Recent advances in quantum computers may soon give hackers access to machines powerful enough to crack even the toughest of standard internet security codes. With these codes broken, all of our online data — from medical records to bank transactions — could be vulnerable to attack. To fight back against the future threat, researchers are […]
Helping Robots Learn to See in 3-D
Autonomous robots can inspect nuclear power plants, clean up oil spills in the ocean, accompany fighter planes into combat and explore the surface of Mars. Yet for all their talents, robots still can’t make a cup of tea. That’s because tasks such as turning the stove on, fetching the kettle and finding the milk and […]
Printed Sensors Monitor Tire Wear In Real Time
Electrical engineers at Duke University have invented an inexpensive printed sensor that can monitor the tread of car tires in real time, warning drivers when the rubber meeting the road has grown dangerously thin. If adopted, the device will increase safety, improve vehicle performance and reduce fuel consumption. The group hopes that the tire wear […]
Gold-Plated Crystals Set New Standard for Natural Gas Detectors
Materials scientists and engineers have developed a sensor that is fast, sensitive and efficient enough to detect specific wavelengths of electromagnetic energy while on the move. The technology could actively scan areas for methane or natural gas leaks, monitor the health of vast fields of crops or quickly sort plastics for recycling. Working closely with […]
Absorbing Electromagnetic Energy While Avoiding the Heat
Electrical engineers at Duke University have created the world’s first electromagnetic metamaterial made without any metal. The device’s ability to absorb electromagnetic energy without heating up has direct applications in imaging, sensing and lighting. Metamaterials are synthetic materials composed of many individual, engineered features that together produce properties not found in nature. Imagine an electromagnetic […]
Turning Your Living Room into a Wireless Charging Station
The flat-screen TV on your living room wall could soon be remotely charging any device within its line of sight. Well, not your actual TV, but a device that is similar in size and shape. In a paper posted October 23, 2016 on the arXiv pre-print repository, engineers at Duke University, the University of Washington […]
Tenfold Jump in Green Tech Needed to Meet Global Emissions Targets
The global spread of green technologies must quicken significantly to avoid future rebounds in greenhouse gas emissions, a new Duke University study shows. “Based on our calculations, we won’t meet the climate warming goals set by the Paris Agreement unless we speed up the spread of clean technology by a full order of magnitude, or […]
Lego-Like Wall Produces Acoustic Holograms
Research Triangle engineers have developed a simple, energy-efficient way to create three-dimensional acoustic holograms. The technique could revolutionize applications ranging from home stereo systems to medical ultrasound devices. Most everyone is familiar with the concept of visual holograms, which manipulate light to make it appear as though a 3-D object is sitting in empty space. […]
Holographic Imaging And Deep Learning Diagnose Malaria
Duke researchers have devised a computerized method to autonomously and quickly diagnose malaria with clinically relevant accuracy — a crucial step to successfully treating the disease and halting its spread. In 2015 alone, malaria infected 214 million people worldwide, killing an estimated 438,000. While Western medicine can spot malaria with near-perfect accuracy, it can be […]
Appalachian Coal Ash Richest in Rare Earth Elements
A study of the content of rare earth elements in U.S. coal ashes shows that coal mined from the Appalachian Mountains could be the proverbial golden goose for hard-to-find materials critical to clean energy and other emerging technologies. In the wake of a 2014 coal ash spill into North Carolina’s Dan River from a ruptured […]