Power/Performance Bits: July 10


Wearable heart monitoring Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin developed a lightweight, stretchy heart monitoring patch that can be worn externally. Along with being easy to wear, the graphene-based 'e-tattoo' is more accurate than existing electrocardiograph machines, according to the team. The e-tattoo measures cardiac health using both electrocardiograph and seismocardiograph... » read more

System Bits: June 25


Supercomputers around the world At last week’s International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, the 53rd biannual list of the Top500 of the most powerful computing systems in the world was released. Broken out by countries of installation, China has 219 of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, compared with 116 in the United States. Ranking by percent of list flops, the ... » read more

System Bits: June 10


SlothBot swings through the trees, slowly A robot that doesn’t often move, spending its days, weeks, months, in the forest canopy, monitoring the local environment – that’s SlothBot, from the Georgia Institute of Technology. The robot has two photovoltaic solar panels for its power source. It is designed to stay in the trees for months at a time. It’s gone through trials on the Geor... » read more

System Bits: June 4


Thin films for quantum computing Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory report their development of two-dimensional tungsten/selenium thin films that can control the emission of single photons, potentially useful in quantum technologies. “Efficiently controlling certain thin-film materials so they emit single photons at precise locations—what’s known as deterministic quantum em... » read more

System Bits: May 21


Washable, wearable energy devices for clothing Researchers at the University of Cambridge collaborated with colleagues at China’s Jiangnan University to develop wearable electronic components that could be woven into fabrics for clothing, suitable for energy conversion, flexible circuits, health-care monitoring, and other applications. Graphene and other materials can be directly incorpor... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Mar. 26


Material holds both electrons, holes Researchers at Ohio State University discovered a material that can hold both electrons and holes. They hope the material, the layered metal crystal NaSn2As2, could simplify electronics, potentially removing the need for multiple layers or materials. "It is this dogma in science, that you have electrons or you have holes, but you don't have both. But our... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Auto


Internet of Things Is Google developing a Pixel Watch wearable? Perhaps, if recent job listings are any indication. The company recently was looking to hire someone as vice president of hardware engineering, wearables. Last month, Fossil Group sold smartwatch technology intellectual property to Google for $40 million, while Google hired certain members of Fossil’s wearables R&D team. ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 11


Body heat harvesting Chemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst developed a fabric that can harvest body heat to power small wearable electronics such as activity trackers. The device works on the thermoelectric effect created by body temperature and ambient cooler air. "What we have developed is a way to inexpensively vapor-print biocompatible, flexible and lightweight polymer fil... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 26


2nm memristors Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Brookhaven National Laboratory built memristor crossbar arrays with a 2nm feature size and a single-layer density up to 4.5 terabits per square inch. The team says the arrays were built with foundry-compatible fabrication technologies. "This work will lead to high-density memristor arrays with low power consumption fo... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 11


Internet of Ears for smart buildings Scientists at Case Western Reserve University proposed a new way for smart homes to determine building occupancy: sensors that 'listen' to vibration, sound, and changes in the existing ambient electrical field. "We are trying to make a building that is able to 'listen' to the humans inside," said Ming-Chun Huang, an assistant professor in electrical engi... » read more

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