Scientists have found a clever way to generate hydrogen straight from salty seawater. This could be another step towards a clean energy future, if renewables power the process. The new device makes a few chemical modifications to existing technologies, making it possible to extract hydrogen from untreated, unpurified seawater – which could alleviate concerns about

Weighing in at just 1.2 milligrams, a new robot called FAIRY – that’s short for Flying Aero-robots based on Light Responsive Materials Assembly – is the first flying bot we’ve seen based on soft materials that respond to light. The robot was inspired by dandelion seeds, and ultimately it could be used in the same

Some 540 million years ago, diverse life forms suddenly began to emerge from the muddy ocean floors of planet Earth. This period is known as the Cambrian Explosion, and these aquatic critters are our ancient ancestors. All complex life on Earth evolved from these underwater creatures. Scientists believe all it took was an ever-so-slight increase

Even if you think you are good at analyzing faces, research shows many people cannot reliably distinguish between photos of real faces and images that have been computer-generated. This is particularly problematic now that computer systems can create realistic-looking photos of people who don’t exist. Recently, a fake LinkedIn profile with a computer-generated profile picture

Scientists have made a breakthrough in robotics: a shapeshifting robot that can switch between liquid and metal states to navigate tricky environments without compromising on strength. Because they can be both soft and hard, the small, sea cucumber-inspired robots can overcome the limitations of robots that are only one or the other, and thus have

Fiber-optic cables stretch across oceans and wind their way underground to handle our communications systems, and scientists think that this vast network of infrastructure could be put to another use: observing Earth’s surface from below. Specifically, the 1.2 million kilometers (more than 745,000 miles) of existing fiber-optic cable could be combined with satellites and other

The hottest startup in Silicon Valley right now is OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed developer of ChatGPT, a much-hyped chatbot that can write a poem, college essay, or even a line of software code. Tesla tycoon Elon Musk was an early investor in OpenAI and Microsoft is reported to be in talks to up an initial investment

All life is made up of cells several magnitudes smaller than a grain of salt. Their seemingly simple-looking structures mask the intricate and complex molecular activity that enables them to carry out the functions that sustain life. Researchers are beginning to be able to visualize this activity to a level of detail they haven’t been

Say hello to ionocaloric cooling: a new way to lower the mercury that has the potential to replace existing methods with something that is safer and friendlier to the planet. Typical refrigeration systems transport heat away from a space via a gas that cools as it expands some distance away. As effective as this process

In August 1955, a group of scientists made a funding request for US$13,500 to host a summer workshop at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. The field they proposed to explore was artificial intelligence (AI). While the funding request was humble, the conjecture of the researchers was not: “Every aspect of learning or any other feature of

There’s not enough fresh water to go around on planet Earth, and it’s a problem that’s expected to only worsen in the coming years. To meet growing demand, recycling and restricting our water will only get us so far. Scientists will need to find new sources of this life-sustaining liquid to meet our needs. One

She’s out there somewhere, lurking in a parallel universe of possibilities. All you have to do to summon her into being is type the right prompt into an AI image generator. Like a digital incantation, the words will reveal the eerie face of a middle-aged woman with dead eyes, a vacant stare, and a disturbing

Putting a screen in front of a child is a tried and trusted way of keeping them entertained and quiet – and it works pretty well for adults, too – but as a constant calming technique, it may have its drawbacks, according to a new study. Researchers looked at the way digital devices were used

The Lensa photo and video editing app has shot into social media prominence in recent weeks, after adding a feature that lets you generate stunning digital portraits of yourself in contemporary art styles. It does that for just a small fee and the effort of uploading 10 to 20 different photographs of yourself. 2022 has

ChatGPT is the latest and most impressive artificially intelligent chatbot yet. It was released two weeks ago, and in just five days hit a million users. It’s being used so much that its servers have reached capacity several times. OpenAI, the company that developed it, is already being discussed as a potential Google slayer. Why

Our society faces the grand challenge of providing sustainable, secure, and affordable means of generating energy while trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero around 2050. To date, developments in fusion power, which potentially ticks all these boxes, have been funded almost exclusively by the public sector. However, something is changing. Private equity

Many of us rely on GPS (Global Positioning System) to estimate travel times, find our way to new places, avoid traffic congestion, keep track of the kids, and generally avoid getting lost. But it’s not always the most reliable of systems, especially in built-up areas where it’s difficult to get a straight line of sight

Higher end AirPods have the potential to act as hearing aids for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, according to new research that put the Apple-made earbuds up against traditional hearing aids in a series of tests. The findings could transform the lives of millions of people who don’t currently make use of hearing

The steady drum of a heartbeat is something that can easily fade into the background of our daily lives, with little thought given to the reliability of its pulse. But for those who develop an arrhythmia, the situation is much more fraught – their heartbeat is monitored and controlled by life-saving devices called pacemakers, which

Scientists continue to blow through data transmission records, with the fastest transmission of information between a laser and a single optical chip system now set at 1.8 petabits per second. That’s well in excess of the amount of traffic passing across the entire internet each second. Here’s another comparison: the average broadband download speed in

Scientists can now “decode” people’s thoughts without even touching their heads, The Scientist reported. Past mind-reading techniques relied on implanting electrodes deep in peoples’ brains. The new method, described in a report posted 29 Sept. to the preprint database bioRxiv, instead relies on a noninvasive brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI

You might suppose Hollywood is good at predicting the future. Indeed, Robert Wallace, head of the CIA’s Office of Technical Service and the US equivalent of MI6’s fictional Q, has recounted how Russian spies would watch the latest Bond movie to see what technologies might be coming their way. Hollywood’s continuing obsession with killer robots

How many brain cells does it take to play a video game? No, really. That’s not a joke, and there isn’t a punchline. Instead, there’s a real actual answer, thanks to a neural network system called DishBrain. If that game is Pong, the number of brain cells is around 800,000. While their slow-moving, one-sided strategy

What if, as well as providing a fun way to enjoy our leisure time, video games could provide real benefits to our cognitive powers? That’s the promise of a new musical rhythm game that can not only teach drumming but also improve short-term memory. In a study of the game’s effects, 47 adults aged between

The vast number-crunching capabilities of artificial intelligence systems mean we can better predict the future of chaotic systems based on fewer and fewer patterns of the past – and a new algorithm is adding even more accuracy to the process. Developed through next-gen reservoir computing techniques, which take a more dynamic, speedier approach to machine

More than half of the digital data firms generate is collected, processed, and stored for single-use purposes. Often, it is never re-used. This could be your multiple near-identical images held on Google Photos or iCloud, a business’s outdated spreadsheets that will never be used again, or data from internet of things sensors that have no