Innovation

An international team of researchers lead by Stanford University has developed rechargeable batteries that can store up to six times the charge of commercially available batteries. The breakthrough, described in a new paper published on August 25 in the journal Nature, could accelerate the use of rechargeable batteries and bring battery researchers one step closer to achieving two top stated goals of their field: developing a high-performance rechargeable battery that could allow smart phones to be charged only once a week rather than daily and developing electric vehicles that can…

Waymo revealed plans to construct a center for its self-driving semi-trailer vehicles on a nine-acre property near Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The Alphabet-owned firm also announced a fleet management partnership with rental truck giant Ryder as it seeks to expand its delivery and logistics operations.   The South Dallas hub will serve as Waymo’s “main operations center” in the state for its fleet of self-driving trucks. The center will be created to handle “hundreds of trucks and employees” as Waymo moves closer to establishing a full-scale freight-hauling operation using its fully…

Mandiant researchers discovered a security flaw in IoT devices that use the ThroughTek “Kalay” network. FireEye’s parent business has released a blog description of the team’s work in discovering the threat, which outlines how customers may defend themselves. ThroughTek has also issued a security advisory regarding the vulnerability on its website. Working with a team at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which has also released an alert on its website warning users of the vulnerability, the Mandiant team discovered that users of certain Internet of Things (IoT) devices…

A team of researchers has created the world’s first soft robot chameleon that can change colors in real-time to fit its surroundings At Seoul National University. Nature Communications released an article on the group’s multi-layer skin design and its potential applications. To build their robot, the researchers began with a skin layer comprised of liquid ink that could be manipulated to change color by adding a little bit of heat to the material. As a result, the particles in the ink formed helical shapes that reflected certain wavelengths of light….

The world has to be ready to witness faster-flying drones, says a team of researchers at MIT after they devised an algorithm that helps drones find the fastest route around obstacles without crashing. It combines the simulations of drones flying in a virtual space and the data from examinations of a real drone flying through the same course in a real space. The new algorithm trains the drone to fly through obstacles at a speed of 20 percent faster than the conventional one. “At high speeds, there is intricate aerodynamics…