paul Scherrer Institute has spectroscopically observed fractionalisation of electronic charge in an iron-based metallic ferromagnet. Experimental observation of the phenomenon is not only of fundamental importance. Since it appears in an alloy of common metals at accessible temperatures, it holds potential for future exploitation in electronic devices. The discovery is published in the journal Nature. Basic quantum mechanics…

Compact chips advance precision timing for communications, navigation and other applications. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its collaborators have delivered a small but mighty advancement in timing technology: compact chips that seamlessly convert light into microwaves. This chip could improve GPS, the quality of phone and internet connections, the accuracy of radar and sensing systems, and other technologies that rely on high-precision timing and communication. This technology reduces something known as timing jitter, which is small,…

NASA tool has the answer… It’s not hard to find out what NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have observed in the past. Barely a week goes by without news of a cosmic discovery made possible using images, spectra, and other data captured by NASA’s prolific astronomical observatories. But what are Hubble and Webb looking at right this minute? A shadowy pillar harboring nascent stars? A pair of colliding galaxies? The atmosphere of a distant planet? Galactic light, stretched and distorted on a 13-billion-year journey…

Since more than a decade it has been possible for physicists to accurately measure the location of individual atoms to a precision of smaller than one thousandth of a millimeter using a special type of microscope. However, this method has so far only provided the x and y coordinates. Information on the vertical position of the atom is lacking. A new method has now been developed that can determine all three spatial coordinates of an atom with one single image….

LSU quantum researchers uncover important implications for quantum technology. In a recent publication in Nature Physics, the LSU Quantum Photonics Group offers fresh insights into the fundamental traits of surface plasmons, challenging the existing understanding. Based on experimental and theoretical investigations conducted in Associate Professor Omar Magaña-Loaiza’s laboratory, these novel findings mark a significant advancement in quantum plasmonics, possibly the most noteworthy in the past decade. While prior research in the field has predominantly focused on the collective behaviors of plasmonic systems, the…

Researchers image for the first time, winds from an old planet-forming disk which is actively dispersing its gas content. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is helping scientists uncover how planets form by advancing understanding of their birthplaces and the circumstellar disks surrounding young stars, in a paper published in the Astronomical Journal, a team of scientists led by Naman Bajaj of the University of Arizona and including Dr. Uma Gorti at the SETI Institute, image for the first time, winds…

…works according to the rules of AI ethics. Successful: COALA project with 14 partners from 5 countries | 5.7 million euros in EU funding | trustworthy use of artificial intelligence also for economic gain. Quick help even with complex problems: In future, an intelligent voice assistant will be able to help people in production. COALA relies on the trustworthy use of artificial intelligence. The system can support the work, training and knowledge transfer of employees via smartphone or tablet and…

Scientists at the University of Florida have pioneered a method for using semiconductor technology to manufacture processors that significantly enhance the efficiency of transmitting vast amounts of data across the globe. The innovation, featured on the current cover of the journal Nature Electronics, is poised to transform the landscape of wireless communication at a time when advances in AI are dramatically increasing demand. Traditionally, wireless communication has relied on planar processors, which, while effective, are limited by their two-dimensional structure…

Quantum sensor technology promises even more precise measurements of physical quantities. A team led by Christian Roos at the University of Innsbruck has now compared the signals of up to 91 quantum sensors with each other and thus successfully eliminated the noise caused by interactions with the environment. Correlation spectroscopy can be The quantum systems employed in quantum technologies, for example single atoms, are also very sensitive: any interaction with the environment can induce changes in the quantum system, leading…

Researchers have found water vapour in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth, and is also thought to play a significant role in planet formation. Yet, until now, we had never been able to map how water is distributed in a stable, cool disc — the type of disc that offers the most favourable conditions for planets to form around stars. The new findings were made…