Controlled Environments

For decades, the Nyquist-Shannon theorem—a foundational principle of signal processing—dictated that fully sampling a signal at or above twice its highest frequency was essential for capturing critical information. Now, a Pennsylvania startup called Lightscline suggests we may be entering a “post-Nyquist era.” According to a recent Nature Scientific Reports paper, the company’s neural-network-based software, inspired…

Sandia National Laboratories has partnered with leading research institutions to tackle a potential energy crisis driven by the increasing energy demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies. Jeffrey Nelson, a principal investigator at Sandia, highlighted the issue’s urgency: “Computing alone is projected to consume a significant portion of the total planetary energy production…

Stretchable, wearable gadgets took a significant stride in 2024, thanks to a flurry of breakthroughs that could make soft, body-conformable electronics and power sources a reality. Researchers worldwide have unveiled improvements in flexible, high-precision sensors and displays, while engineers in China revealed a self-healing, stretchable lithium-ion battery that could power next-generation wearables. Meanwhile, LG Display…

Working smarter, not harder has long been a corporate catchphrase, but it has taken on newfound importance in critical environment control. While traditional methods have relied on brute-force measures like continuously blasting high volumes of conditioned air to maintain adherence to cleanroom standards, that method has clear drawbacks. “Previously, especially 20–30 years ago, controlling a…

The life sciences and analytical instruments industry has been on a roller coaster for the past several years. When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, businesses rapidly expanded to meet the moment. But four years later, the market is decidedly unusual, for lack of a better term. Many analytical instruments organizations are rife with…

Picture a nuclear-powered surgical robot targeting glioblastoma. Or imagine hijacking a botfly larva to perform delicate internal interventions. These scenarios may sound far out, but Endiatx CEO Torrey Smith talks about them as if describing an ambitious home improvement project — challenging but entirely feasible with the right approach and tools. Though these scenarios sound…

If you read much about AI, you’ve likely noticed the growing number of models capable of “reasoning” and acting autonomously. This isn’t just about chatbots; it’s transforming scientific discovery. Google DeepMind recently launched a 15-day weather forecasting agent, bringing new levels of accuracy to complex atmospheric modeling. OpenAI’s latest reasoning model, o1, has demonstrated potential…

As many as 2.1 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2030, according to an influential 2021 projection from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growth rate of 0.1% from 2023 to 2030, yielding only 110,000 projected new jobs, resulting in a potential overall change from 12.9 million…

The relentless demand for faster, smaller and more efficient electronic devices is finally pushing existing silicon technology to its physical limits. Decades of phenomenal innovation have largely delivered the prophesy of Moore’s Law, which predicts that the number of transistors that can be crammed onto a silicon chip should double every two years, but there…

In many respects, 2024 was a year of building upon the foundations laid by previous technological and scientific advances. While AI continued to evolve at a rapid clip, progress was in many ways more incremental than last year when GPT-4 redefined expectations for genAI. But AI continues to make definable improvements across a range of…

In 1959, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” redefined what was possible in jazz. Its unprecedented chord progression (later known as “Coltrane changes”) and relentless tempo pushed boundaries, challenging even seasoned musicians like Tommy Flanagan. The track eventually developed a reputation for being the “most feared song in jazz” for its fiendishly difficult improvisational demands. Today, genomics…

Physicists at MIT have directly imaged the frictionless flow of atoms along the edges of a material, confirming long-held theories about electron behavior in the quantum Hall effect. By recreating the effect’s conditions with ultracold atoms, the team observed these particles effortlessly navigating around obstacles, defying everyday experience with friction. In the everyday world, friction is…

Researchers from Peking University and the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have developed a novel method to generate multiple vortex beams of light simultaneously, potentially benefitting terahertz communication devices. The research, published in the journal Light: Advanced Manufacturing, introduces a new approach using metasurfaces to create “orbital angular momentum (OAM) combs” in the…

Imagine a world without smartphones or where modern cancer treatments and mRNA vaccines are just a dream, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope never left the ground. What about a world without pacemakers, where nanotechnology research was impractical, and high-precision camera lenses were so riddled with defects they were, well, not high precision. That would…

For six decades, the R&D 100 Awards have been a benchmark of achievement in science and technology, often referred to informally as “The Oscars of Innovation.” This year, we’re offering a new interactive experience, allowing you to explore the remarkable work of both winners and finalists across diverse fields. From advances in mechanical and material…

NTT Research is playing the long game, tackling challenges that others shy away from. While many R&D labs focus on a relatively near-term ROI for research, NTT is more patient, taking a page from storied labs like Bell Labs and Xerox PARC that prioritize bigger, riskier but potentially more transformative bets. Its website declares: “Our…

Advent Diamond, a diamond semiconductor technology, has announced the release of the ClearXCam 2304, a novel X-ray beam monitoring technology. Traditionally, diamond has been employed for X-ray beam monitoring with four-quadrant monitors. The new ClearXCam 2304, however, delivers 2304-pixel images of X-ray beams in real-time, thanks to video-rate imaging. According to Advent Diamond, the new…

Los Alamos National Laboratory and OpenAI are joining forces to conduct the world’s first real-world evaluation of AI’s potential role in biological threats. The partnership between OpenAI and Los Alamos goes beyond previous text-based assessments of AI in biological contexts. OpenAI highlighted two aspects that set this research apart, noting the “research will involve real…

As the world rapidly adopts 5G technology, with nearly 1.5 billion global subscriptions by the end of 2023, researchers are already rushingi to develop 6G, the next evolution of mobile networks. While China and the U.S. lead in terms of 6G patents, South Korean scientists remain a strong contender in the global race for 6G…

One of the technological hurdles limiting the future of wireless technology is the reliance on bulky, power-hungry radio frequency processors. These processors require an unwieldy blend of piezoelectric- and transistor-based components, which add bulk and sap valuable energy. But a promising study published in Nature Materials offers a potential solution in phononics, a field of study that harnesses…

Scientists from the Advanced Photonics Research Institute at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in Korea and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics at the University of Maryland have created the world’s strongest terahertz fields of 260 megavolts per centimeter (MV/cm) or equivalent peak intensity of 9 × 1013 watts per…

From the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory The newly upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory successfully produced its first X-rays, and researchers around the world are already lined up to kick off an ambitious science program. The upgrade, called LCLS-II, creates unparalleled capabilities…

Q-CTRL, a developer of useful quantum technologies through quantum control infrastructure software, introduces its quantum sensing division, which has become one of the largest in the world. The team will showcase its capabilities publicly for the first time at the Army Quantum Technology Challenge (QTC) in Adelaide on August 10 and 11. Q-CTRL is delivering…

OmniVision’s OH0TA OVMed medical image sensor is the world’s smallest commercially available image sensor. With a package size of just 0.55 mm x 0.55 mm, featuring a 1.0-micron pixel and a 1/31 optical format, it is smaller than the Guinness World Record held by its predecessor and quadruples resolution and provides wafer-level optics in a…

UniFlow SE FM Fume Hoods are designed for synthesis, distillation and other rack type operations where tall apparatus is used, or equipment is rolled into the work area. Full 70-in. viewing height for ease of access and unobstructed view of fume chamber. Chamber sizes include 48, 60, 72, 96, and 120 in. and depths of…