Computer model helps make sense of human memory
Researchers have created an artificial network to simulate the brain, demonstrating that tinkering with inhibitory circuits leads to extended memory.
Read moreComputers and Internet
Next-generation single-photon source for quantum information science
Researchers have built what they believe is 'the world's most efficient single-photon source.' And they are still improving it. With planned upgrades, the apparatus could generate upwards of 30 photons at unprecedented efficiencies. Sources of that caliber are precisely what's needed for optical quantum information applications.
Read moreAddictive de-vices: How we can unplug from this 21st century epidemic
We spend our days looking at them, talking to them, and touching them. They increasingly consume our time, attention and money. We are addicted to our digital devices — or, more precisely, the digital experiences they give us. A study analyzed the growing problem with digital addiction and how marketers as well as app developers contribute to this 21st-century phenomenon.
Read moreKeeping cool with quantum wells
A research team has invented a semiconductor quantum well system that can efficiently cool electronic devices using established fabrication methods. This work can allow for smaller and faster smart devices that consume less power.
Read moreMachine learning predicts behavior of biological circuits
Biomedical engineers have devised a machine learning approach to modeling the interactions between complex variables in engineered bacteria that would otherwise be too cumbersome to predict. Their algorithms are generalizable to many kinds of biological systems.
Read moreTunable optical chip paves way for new quantum devices
Researchers have created a silicon carbide (SiC) photonic integrated chip that can be thermally tuned by applying an electric signal. The approach could one day be used to create a large range of reconfigurable devices such as phase-shifters and tunable optical couplers needed for networking applications and quantum information processing.
Read moreSwimming toward an 'internet of health'?
In recent years, the seemingly inevitable 'internet of things' has attracted considerable attention: the idea that in the future, everything in the physical world — machines, objects, people — will be connected to the internet. Drawing on lessons learned from studies on a variety of marine animals outfitted with sensors, researchers in a new perspective article describe how an 'internet of health' could revolutionize human medicine.
Read moreObject identification and interaction with a smartphone knock
Scientists have developed new technology, dubbed 'Knocker', which identifies objects and executes actions just by knocking on them with the smartphone. Software powered by machine learning of sounds, vibrations, and other reactions will follow the users' directions.
Read more2000 atoms in two places at once
The quantum superposition principle has been tested on a scale as never before in a new study. Hot, complex molecules composed of nearly two thousand atoms were brought into a quantum superposition and made to interfere. By confirming this phenomenon — 'the heart of quantum mechanics', in Richard Feynman's words — on a new mass scale, improved constraints on alternative theories to quantum mechanics have been placed.
Read moreSmartphone typing speeds catching up with keyboards
The largest experiment to date on mobile typing sheds new light on average performance of touchscreen typing and factors impacting the text input speed. Researchers analyzed the typing speed of tens of thousands of users on both phones and computers. Their main finding is that typing speeds on smartphones are now catching up with physical keyboards.
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