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Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 506

Sep 18, 2018

Generative Design in Architecture and Construction Will Pave the Way to Productivity

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, transportation

In the new era of generative design in architecture, engineering, and construction, designers and builders will use computers not just to describe buildings, but cocreate them.

Before GPS, if you got lost while driving your car, you had to swallow your pride and stop to ask for directions. With the help of the innate intelligence of Google Maps or Waze, you can let a machine compute the best route so you can concentrate on what’s really important—driving.

In the case of architects, engineers, and contractors, their computers will help navigate the design and construction process, so they can focus on making successful projects and great buildings as a result.

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Sep 18, 2018

Designing smarter cities using computer game thinking

Posted by in categories: computing, transportation

Dr. Willem-Jan Renger, head of the Innovation Studio at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, is driving citizen engagement in smart city planning using methods generally seen in computer game creation, as part of an international consortium of cities, IRIS.

Why do we need to engage citizens in urban planning?

The most important thing to know [when planning a city] is what do citizens want… What do they need? If we start talking to people, they bring key concerns that they have on their level to the table. One such concern in Utrecht was there’s some street racing going on and some nasty incidents. When we were dealing with issues that the citizens had put forward, traffic safety was something we considered combining with smart street lighting solutions by creating some clever combinations to help pedestrians to cross the street, for example, or give cars feedback on the basis of their driving.

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Sep 15, 2018

Scientists: World’s warming; expect more intense hurricanes

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, sustainability

WASHINGTON (AP) — A warmer world makes for nastier hurricanes. Scientists say they are wetter, possess more energy and intensify faster.

Their storm surges are more destructive because climate change has already made the seas rise. And lately, the storms seem to be stalling more often and thus dumping more rain.

Study after study shows that climate change in general makes hurricanes worse. But determining the role of global warming in a specific storm such as Hurricane Florence or Typhoon Mangkhut is not so simple — at least not without detailed statistical and computer analyses.

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Sep 14, 2018

New photonic chip promises more robust quantum computers

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Scientists have developed a topological photonic chip to process quantum information, promising a more robust option for scalable quantum computers.

The research team, led by RMIT University’s Dr. Alberto Peruzzo, has for the first time demonstrated that can be encoded, processed and transferred at a distance with topological circuits on the chip. The research is published in Science Advances.

The breakthrough could lead to the development of new materials, new generation computers and deeper understandings of fundamental science.

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Sep 13, 2018

Scientists discover a ‘tuneable’ novel quantum state of matter

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum physics

Quantum particles can be difficult to characterize, and almost impossible to control if they strongly interact with each other—until now.

An international team of researchers led by Princeton physicist Zahid Hasan has discovered a state of matter that can be “tuned” at will—and it’s 10 times more tuneable than existing theories can explain. This level of manipulability opens enormous possibilities for next-generation nanotechnologies and quantum computing.

“We found a new control knob for the quantum topological world,” said Hasan, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics. “We expect this is tip of the iceberg. There will be a new subfield of materials or physics grown out of this. … This would be a fantastic playground for nanoscale engineering.”

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Sep 12, 2018

It’s Now Possible To Telepathically Communicate with a Drone Swarm

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, neuroscience

You can now control and communicate drone swarms using your mind!


DARPA’s new research in brain-computer interfaces is allowing a pilot to control multiple simulated aircraft at once.

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Sep 12, 2018

New high-capacity sodium-ion could replace lithium in rechargeable batteries

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones, sustainability, transportation

University of Birmingham scientists are paving the way to swap the lithium in lithium-ion batteries with sodium, according to research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are rechargeable and are widely used in laptops, mobile phones and in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. The electric vehicle is a crucial technology for fighting pollution in cities and realising an era of clean sustainable transport.

However is expensive and resources are unevenly distributed across the planet. Large amounts of drinking water are used in lithium extraction and extraction techniques are becoming more energy intensive as lithium demand rises – an ‘own goal’ in terms of sustainability.

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Sep 11, 2018

Using 82 Terawatts of solar and wind to Green the Sahara as a side effect would cost at least $82 trillion

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, solar power, sustainability

$82 Trillion to convert a desert to land that could grow crops to help feed the world…is it worth it?


Researchers simulated the effects of around 79 terawatts of solar panels and 3 terawatts of wind turbines. Computer modeling looked at the effect of covering 20 percent of the largest desert on the planet in solar panels and installing three million wind turbines.

There would be 16X the rain in the aridest parts of the Sahara, and double that of the Sahel.

Continue reading “Using 82 Terawatts of solar and wind to Green the Sahara as a side effect would cost at least $82 trillion” »

Sep 7, 2018

DARPA’s New Brain Chip Enables Telepathic Control of Drone Swarms

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, military, neuroscience

The US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created a brain-computer interface that enables a person to control everything from a swarm of drones to an advanced fighter jet using nothing but their thoughts and a special brain chip.

Life imitates art, in defense tech no less than in society. In the 1982 techno-thriller film “Firefox,” Clint Eastwood steals a fictional Soviet fighter jet called the “MiG-31 Firefox,” a Mach 6-capable stealth fighter he piloted with his thoughts. But now in 2018, the US military has gone even further: you can control a whole group of drones or fighter jets with your thoughts.

A F-22 Raptor fighter jet of the 95th Fighter Squadron from Tyndall, Florida approaches a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at the Royal Air Force Base in Mildenhall in Britain as they fly over the Baltic Sea towards the newly established NATO airbase of Aemari, Estonia September 4, 2015.

Continue reading “DARPA’s New Brain Chip Enables Telepathic Control of Drone Swarms” »

Sep 7, 2018

Adding clean energy to the Sahara could make it rain (and not just figuratively)

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, solar power, sustainability

Think of the Sahara, with its windswept dunes shining in the sunlight. Some people might see barren land, with minimal water or life and scorching temperatures. Others see a potential solution to a looming energy crisis, and one that could potentially make it rain in one of the largest deserts in the world.

In a paper published this week in Science researchers found that by building out huge wind and solar farms across the desert, they could not only provide a stunning amount of power to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, but they could simultaneously change the climate—increasing heat, but also increasing precipitation and vegetation in areas that could sorely use the added greenery. They estimate that such a venture could double the rainfall in the region, and increase vegetation cover by about 20 percent.

How much green are we talking? The Sahara covers 3.55 million square miles (9.2 million square kilometers). In the study, the researchers ran computer models that placed wind turbines across the desert close to a mile apart, and covered 20 percent of the desert with solar panels in different configurations (sometimes the panels were spread across the desert in a checkerboard pattern, and in other cases were concentrated in quadrants). Smaller coverage produced smaller climate impacts—in this case, less precipitation—but much of it depended on the location of the turbines and panels as well. For example, installing panels in the northwest corner had a larger impact than the other three desert options.

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