MIT engineers developed a ping-pong-playing robot that quickly estimates the speed and trajectory of an incoming ball and precisely hits it to a desired location on the table.

As the world grapples with climate change, the shift toward sustainable transportation has become imperative. Electric vehicles (EVs) are at the forefront of this transition, offering cleaner and more efficient alternatives to fossil fuel-powered cars. However, the widespread adoption of EVs faces challenges, particularly in charging infrastructure. Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology presents a promising solution, eliminating the need for physical connectors and enabling seamless charging. Among WPT methods, inductive power transfer (IPT) stands out due to its reliability and efficiency. This study focuses on optimizing circular coils with ferrite cores to enhance IPT efficiency for EVs, addressing critical limitations such as misalignment tolerance and electromagnetic field (EMF) dispersion. 

Technology is being pushed to its very limits. The upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN slated for the next few years will increase data transfer rates beyond what the current neutrino detector for the FASER experiment can cope with, requiring it to be replaced by a new kind of more powerful detector. This is a task that physicist Professor Matthias Schott from the University of Bonn will be tackling with the help of €1 million in Reinhart Koselleck funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In a research paper, scientists from the Tsinghua University proposed a novel enhanced Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing technology, capable of printing composite magnetic structures with different material sin a single step. Furthermore, a soft robot with a hard magnetic material-superparamagnetic material composite was designed and printed.

Nitrous oxide is known as the gas used in whipped cream cartridges or as an anaesthetic in hospitals. But it’s much more than that. This potent greenhouse gas is also released from biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), posing a real threat to our climate. PhD student Nina Roothans (University of Technology, Delft The Netherlands), who recently graduated cum laude, has identified practical strategies to reduce nitrous oxide emissions. Her groundbreaking work has now been published in Nature Water.

What makes people think an AI system is creative? New research shows that it depends on how much they see of the creative act. The findings have implications for how we research and design creative AI systems, and they also raise fundamental questions about how we perceive creativity in other people.