invent

Researchers created an energy-efficient electric motor actuator, using springs and clutches to slash energy use in dynamic tasks, offering up to 97% efficiency improvement and potential applications in robotics and assistive devices. Energy-recycling actuator prototype. Credit: Erez KrimskyResearchers at Stanford have developed a spring-assisted actuator, a device that can accomplish dynamic tasks using a fraction of the energy previously required.Whether it’s a powered prosthesis to assist a person who has lost a limb or…

As the world's population continues to grow, so too does the strain on the environment. Not least among the stressors is food production, especially the vast swathes of land and water required for the cultivation of livestock.It's still in its infancy, but lab-cultured meat could be one means of easing the pressure – and Korean scientists have just found an innovative way to make it. They've invented a new hybrid food, consisting of cells of bovine fat and muscle grown inside grains of rice.The result resembles a strange…

From smartphones to supercomputers, electronics have a heat problem. Modern computer chips suffer from microscopic “hotspots” with power density levels that exceed those of rocket nozzles and even approach that of the sun’s surface. Because of this, more than half the total electricity burned at U.S. data centers isn’t used for computing but for cooling. And many promising new technologies—such as 3-D-stacked chips and renewable energy systems—are blocked from reaching their full potential by errant heat that diminishes a…

The AWS re: Invent 2023 conference was a melting pot of innovation, especially in the field of generative AI. This year, the event spotlighted groundbreaking services like Amazon Bedrock and the AWS Titan Image Generator. Amazon Bedrock, available since October 2023, is reshaping how generative AI applications are developed, offering access to leading foundation models. Its latest capabilities enable more tailored responses and multi-step task execution. Similarly, the AWS Titan Image Generator, a feature exclusive to…

AI cannot be named on a patent as the inventor of a new idea or product, said the UK’s top court in a ruling that raises existential questions about our relationship with ever-more intelligent machines. Handing down the judgment on Wednesday, Lord Kitchin said: “We conclude that an ‘inventor’ must be a natural person. Only a person can devise an invention.” The case was first heard back in 2018 by Imagination Engines founder Stephen Thaler, who sought patents naming his AI machine DABUS as the…

After a year of generative AI taking the world by storm, it’s clear artificial intelligence is here for good and will change the way we interact with technology. Just hours ago, I asked ChatGPT Plus to make me a list of every European marathon event in chronological order and make the entries hosting semi-marathon races bold. It failed twice, as the task was too big for GPT-4.We then settled on doing just January. This time, it worked. The list was done in a few seconds.These are trivial endeavors, of course, but…

Re: Invent 2023 has been wrapped up. Before we start preparing for the 2024 edition let me recap the announcements I was most excited about. Here is my favorite list, in no particular order 1. Amazon Elasticache Serverless As architects and developers, we love to get into database scalability discussions and right-sizing our database clusters. I know I do, especially when it comes to Redis, one of my favorite databases! But, with the recently announced serverless option for ElastiCache, we may not have to do all that. I…

Crack open just about any textbook dealing with medicine or science, and you'll see a lot of the same when it comes to the human anatomy illustrations: often white male bodies, usually very physically fit, absent tattoos, piercings or prosthetics. A duo of professors working in kinesiology and anatomy — including one from the University of Windsor — is hoping to change that by creating a new series of anatomy images. "The standard images that you see in textbooks don't really show the racial diversity that … I see, when I…

And it probably won't eliminate truly creative jobs In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group of artists and writers stayed at a run-down hotel in Paris that came to be known as the The Beat Hotel. Their proximity to one another produced some incredibly creative artistic cross-pollination. The Beat-generation creatives living there were experimenting with drugs, sex and creativity, and setting the stage for the countercultural revolution that came later. One artist living at the…

A prototype of the battery at TU Wien. Credit: TU WienResearchers at TU Wien (Vienna) have developed a groundbreaking oxygen-ion battery, which boasts exceptional durability, eliminates the need for rare elements, and solves the problem of fire hazards.Lithium-ion batteries, while commonplace in today’s world – powering everything from electric vehicles to smartphones – aren’t necessarily the optimal solution for all applications. Researchers at TU Wien have made a breakthrough by creating an oxygen-ion battery that…