Researchers use sound waves to turn hard disk drive into a microphone.  This unintentional microphone can extract and parse human speech with high fidelity.  The method requires hard drive firmware to be modified via old hacking techniques like phishing and injecting a virus, trojan, etc.  If you

New robot learns to pick and throw arbitrary objects into specific locations. It uses both deep learning and projectile physics to accurately and quickly toss objects in unstructured settings.  Within 14 hours of training time, it achieved a throwing accuracy of 85%, with 87% grasping reliability

Coherent light generated by nanolasers is difficult to measure.  Researchers discover a method to carry out such challenging measurements. They develop a simple formula to figure out under what conditions nanolasers qualify as true lasers.  In a recent couple of years, nanolasers have emerged as

Researchers use nanowires and a special type of shell to build ultraviolet light-emitting diodes.  They produce 5 times higher light intensity than LEDs based on conventional shell design. Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) are used in an increasing number of applications such as water p

Though still theoretical, the technology can be used to levitate objects of different sizes and shapes with a light beam.  It could also be used to develop laser-propelled spacecraft for space exploration.  The ability of light to exert forces and torques is one of the key features of optical man

DARPA announced a new program named MACH that seeks to build new design and materials for hypersonic vehicles.   The aim is to develop sharp leading edge solutions that can handle high heat fluxes and deliver performance beyond the existing carbon-carbon composite-based systems.  Hypersonic plane

Researchers used natural language processing and machine learning methods to recognize alcohol misusers from clinician notes in electronic health records. In 78% of cases, AI was able to distinguish between trauma patients who misused alcohol and those who didn’t. As many as 10% of deaths in the

AI can enhance brain imaging techniques to predict Alzheimer’s years before diagnosis.  Convolutional Neural Network developed in this study was able to identify brain scans (with 100% sensitivity) that lead to Alzheimer’s disease.  More than 5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s

Every year, we see various new products and most of them are developed using old technologies. Some influential scientists and mathematicians were born to make a dent in the world. And they successfully did it with their theories, which laid the foundation of modern technology. The world has change

Researchers develop a robotic arm that uses tactile and vision to learn the game of Jenga.  The machine-learning method developed in this work could help robot assemble consumer products, and perform other tasks that require careful physical interaction.  Jenga is a complex game that requires pre

Engineers use deep learning methods to predict biological age based on tobacco smoking.  Male smokers were about 1.5 times as old as their chronological age compared to nonsmokers.  Female smokers were predicted to be twice as old as their chronological age than nonsmokers.  Smoking leads to seri

Engineers develop neural networks for self-driving cars to detect people and predict their next movements.   It can accurately predict poses and next positions for multiple pedestrians simultaneously up to 45 meters from the vehicle.  Most self-driving vehicles generate and maintain an internal m

Researchers use lasers to transmit sound at 60 decibels to a target person standing 2.5 meters away.  They develop a method that relies on the photoacoustic effect, which takes place when a material creates sound waves after absorbing light.  The first laser was developed in 1960 through optical

Self-driving cars are 5% less accurate in detecting dark-skinned people.   This happens because the majority of object-detection algorithms had mostly been trained on datasets containing images of white people. The machine learning models have begun to find homes throughout our everyday lives. Th

Physicists have successfully created a quantum state that moves in the opposite direction of the thermodynamic arrow of time.  They have demonstrated this state in 2- and 3-qubit quantum computer.  It could be used to make quantum computers more precise while reducing errors and noise. How does t

The new machine learning-based perception framework can recognize over 90 different objects by touch.  It uses both visual and tactile observations to identify whether these observations correspond to the same object.  Humans are good at associating the appearance and material properties of objec

Physicists build a new circuit that can detect very tiny quantum steps (photons) in radio frequency signals.  This new quantum circuits could have a number of applications, from nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to radio astronomy.  Detection of weak radio-frequency electromagnetic fields plays

DARPA wants to uncover complex events found in the digital world.  Their plan is to create a semi-automated system that can detect and draw correlations between billions of events currently happening all over the world.  Artificial intelligence (AI) has numerous applications in today’s world. It

A feasibility study proposes that the laser and telescope technology on earth could be used as a beacon to attract the attention of aliens.  One needs to direct 1- to 2-megawatt laser through a 30- to 45-meter telescope into space.  The same laser could be sent with a brief message encoded in 5×5

A new laser-pointing system could help CubeSats downlink data at much higher rates using fewer onboard resources.  The system consists of a small, steerable mirror that directs the laser at the ground-based receiver.  Over the last two decades, more than 2,000 CubeSats — miniature satellites made