Copper is a much sought (and much stolen) metal because it powers the proliferation of data centers, electric vehicles, and energy infrastructure.
Copper also forms interconnects, the wires that transfer electricity between the semiconducting transistors that form the basic building blocks of electronic chips.
Incredibly, a state-of-the-art chip can contain over 100 kilometers (62 miles) in copper interconnects.
HD Hyundai Robotics invested 13 billion won ($9.7 million) in AIDIN Robotics on September 11, 2026, securing a stake in the company that makes force and tactile sensors for humanoid hands. HD Hyundai Robotics tactile sensor investment targets shipbuilding and heavy-industry applications, where a robot needs to feel the difference between grinding a weld and damaging the hull. For procurement teams, the signal is clear: the humanoid race is shifting from who can build the best body to who can secure the sensing layer that makes the body useful.
HD Hyundai Robotics tactile sensor investment landed on September 11, 2026, when the shipbuilding giant announced it had acquired a stake in AIDIN Robotics for 13 billion Korean won, roughly $9.7 million. The investment secures core technologies for humanoid robots and strengthens HD Hyundai’s position in the physical AI business, according to the company’s announcement.
The procurement implication is not about the dollar figure. It is about what HD Hyundai bought: the layer of the humanoid stack that most vendors treat as a detail and most buyers never ask about until deployment fails. HD Hyundai Robotics tactile sensor investment is a bet that sensing—not actuation, not locomotion, not AI model size—is the bottleneck that determines whether a humanoid robot can do useful work.
When the ESA Earth observation mission FLEX launches into space on September 15, 2026, as scheduled, it will carry high-precision optical components from Jena, Germany. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF have developed and manufactured a silicon-based doubleslit assembly as well as two high-precision mirrors for the spectrometer on board the satellite. The spectrometer is designed to detect the fluorescence of plants excited by sunlight from Earth’s orbit. The data is expected to provide new insights into the photosynthetic activity, health, and stress levels of vegetation.
The FLEX mission will address the question: How much light do plants emit, and what can this light emission tell us about the health of the plants? At the heart of the satellite will be the “Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer,” or FLORIS for short. Unlike many other spectrometers, FLORIS does not operate with a single light channel but with two: One channel provides particularly high-resolution information on closely adjacent wavelengths, while the second covers a broader range of the light spectrum. This requires an extremely precise dual-slit assembly.
“The fluorescence signals emitted by plants are very weak. For FLORIS to analyze these signals reliably, the optical components must be manufactured and assembled with exceptional precision,” says Dr. Falk Kemper, project manager for the FLEX project at Fraunhofer IOF. “The double slit enables a combination of high spectral resolution and broad spectral coverage. Its fabrication pushed the limits of what is technically feasible.”
Scientists found that the 3D organization of DNA is disrupted in several types of brain cells affected by Alzheimer’s disease, altering how important genes are switched on and off. The discovery reveals a previously underexplored layer of the disease that could open new paths for understanding and eventually treating Alzheimer’s.
The hope, ultimately, is not only to preserve quality of life in patients, but to make radiation therapy more convenient and accessible.
“Instead of 30 to 40 treatments, we can do the treatment in one to five treatments,” said Alexander Lin, a radiation oncologist at Penn and the trial’s lead investigator.
Doctors typically divide a patient’s radiation therapy into dozens of daily treatments over several weeks.
You can’t change the age written on your ID. But what about the age of your body?
A drug designed with the help of artificial intelligence made the blood profiles of people with lung disease look biologically younger, new research reveals.
The result came from six computer models that estimate biological age by examining proteins in the blood. Scientists call them biological aging clocks.
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have revealed heterogeneity among ribosomes. Pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
Is characterized by profound alterations in translation. However, how ribosome heterogeneity.
Contributes to this process remains largely unclear. METHODS: We used translating ribosome affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an artificial intelligence framework that helps researchers use atomic force microscopes to identify important nanoscale features while autonomously targeting the most informative areas of a sample for closer study.
Although atomic force microscopy (AFM) reveals structures as small as molecules, operating the instrument still requires expert judgment about where to scan, how to adjust settings and which features deserve closer study. SimuScan reduces that burden, making AFM faster, more consistent and better suited for high-throughput research.
“Operating an atomic force microscope is a bit like piloting a modern jet,” said Liam Collins, an ORNL senior R&D scientist at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS). “The hardware has incredible capability, but making full use of it often requires an experienced pilot.” That reliance on specialized expertise slows large-scale studies and makes results more dependent on individual users.
