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1. AI IS TAUGHT PHYSICS TO WORK ON METAMATERIALS
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A metamaterial is a material that is engineered artificially with properties laying beyond any natural materials. Metamaterials can be made from assemblies and various compositions of existing materials such as metals and plastics.
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Scientists at Duke University (private research facility in Durham, North Carolina) are teaching artificial mind with known physics. Among their priorities are making learning algorithms more transparent in working on metamaterials.
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It is one of the first efforts to have an insight into possible characteristics of metamaterials and to predict how they interact with electromagnetic fields. Potential applications of metamaterials are multivariant and range from medical devices and remote aerospace applications to smart solar power management and earthquake shelter structures.
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Machine learning algorithm is now working on physical restrictions of the metamaterials. The method is suggested to predict the metamaterial properties with higher accuracy, as well as to provide deeper insights into new technology.
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2. A DEVICE HARVESTING SOLAR ENERGY AT NIGHT
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In the daytime, solar power greatly warms the earth’s surface, but when the sun goes away, that heat is lost into the atmosphere. The latest breakthrough in thermal capture method lets us collect the sun's energy even in the middle of the night.
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Australian inventors from the University of New South Wales’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering have developed a device that collects power from heat radiation using technology similar to night-vision goggles.
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The team, reinforced which scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, came up with a “thermo-radiative diode,” which can convert infrared heat into electrical power. Though the amount of energy produced by the new device is now insignificant, the same can't be said for proof of concept.
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3. MIND READING MADE POSSIBLE? AMPUTEES CAN CONTROL ROBOTIC ARM WITH A THOUGHT
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Researchers at the Biomedical Engineering Department of the University of Minnesota have developed a smart tiny implant that connects to the peripheral nerve in the arm of a patient. Coupled with a robotic arm and an AI algorithm, the technology can decode brain impulses. It allows upper limb amputees to operate a robotic arm with their thoughts rather than their muscles.
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This new technology is more precise and less intrusive than prosthetic limbs controlled by the shoulders or chest using the system of harness and wire. There are more sophisticated models that use sensors to detect small muscle contractions in a natural limb above the prosthetic. Both current technologies, however, present a serious challenge for amputees in order to learn how to use them and sometimes are unhelpful. New models can change that.
