Longest Hyperloop vacuum journey completed in European test facility

In what feels like news straight out of 2016, a Hyperloop testing facility in Europe has completed the longest-ever vacuum capsule journey. The milestone could bring this oft-forgotten promise of high-speed transport one step closer to reality.Continue… Continue reading Longest Hyperloop vacuum journey completed in European test facility

Memory improved by VR and deep-brain stimulation combo

Combining virtual reality and non-invasive deep-brain electrical stimulation, researchers have improved healthy individuals’ spatial memory – the kind that helps you remember where you left the car keys. The approach has great potential for treating co… Continue reading Memory improved by VR and deep-brain stimulation combo

Ultra-deep fracking for limitless geothermal power is possible: EPFL

The prospect of virtually unlimited clean geothermal power is now substantially brighter. EPFL’s Laboratory of Experimental Rock Mechanics (LEMR) has shown that the semi-plastic, gooey rock at supercritical depths can still be fractured to let water th… Continue reading Ultra-deep fracking for limitless geothermal power is possible: EPFL

Thought-to-text chip smaller than Neuralink achieves 91% accuracy

The brain-machine interface race is on. While Elon Musk’s Neuralink has garnered most of the headlines in this field, a new small and thin chip out of Switzerland makes it look downright clunky by comparison. It also works impressively well.Continue Re… Continue reading Thought-to-text chip smaller than Neuralink achieves 91% accuracy

Edible batteries, sensors and actuators unlock robots designed to be eaten

Imagine ordering drone delivery for your takeout, and then, after eating your food, you eat the delivery drone for dessert. The first part has been happening for a while; the second – the edible robot – could be coming soon, according to scientists fro… Continue reading Edible batteries, sensors and actuators unlock robots designed to be eaten

GPT-4 is 82% more persuasive than humans, and AIs can now read emotions

GPT-4 is already better at changing people’s minds than the average human is, according to new research. The gap widens the more it knows about us – and once it can see us in real time, AI seems likely to become an unprecedented persuasion machine.Cont… Continue reading GPT-4 is 82% more persuasive than humans, and AIs can now read emotions

AI tech takes just minutes to convert GoPro videos into 3D coral reef maps

A new AI-based system allows coral reefs to be 3D-mapped faster and easier than ever before. It could prove integral to saving threatened reefs, by letting scientists study them both onsite and at their computers in their labs.Continue ReadingCategory:… Continue reading AI tech takes just minutes to convert GoPro videos into 3D coral reef maps

MiniTouch lets existing prosthetic hands relay a sense of temperature

There are already a number of experimental prosthetic hands that provide users with the tactile sensation of touching an object. The MiniTouch system takes things further, as it allows users to sense the temperature of items that they’re touching.Conti… Continue reading MiniTouch lets existing prosthetic hands relay a sense of temperature

Attention, multitaskers – scientists create a belly-controlled third arm

There have doubtless been times when you’ve had both hands full, and wished that you had a third arm. Well, scientists have discovered that a robotic third arm can in fact be quite easily controlled via movements of the diaphragm muscle.Continue Readin… Continue reading Attention, multitaskers – scientists create a belly-controlled third arm