System Bits: Sept. 18


Better AI technique for chemistry predictions CalTech researchers have found a new technique that uses machine learning more effectively to predict how complex chemicals will react to reagents. The tool is a new twist on similar machine learning techniques to find more effective catalysts without having the time-consuming trial-and-error research, making it a time-saver for drug researchers. ... » read more

System Bits: July 16


Test tube AI neural network In a significant step towards demonstrating the capacity to program artificial intelligence into synthetic biomolecular circuits, Caltech researchers have developed an artificial neural network made out of DNA that can solve a classic machine learning problem: correctly identifying handwritten numbers. The work was done in the laboratory of Lulu Qian, assistant p... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 15


Space metrology NASA is developing a mini-electron probe based on an array of carbon nanotube dots. The probe would be used in an instrument, which would analyze the chemical properties of rocks and soils on asteroids, moons and planets. For years, NASA has been working with carbon nanotubes in various applications. Carbon nanotubes are hard, cylindrical nanostructures with good electrical ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov 28


Deep learning to detect nuclear reactor cracks Inspecting nuclear power plant components for cracks is critical to preventing leaks, as well as to control in maintenance costs. But the current vision-based crack detection approaches are not very effective. Moreover, they are prone to human error, which in the case of nuclear power can be disastrous. To address this problem, Purdue Universit... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: July 3


Transient electronics Researchers at Vanderbilt University took a new approach to transient electronics, creating circuits that, rather than requiring active behavior to destruct, will dissolve if not kept above a certain temperature. Using silver nanowires embedded in a polymer that dissolves in water below 32 degrees Celsius – between body and room temperature – the team made a simple... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 27


Melting quantum crystal of electrons Confirming a fundamental phase transition in quantum mechanics that was theoretically proposed more than 80 years ago but not experimentally documented until now, MIT researchers reported that they’ve observed a highly ordered crystal of electrons in a semiconducting material and documented its melting, much like ice thawing into water. The team said i... » read more

System Bits: March 1


Current generation silicon wafer While the single-crystal silicon wafer changed the nature of communication 60 years ago, a group of Cornell researchers is now hoping its work with quantum dot solids can usher in a new era in electronics. In what could be the first step toward discovering and developing artificial materials with controllable electronic structure, the team has fashioned 2D s... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 1


Gravitational-wave observatories India has approved the construction of the world’s third gravitational-wave observatory. This facility will replicate the two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGOs) in the United States, which recently detected the world's first gravitational waves. The Indian project, dubbed LIGO-India, is expected to go online in 2023. The effort b... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 27


Uncovering a novel phase of matter In a finding that could have implications for high-temperature superconductivity, a team of physicists led by David Hsieh, assistant professor of physics at Caltech has discovered an unusual phase of matter that is characterized by an unusual ordering of electrons. The researchers said this finding offers possibilities for new electronic device functionali... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 15


Lasersabers and laser swords In 2013, the California Institute of Technology, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found a way to bind two photons, thereby forming photonic molecules. To accomplish this feat, Caltech, Harvard and MIT pumped rubidium atoms into a vacuum chamber. They used lasers to cool the atoms. Then, they fired photons into a cloud of atoms. This, ... » read more

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