https://techxplore.com/ en-us Tech Xplore internet news portal provides the latest news on electronics, technology, and engineering. Table tennis has been played for decades as a more accessible version of tennis. The sport is particularly beginner-friendly while maintaining a rich level of competitive play. However, like many sports, it remains inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-table-tennis-accessible-players.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 18:20:01 EST news620989333 Personal genetics firm 23andMe on Tuesday confirmed that hackers using stolen passwords accessed the personal information about 6.9 million of its members. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-23andme-hackers-millions-users.html Security Tue, 05 Dec 2023 16:04:17 EST news621014656 Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a portable, self-powered ultraviolet-C device called the Tribo-sanitizer that can inactivate two of the bacteria responsible for many foodborne illnesses and deaths. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-lightning-scientists-ultraviolet-c-device-food.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:56:42 EST news621014199 While Santa Claus may have a magical sleigh and nine plucky reindeer to help him deliver presents, for companies like FedEx, the optimization problem of efficiently routing holiday packages is so complicated that they often employ specialized software to find a solution. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-approach-solutions-tricky-optimization.html Computer Sciences Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:56:04 EST news621014161 Artificial hands can be operated via app or with sensors placed in the muscles of the forearm. New research from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) shows that a better understanding of muscle activity patterns in the forearm supports a more intuitive and natural control of artificial limbs. This requires a network of 128 sensors and AI-based techniques. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-artificial-intelligence-prosthetic-intuitive.html Robotics Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:33:04 EST news621012782 The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning is increasing the demand for data from app users, device owners, firms, consumers, and even patients. As data-hungry technologies are getting more and more efficient, the key question is how to incentivize data-sharing while protecting users' privacy, said Ali Makhdoumi, an associate professor of decision sciences at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-acquisition-mechanism-maximizes-platforms-compensating.html Business Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:09:04 EST news621011342 Meta, IBM and dozens of startups and researchers have launched an alliance defending a more open and collaborative method to develop artificial intelligence, setting up a clash with OpenAI and Google over the technology's future. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-meta-ibm-alliance-ai-future.html Machine learning & AI Tue, 05 Dec 2023 13:30:13 EST news621005411 Simulations from West Virginia University researchers demonstrate their use of two kinds of industrial wastewater to decontaminate each other has the potential to slash a power plant's total water use. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-power-recycle-wastewater-oil-gas.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:58:12 EST news621003488 Researchers from Cornell Tech have developed a method to identify delays in the reporting of incidents such as downed trees and power lines, which could lead to practical insights and interventions for more equitable, efficient government service. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-method-cities-responses-resident.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:42:23 EST news621002539 Engineers have added graphene oxide to cement mixture to make stronger 3D-printed concrete that is easier to print, paving the way to create potential "smart" walls that can monitor cracks. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-graphene-oxide-case-smart-concrete.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:08:03 EST news621000481 Researchers from EPFL have resolved a long-standing debate surrounding laser additive manufacturing processes with a pioneering approach to defect detection. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-laser-additive-defects.html Engineering Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:00:05 EST news620996401 More than 2.2 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries, and the United Nations estimates that 3.5 million die every year from water-related diseases. Because the areas most in need of improved drinking water are also located in some of the sunniest places in the world, there is strong interest in harnessing sunlight to help obtain clean water. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-harvesting-air-solar-power.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:00:01 EST news620987600 Over the past decades, electronics engineers have been trying to develop increasingly smaller and highly performing field effect transistors (FETs) with multiple functions. FETs are crucial components of most electronics on the market today, which can control the electrical current flowing through devices. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-reconfigurable-molybdenum-ditelluride-devices-multiple.html Electronics & Semiconductors Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:50:01 EST news620916637 Seeing robots made with soft, flexible parts in action appears to lower people's anxiety about working with them or even being replaced by them. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-exposure-soft-robots-decreases-human.html Robotics Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:17:31 EST news620979444 Tech leaders have been vocal proponents of the need to regulate artificial intelligence, but they're also lobbying hard to make sure the new rules work in their favor. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-future-open-source-tech-giants.html Business Tue, 05 Dec 2023 04:12:52 EST news620971965 A new tool promises to bring low-cost, high-resolution artificial intelligence (AI) image generation to a wider audience. It can achieve this without powerful computers behind a paywall. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-tool-users-generate-hi-res.html Computer Sciences Mon, 04 Dec 2023 15:33:03 EST news620926381 Artificial intelligence tools hold promise for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to the interpretation of medical images. However, a new study finds these AI tools are more vulnerable than previously thought to targeted attacks that effectively force AI systems to make bad decisions. