Chemists have invented a new material that could be the future of body armor — chainmail. But this isn’t the Middle Ages all over again; the new super-strong material is made of molecules that are interlocked on a nanoscale, scientists say. Researchers fused lines of molecules like links in a chain to create sheets of … Read more
Engineers have showcased a prototype electric vehicle (EV) that can drive for up to 40 miles (64 kilometers) per day using just solar power. The new solar-powered car, called the Aptera Launch Edition, also offers up to 400 miles (640 km) of range from a single charge via an electrical output, company representatives said in … Read more
A new type of solar paint could extend the range of electric vehicles (EVs) to thousands of miles. Revealing the technology on Nov. 24, automaker Mercedes-Benz representatives said its new photovoltaic paint could power an EV for up to 7,456 miles (12,000 kilometers) per year in optimal lighting conditions. The “nanoparticle” paint can be applied … Read more
The world’s first nuclear-powered battery, which uses a radioactive isotope embedded in a diamond, could power small devices for thousands of years, scientists say. The nuclear battery uses the reaction of a diamond placed close to a radioactive source to spontaneously produce electricity, scientists at the University of Bristol in the U.K. explained in a … Read more
In summer 2024, several news outlets chronicled the “nightmarish” impacts Texas communities endured due to the din of noise emanating from nearby cryptocurrency mines. Residents of these communities reported that the unrelenting noise caused them to experience a range of ailments, including high blood pressure, chest pain and tinnitus. The noise levels of the cryptocurrency … Read more
Researchers have developed a hair-thin battery that can power robots no larger than the dot at the end of this sentence. The zinc-air battery captures oxygen from its surroundings and oxidizes miniscule amounts of zinc, a reaction that can create up to 1 volt. This energy can then power things like sensors or a tiny … Read more
With the release of artificial intelligence (AI) video generation products like Sora and Luma, we’re on the verge of a flood of AI-generated video content, and policymakers, public figures and software engineers are already warning about a deluge of deepfakes. Now it seems that AI itself might be our best defense against AI fakery after … Read more
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems could devour all of the internet’s free knowledge as soon as 2026, a new study has warned. AI models such as GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT, or Claude 3 Opus rely on the many trillions of words shared online to get smarter, but new projections suggest they will exhaust the supply of … Read more
Five artificial intelligence (AI) models, one each adopting the role of Aristotle, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Cleopatra and Genghis Khan, are sitting inside the compartment of a moving train. But one is secretly human, and it’s their collective task to guess the imposter. That’s the setup of a viral video that pitted a range of … Read more
Scientists have developed an imaging chip that could equip future smartphones with “Superman-inspired” X-ray vision — albeit operating within a much more limited range than the caped Kryptonian superhero. The experimental chip consists of an array of three sensor pixels that emit and receive high-frequency radio signals in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band of the electromagnetic … Read more
