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For applications like robotics, there’s usually a clear division of labor between the processors that control the robot’s body and the actuators that actually control the physical changes of that body. But a new paper being released today blurs…
Enlarge / The output of two optical frequency combs, showing the light appearing at evenly spaced wavelengths.
ESO
AI and machine-learning techniques have become a major focus of everything from cloud computing services to cell phone manufacturers. Unf…
Enlarge / A housewife proudly presents her indispensable Pyrex kitchenware (1955). Ainissa Ramirez tells the story of its invention, and how it molded human behavior in turn, in her book, The Alchemy of Us.
Chaloner Woods/Getty Images
There’s rarely ti…
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Wikimedia Commons
Most of the disposable batteries you’ll come across are technically termed alkaline batteries. They work at high pH and typically use zinc as the charge carrier. Zinc is great because it’s very cheap, can be used to make one o…
Enlarge / An experimental satellite, not made of wood, that was used to test ideas for orbital junk removal.
NASA
We here at Ars were somewhat surprised to stumble across a BBC headline indicating that a university-industry partnership in Japan was wor…
Enlarge / One gate, two behaviors.
Peng Wu et al.
At the moment, our processors are built on silicon. But fundamental limits on what can be done with that material has researchers eyeing ways to use materials that have inherently small features, like n…
Enlarge / The iconic spire collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019.
Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images
On April 15, 2019, the world watched in horror as the roof of the famed Notre Dame cathed…
Enlarge / Workers sort plastic waste as a forklift transports plastic waste at Yongin Recycling Center in Yongin, South Korea.
Bloomberg/Getty Images
A few years back, it looked like plastic recycling was set to become a key part of a sustainable futu…
Enlarge / Equipment including a diamond anvil cell (blue box) and laser arrays in the lab of Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester. Undoubtedly, they cleaned up the typical mess of cables and optical hardware before taking the photo.
In the period…
Enlarge / Layers of phosphorene sheets form black carbon.
Wikimedia Commons
Right now, electric vehicles are limited by the range that their batteries allow. That’s because recharging the vehicles, even under ideal situations, can’t be done as quickly …