To find the right battery molecules, researchers have turned to the power of artificial intelligence to search through a vast chemical space of over a million molecules and optimize for several properties. Bringing new sources of renewable energy like wind and solar power onto the electric grid will require specially designed large batteries that can…

For smokers who are better at math, the decision to quit just adds up, a new study suggests. Researchers found that smokers who scored higher on a test of math ability were more likely than others to say they intended to quit smoking. Researchers found that smokers who scored higher on a test of math…

Deuterium, a heavier but less abundant version of the hydrogen atom, has many practical applications. Unfortunately, producing deuterium and using it to protect silicon-based semiconductors requires a lot of energy and very expensive deuterium gas. Now, scientists have discovered an energy-efficient exchange reaction to swap hydrogen atoms for deuterium on the surface of nanocrystalline silicon.…

Researchers discuss how bad user design is especially detrimental to the underprivileged and how a wider usability movement can help ‘everyone, everywhere.’ Twidale points to the COVID vaccination rollout as one recent example of bad usability. In many places, people have to book their vaccine appointments online, which can be difficult for the especially vulnerable…

When it comes to understanding and predicting trends in energy use, the internet is a tough nut to crack. So say energy researchers in two recent articles that discuss the pitfalls that plague estimates of the internet’s energy and carbon impacts. The paper describes how these errors can lead well-intentioned studies to predict massive energy…

A new machine-learning model that generates realistic seismic waveforms will reduce manual labor and improve earthquake detection, according to a new study. «To verify the e?cacy of our generative model, we applied it to seismic ?eld data collected in Oklahoma,» said Youzuo Lin, a computational scientist in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Geophysics group and principal…

Researchers have discovered a new electronic property at the frontier between the thermal and quantum sciences in a specially engineered metal alloy — and in the process identified a promising material for future devices that could turn heat on and off with the application of a magnetic ‘switch.’ In this material, electrons, which have a…

Artificial intelligence (AI) models that evaluate medical images have potential to speed up and improve accuracy of cancer diagnoses, but they may also be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Researchers simulated an attack that falsified mammogram images, fooling both an AI breast cancer diagnosis model and human breast imaging radiologist experts. The study, published today in Nature…

A novel computer algorithm that could create a broadly reactive influenza vaccine for swine flu also offers a path toward a pan-influenza vaccine and possibly a pan-coronavirus vaccine as well, according to a new paper. «This work takes us a step closer to a pan-swine flu virus vaccine,» said Bette Korber, a computational biologist at…

Researchers discovered a new way to engineer optoelectronic devices by stretching a two-dimensional material on top of a silicon photonic platform. Such new photodetection can advance future communications and computer systems, especially in emerging areas such as machine learning and artificial neural networks. The ever-increasing data demand of modern societies requires a more efficient conversion…