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When it comes to haptic feedback, most technologies are limited to simple vibrations. But our skin is loaded with tiny sensors that detect pressure, vibration, stretching and more. Now, Northwestern University engineers have unveiled a new technology that creates precise movements to mimic these complex sensations.

The study, “Full freedom-of-motion actuators as advanced haptic interfaces,” is published in the journal Science.

While sitting on the skin, the compact, lightweight, wireless device applies force in any direction to generate a variety of sensations, including vibrations, stretching, pressure, sliding and twisting. The device can also combine sensations and operate fast or slowly to simulate a more nuanced, realistic sense of touch.

Throughout the course of their lives, humans are known to establish and navigate an intricate web of social relationships, ranging from friendships to family bonds, romances, acquaintances, professional relationships and, today, online interactions. Over the past decades, some behavioral scientists have been trying to better understand how people make sense of these different types of relationships.

The overall organization and effects on the well-being of different kinds of social relationships has been widely investigated. However, how people conceptualize them (i.e., mentally make sense of different types of bonds) is not yet fully understood.

Researchers at Beijing Normal University carried out a study aimed at better understanding how humans across time and from different cultural backgrounds make sense of their relationships.

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On March 15, a group of researchers revealed some crazy news: using a new type of radar imaging technology, they claimed to have discovered new “internal artificial structures” beneath Egypt’s three Great Pyramids in Giza. The structures supposedly included eight cylinders surrounded by constructs resembling spiral staircases. Does their radar imaging tech actually work? And if so, are those \.