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-networks-vulnerable-malicious-previously.html Security Mon, 04 Dec 2023 13:06:04 EST news620917561 What if you could charge your electric vehicle in the same amount of time it takes to fill a tank of gas? In a new paper published in Joule, researchers from McGill University and the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) announced the development of a novel method that enables researchers to peer inside Li-ion batteries and, for the first time, track the physical processes that take place in both the liquid and solid parts of the battery cells as they happen. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-method-tracks-physical-liquid-solid.html Energy & Green Tech Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:15:35 EST news620914533 A team of AI researchers at Google's DeepMind project have developed a type of AI system that is able to demonstrate social learning capabilities. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes how they developed an AI application that showed it was capable of learning new skills in a virtual world by copying the actions of an implanted "expert." https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-deepmind-ai-social-capabilities.html Computer Sciences Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:12:08 EST news620914311 So you program your thermostat to save heating costs, recycle glass and plastic, ride a bicycle to work instead of driving a car, reuse sustainable grocery bags, buy solar panels, and shower with your mate—all to do your part to conserve energy, curb waste and lower your carbon footprint. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-image-generation-carbon-footprint.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:10:01 EST news620913925 Inspired by a small and slow snail, scientists have developed a robot protype that may one day scoop up microplastics from the surfaces of oceans, seas and lakes. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-snail-inspired-robot-scoop-ocean-microplastics.html Robotics Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:51:03 EST news620913061 Often referred to as the "dream batteries," all-solid-state batteries are the next generation of batteries that many battery manufacturers are competing to bring to market. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which use a liquid electrolyte, all components, including the electrolyte, anode, and cathode are solid, reducing the risk of explosion, and are in high demand in markets ranging from automobiles to energy storage systems (ESS). https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-degradation-mechanism-all-solid-state-batteries-commercialization.html Engineering Mon, 04 Dec 2023 10:26:04 EST news620907961 For non-connoisseurs, picking out a bottle of wine can be challenging when scanning an array of unfamiliar labels on the shop shelf. What does it taste like? What was the last one I bought that tasted so good? https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-taught-algorithm.html Hi Tech & Innovation Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:43:04 EST news620653381 Researchers have developed a new experiment to better understand what people view as moral and immoral decisions related to driving vehicles, with the goal of collecting data to train autonomous vehicles how to make "good" decisions. The work is designed to capture a more realistic array of moral challenges in traffic than the widely discussed life-and-death scenario inspired by the so-called "trolley problem." https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-autonomous-vehicles-moral-decisions-ditch.html Automotive Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:37:03 EST news620653021 A team of researchers affiliated with AI startups Gen AI, Meta, AutoGPT, HuggingFace and Fair Meta, has developed a benchmark tool for use by makers of AI assistants, particularly those that make Large Language Model based products, to test their applications as potential Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) applications. They have written a paper describing their tool, which they have named GAIA, and how it can be used. The article is posted on the arXiv preprint server. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-gaia-benchmark-tool-general.html Computer Sciences Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:21:06 EST news620652063 The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. However, this color is not based on pigments but on the special structure of the feather. Viewed under the microscope, the feathers are traversed by a network of channels with a diameter of just a few hundred nanometers. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-replicating-bird-feathers-rubber-nanostructures.html Engineering Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:18:03 EST news620648281 Users of Facebook and Instagram in Europe can now pay to opt out of the onerous data sharing obligations imposed by parent company Meta, which sells the data to advertising clients. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-web-pay-privacy.html Internet Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:15:14 EST news620648110 Open source software—software that is freely distributed, along with its source code, so that copies, additions, or modifications can be readily made —is "everywhere," to quote the 2023 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis Report. Of the computer programs used by major industries, 96% include open source software, and 76% of those programs consists of open source software. But the percentage of software packages "containing security vulnerabilities remains troublingly high," the report warned. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-boosting-faith-authenticity-source-software.html Software Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:49:04 EST news620642941 A growing number of organizations are using sentiment analysis tools from third-party artificial intelligence (AI) services to categorize large amounts of text into negative, neutral or positive sentences for social applications ranging from health care to policymaking. These tools, however, are driven by learned associations that often contain biases against persons with disabilities, according to researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ai-disability-bias.html Machine learning & AI Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:44:04 EST news620642641 In a step toward more autonomous soft robots and wearable technologies, EPFL researchers have created a device that uses color to simultaneously sense multiple mechanical and temperature stimuli. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-color-based-sensor-emulate-skin-sensitivity.html Robotics Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:12:03 EST news620637121