Power/Performance Bits: June 21


A chip with 1,000 processors A microchip containing 1,000 independent programmable processors has been designed by a team at the University of California, Davis. Called the KiloCore chip, it contains 621 million transistors and was fabricated by IBM using its 32nm CMOS technology. Cores operate at an average maximum clock frequency of 1.78 GHz, and they transfer data directly to each other r... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 7


Tiny lasers on silicon A group of scientists from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara, Sandia National Laboratories, and Harvard University were able to fabricate tiny lasers directly on silicon. To do this, they first had to resolve silicon crystal lattice defects to a point where the cavities were essentially equivalent to those gr... » read more

System Bits: May 31


In automaton we trust? It is widely believed that there are two kinds of robots: friendly and helpful; or sinister and deadly. But do humans place too much trust in robots? According to the work of Harvard University senior Serena Booth, a computer science concentrator at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the answer is as complex and multifaceted as robots themsel... » read more

System Bits: March 29


Cryptographic system for controlling app access to data Researchers at MIT and Harvard University are hoping to change the fact that users of smartphones have no idea which data items their apps are collecting, where they’re stored, and if they’re stored securely with an application they’ve developed called Sieve. With Sieve, a Web user would store all personal data, in encrypted form... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 16


WW seismic network app UC Berkeley researchers have released a free Android app that uses a smartphone’s ability to record ground shaking from an earthquake, with the goal of creating a worldwide seismic detection network that could eventually warn users of impending jolts from nearby quakes. The app, called MyShake, is available from the Google Play Store and runs in the background with... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 13


Quantum computing hurdle cleared Clearing what they say is the final hurdle to making silicon-based quantum computers a reality, a team of University of New South Wales researchers has built a quantum logic gate in silicon for the first time, making calculations between two qubits of information possible. Team leader Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian National ... » read more

System Bits: May 26


Microfluidic cell-squeezing MIT researchers have shown it is possible to use a microfluidic cell-squeezing device to introduce specific antigens inside the immune system’s B cells, providing a new approach to developing and implementing antigen-presenting cell vaccines. These types of vaccines are created by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to fight invaders, and are believed ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 6


3D nanoshaping A team of researchers led by Purdue University report they’ve developed a method for creating large-area patterns of 3D nanoshapes from metal sheets. They believe this represents a potential manufacturing system to inexpensively mass produce innovations such as "plasmonic metamaterials" for advanced technologies, and could enable high-speed electronics, advanced sensors and so... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 30


Crafting ultrathin color coatings Harvard University researchers have developed a technique that coats a metallic object with an extremely thin layer of semiconductor, just a few nanometers thick. And while the semiconductor is a steely gray color, the object ends up shining in vibrant hues because the coating exploits interference effects in the thin films. Carefully tuned in the laboratory, ... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 30


Airway muscle-on-a-chip mimics asthma A Harvard University research team has developed a human airway muscle-on-a-chip that could be used to test new drugs as it accurately mimics the way smooth muscle contracts in the human airway, under normal circumstances and when exposed to asthma triggers. The chip also gives a window into the cellular and even subcellular responses within the tissue ... » read more

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