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Continue reading “Dubai has taken 3D printing to a whole new level” »

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo designed and built specialized computer hardware consisting of stacks of memory modules arranged in a 3D-spiral for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This research may open the way for the next generation of energy-efficient AI devices.

Machine learning is a type of AI that allows computers to be trained by example data to make predictions for new instances. For example, a smart speaker algorithm like Alexa can learn to understand your voice commands, so it can understand you even when you ask for something for the first time. However, AI tends to require a great deal of electrical energy to train, which raises concerns about adding to climate change.

Now, scientists from the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo have developed a novel design for stacking resistive random-access memory modules with oxide semiconductor (IGZO) access transistor in a three-dimensional spiral. Having on-chip nonvolatile memory placed close to the processors makes the machine learning training process much faster and more energy-efficient. This is because electrical signals have a much shorter distance to travel compared with conventional computer hardware. Stacking multiple layers of circuits is a natural step, since training the algorithm often requires many operations to be run in parallel at the same time.

Continue reading “New Integrated 3D-Circuit Architecture With Spiraling Memory for More Efficient AI” »

Circa 2018 face_with_colon_three

If you don’t like mushrooms, it might be because you haven’t tried them yet in dress or jacket form. Believe it or not, mushrooms can now be fashioned into flexible leather-like clothing, purses, pants, and even durable furniture and building bricks for a cleaner, more sustainable planet. Phil Ross and his team at the San Francisco-based MycoWorks, a group of engineers, designers, and scientists, are developing products inspired by fungi’s lattice-like “roots,” called mycelium. According to the MycoWorks website, mycelium are carbon-negative and can also be naturally dyed any color, so your mushroom dress or house can be bright purple, fuchsia, or Cerulean blue if tan seems too subtle.

According to the website of Italy’s Mogu agency, which specializes in developing and scaling-up a range of mycelium-based technologies for the production of naturally-grown biomaterials and products, mushroom-based fabric can be tweaked to be as hard as enamel and shell-like or as soft and porous as a sponge, depending on the amount of light, humidity, exchange of gas, temperature, and types of “food” the mushroom is given (hemp, straw, etc.), rendering it as the ideal creative material for whatever you envision forging.

Continue reading “Clothing Made Of Mushrooms Might Just Be The Future — And It’s Actually Pretty Cool” »

Washington State University researchers have made a key advance in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that could make the highly energy-efficient and low-polluting technology a more viable alternative to gasoline combustion engines for powering cars.

Led by Ph.D. graduate Qusay Bkour and Professor Su Ha in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, the researchers have developed a unique and inexpensive nanoparticle catalyst that allows the fuel cell to convert logistic liquid fuels such as gasoline to electricity without stalling out during the electrochemical process. The research, featured in the journal, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, could result in highly efficient gasoline-powered cars that produce low carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

“People are very concerned about energy, the environment, and global warming,” said Bkour. “I’m very excited because we can have a solution to the energy problem that also reduces the emissions that cause global warming.”

The search for renewable energy sources, which include wind, solar, hydroelectric dams, geothermal, and biomass, has preoccupied scientists and policymakers alike, due to their enormous potential in the fight against climate change. A new Tel Aviv University study finds that water vapor in the atmosphere may serve as a potential renewable energy source in the future.

The research, led by Prof. Colin Price in collaboration with Prof. Hadas Saaroni and doctoral student Judi Lax, all of TAU’s Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, is based on the discovery that electricity materializes in the interaction between water molecules and metal surfaces. It was published in Scientific Reports on May 6, 2020.

“We sought to capitalize on a naturally occurring phenomenon: electricity from water,” explains Prof. Price. “Electricity in thunderstorms is generated only by water in its different phases— water vapor, water droplets, and ice. Twenty minutes of cloud development is how we get from water droplets to huge electric discharges—lightning—some half a mile in length.”

To advance his vision, last week EIC launched the OPEN100 project, which Kugelmass says will provide open-source blueprints for the design, construction, and financing of a 100-megawatt nuclear reactor. He claims the reactor can be built for $300 million in less than two years, significantly decreasing the per-kilowatt cost of nuclear power.

“Nuclear power isn’t just part of the solution to addressing climate change; it is the solution,” Kugelmass said in a press release. “OPEN100 will radically change the way we deploy nuclear power plants going forward, offering a substantially less expensive and less complicated solution.”

The logic behind the idea is that the biggest barrier to the widespread use of nuclear is the cost of building reactors, which most experts would agree is a major problem for the industry. Kugelmass thinks that’s because we’ve been focused on large, overly complicated reactors that take far too long to build. His solution is to go back to tried and tested pressurized water reactors from the previous century, and bring their cost down even further through standardization and a focus on speedy construction.

Continue reading “The World’s First Open-Source Nuclear Reactor Blueprint Is Coming Online” »

A Bangalore-based company claimed on Sunday that it had used radio frequency waves to lower air pollution over parts of Delhi, surprising sections of scientists who say they have never heard of such technology.

Devic Earth had installed devices that broadcast ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio waves at two sites in the capital, responding to requests from Procam International, the organisers of the Delhi half-marathon, a Devic official said.

Company officials and the organisers have claimed the devices helped lower levels of tiny particulate matter (PM) in the air and served as a protective umbrella for the marathon runners. The devices used on Sunday were paid for by the organisers.

When it comes to electric vehicles, Yamaha’s electric bicycle division has been charging into the future while its electric motorcycle division has been oddly quiet and unproductive — at least outwardly.

But now we’re getting a new look at a series of electric motors that Yamaha has been developing — motors that could rapidly progress Yamaha’s EV efforts.

Continue reading “Yamaha unveils ‘extremely compact’ electric motors for e-motorcycles, cars” »

Solar power, hydrogen fuel from seawater, automatic wingsails, a 6 year journey.

The Energy Observer set sail on a six-year world tour in 2017, testing new technologies, from onboard hydrogen electrolysis to fully-automated sails. It’s hoped the rugged ocean environment will prove the techs’ durability and usefulness at home.

Continue reading “First boat to make its own hydrogen fuel from seawater” »