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Innovations

Recent Innovations Stories

Tomatoes grow in clusters, with stems and leaves that confuse harvest robots. Osaka Metropolitan University’s Takuya Fujinaga developed a system that estimates how likely a successful pick will be, then chooses the best approach direction. In tests, the model helped robots reach an 81% success rate, with many wins coming after the robot switched from a failed front approach to a side approach. The work points to a future where robots handle easy picks and humans tackle the toughest fruit.
New research shows robots can predict harvest success and change approach angles, reaching an 81% tomato-picking success rate.
Joshua Shavitupda
InnovationsDevice smaller than a grain of dust looks to supercharge quantum computersShy Cohen
The members of the BEC team at Columbia, from left to right: associate research scientist Ian Stevenson, doctoral student Niccolò Bigagli, doctoral student Weijun Yuan, undergraduate student Boris Bulatovic, doctoral student Siwei Zhang, and principal investigator Sebastian Will.
InnovationsScientists create Bose-Einstein condensate leading to a new fifth state of matterJoshua Shavit
This is a graph of recorded temperatures (left) and a model of temperatures (right) around the globe for a fixed latitude over time.
AINew AI system helps scientists understand complex systems that change over timeShy Cohen
Engineers at UC San Diego have created a water based, spray on polymer that coats plant leaves, kills harmful bacteria and even helps plants withstand short droughts. By triggering whole plant defenses from a small treated area, the gas permeable polynorbornene coating could become a powerful, plant friendly tool to protect crops in a warming, more disease prone world.
Green ImpactSpray on polymer shield helps plants fight bacteria and survive droughtJoshua Shavit
Artistic impression of the Electrostatic Tractor during an Earth encounter.
SpaceScientists build an electrostatic ‘tractor beam’ to move space junk safelyShy Cohen
Archaeologists at the University of Copenhagen used AI, Unreal Engine and YouTube tutorials to build a low cost 3D game that lets you wander a real Neolithic burial site and talk with an AI driven Stone Age woman and archaeologist in real time.
AIAI helps archaeologists build low-cost stone age video games in daysShy Cohen
Researchers developed an AI system that anticipates pedestrian behavior before it happens
AIOmniPredict AI can help cars accurately predict pedestrian behaviorsShy Cohen
Living fungi grow a self-assembling hydrogel that mimics human tissue.
HealthLiving hydrogel grown by fungi could revolutionize wound healingMac Oliveau
From left: Software engineer Kevin Yi Chen and PhD candidate Lara Alexander, members of the multidisciplinary PainWaive team, speak with Prof. Sylvia Gustin.
HealthBrain training game shows early promise for treating chronic pain without drugsRebecca Shavit
Scientists demonstrated quantum teleportation over fiber-optic cables carrying live internet data, opening a path to real-world quantum networks.
InnovationsGlobal first: Scientists teleport quantum information through active fiber-optic networksShy Cohen
Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation has patented a modular spacecraft that uses rotation to generate artificial gravity, a step that could reshape long-duration human spaceflight.
SpaceRussia patents a modular spacecraft designed to create artificial gravityJoshua Shavit
Researchers in Japan have created silver based atomic switches that trap an acetylene molecule between metal atoms and let it carry current. The junctions form at about 0.3 volts and show clear molecular vibrations and quantized conductance, pointing toward scalable molecular electronics that could shrink future circuits to the size of single molecules.
InnovationsScientists use atomic switches to reliably connect individual molecules to electrodesJoshua Shavit
In a new study, Oxford engineers unveil air powered soft robots built from modular fluidic units. These brain free machines can hop, crawl, sort objects and avoid edges without electronics or software, hinting at a future where robot bodies handle much of the thinking.
InnovationsAir-powered soft robots think, sense and move with no electronicsShy Cohen
A University of Virginia team has redesigned the common biomedical polymer PEG into a soft, stretchable and 3D-printable material that stays friendly to living cells and even conducts ions, opening new paths for artificial organs, soft implants and flexible solid state batteries.
HealthNew 3D-printable material brings artificial organs one step closerMac Oliveau
AINew memory structure helps AI models think longer and faster without using more powerShy Cohen
New research shows magnetic cloaks can be built for real-world shapes using superconductors and soft magnets.
InnovationsScientists bend magnetic fields around real-world objects to create ‘invisibility cloaks’Joshua Shavit