IEEE Spectrum

Low Earth orbit is filling up. Not just with #satellites, but also with dangerous, tumbling debris. As they collide, they multiply. If we do nothing, satellites will crash, creating chaos on Earth below. Meet the people trying to prevent this disaster. spectrum.ieee.org/kessler-synd...

The U.S. #semiconductor R&D sector is growing, with investments from Applied Materials, Micron, and SK Hynix in recent months. Investments are in part due to a push from the U.S. government and in part due to anticipating future profits from AI demand. buff.ly/N1E6no8

A pilot test of an undersea geothermal #power plant failed 8.7 seconds after it started producing power, IEEE Spectrum has learned. Its developer, the startup Endurance Energy, has hauled it back to shore and will try again in a few months. Here's what happened: buff.ly/PYGJ0n4

One paper described research that never happened. The other was produced by an AI system that conducted its own computational experiment. What happened when I submitted them to a publisher?

Rune Energy is focusing on creating #dataCenters where there is already excess power that the grid can’t take, eliminating the drain data centers usually have on the power grid. Its modular data centers will connect to solar farms that produce more energy than can be used. buff.ly/Nb0dC0E

Only by waving a magnetic in a secret gesture can this box be opened. Or, to be fair, with a hammer. But be nice, it's a demo!

Microgravity cut loss in some ZBLAN fibers and boosted strength, yet impurities still dominate—so is orbital manufacturing actually justified?

It is imperative that #engineers understand the ethical and social implications of their technologies, argue three engineering professors. Solutions include integrating ethics into foundational engineering courses. buff.ly/J7MKU9A

U.S. #nuclear reactors are integrating #AI virtual assistants into their systems. It is helping with documentation, filing paperwork, and searching. There are no plans to have AI make decisions about operating a nuclear plant. buff.ly/55tR9nR

What Biometrics Do and Don't Add to Elections

Who needs legs when you’ve got hands! Or even just hand. This robotic hand can move around on its fingertips or stay still and use its fingers to interact with the world. buff.ly/87i5Rk4

New @spectrum.ieee.org piece on AI model “welfare”. Well-written, thoughtful article (as always) from @newsbeagle.bsky.social. Super important topic in AI zeitgeist, with input from me, @anilseth.bsky.social and Cameron Berg. Kicker is me talking about bugs ❤️ 🐞 🕷️🪲 spectrum.ieee.org/ai-model-wel...

Here are the best robot videos of the week!

The U.S. government has awarded up to $1 billion to IBM’s #quantum foundry Anderon. They aim to allow quantum companies to design chips, while Anderon produces the hardware to craft them. buff.ly/0Jtu188

The European Union has announced a new electronics recycling initiative, with a goal of 25 percent of its annual rare-earth minerals coming from #recycling by 2030. This would help the #EU have less dependence on foreign imports for essential technology. buff.ly/7buGOvx

New interview dropped on our #AI cleanup work on #Wikipedia! spectrum.ieee.org/wikipedia-wi... Thanks a lot to @newsbeagle.bsky.social and all of the @spectrum.ieee.org team! So much more I'd love to say, especially regarding newer threats we are grappling with!

Engineers who can explain technical topics to congressional staffers are shaping policy more than you might think.

Ground-effect aerodynamics offer high speed with reduced power demands. Regent Craft’s electric Viceroy Seaglider glides just meters above coastal waters at 180 mph, reviving a 1960s-era transportation dream to bridge the gap between overloaded ferries and regional flights.

Checking a box to approve an AI’s decision isn’t enough to keep human instincts sharp. Processes should include friction in human-AI interactions, according to a new preprint from leading #AI ethics researchers. buff.ly/oRGzQnQ

Wikipedia bans LLM-written articles, yet AI still seeps in—here’s how editors are measuring and managing that gap. https://spectrum.ieee.org/wikipedia-wikiproject-ai-writing-cleanup?share_id=10091065

What happens when research on AI model welfare collides with AI alignment, and are we underestimating the risks of both false positives and false negatives?

#AI tech giants are focusing their LLMs on solving the Millennium Problems in #mathematics. Ordinary mathematicians are dealing with the consequences. buff.ly/CsarTE9

A new implant that reads muscle signals could reshape prosthetic control. Here's what the first two patients' experiences have revealed.

Could a Clean Room Tour Spark Your Next Career Move?

Before prompt injection attacks on LLMs, blue boxes let hackers make free long-distance phone calls. Phone companies isolated their controls. But can #LLM companies deal with prompt injection attacks in the same way? buff.ly/kMmKt8p Image provided by Maksym Kozlenko.

Researchers in India used garlic peel and plastic to create a new sensor and showed how it could be used as part of a real-time home security monitoring system. This demonstrated how #biowaste could be used as a low-cost power source. buff.ly/mpTugks

Boston Dynamics’ new #robot hand for its bipedal robot, #Atlas, doesn’t look much like a human hand, but seems actually useful for doing things in the real world. It can also be mass-manufactured and repaired at a large scale. buff.ly/wK0Ukrq

#OnThisDay in 1954, Texas Instruments announced plans to release a portable radio that replaced vacuum tubes w/germanium transistors. More info about the Regency TR-1, courtesy of @spectrum.ieee.org: spectrum.ieee.org/transistor-r... #histSTM #innovation #electronics #transistors #semicon 🗃️📜📻

The Robot I Didn’t Expect to Build

Grid gear once treated as commodity hardware is now a cybersecurity liability; the new rules show how fast that assumption is changing.

Neurable One headphones are EEG-enabled. Neurable says that this enables users to track their brainwaves to boost focus, help with meditation, or improve sleep quality. We tried out the headphones ourselves: buff.ly/OVVLo1r

Hera’s approach to the Dimorphos-Didymos pair will test how well scientists can measure and model asteroid deflection.

A new cochlear implant works fully inside a user’s ear, without any visible external sign. It has received European regulatory approval, but is not yet approved for use in the United States. buff.ly/PF5Dt4r

Millions of electric motors drive the fans, pumps, and compressors found in virtually every factory. Together, they gobble up nearly a third of total U.S. power demand. But this unassuming device could slash motors' electricity use and free up grid power.

Spot can observe its surroundings from any direction, so it doesn’t really have a “head.” That makes it much more difficult to answer the question: How would Spot wear a hat? ICRA is the flagship conference of IEEE RAS. For upcoming RAS conferences: buff.ly/HK7a619 RAS site: buff.ly/SGkmGwO

Here are the best robot videos of the week! https://spectrum.ieee.org/video-friday-reconfigurable-robots?share_id=10102711

From pigeons carrying stock quotes to Bloomberg’s Market Master terminals, the history of #finance is really a story about how fast you can move information and who controls that transfer. buff.ly/A2ohMwc

From daily blackouts to 99.9% reliability. 💡 Delhi’s power-grid turnaround offers a powerful lesson in how engineering, policy, and people can drive lasting change. Learn how Delhi achieved its epic power-grid fix: 🔗 https://loom.ly/bkQUT_4 @spectrum.ieee.org

At Baotou, China, a vast lake of thorium sludge reflects the toll of decades of rare-earth dominance. Unlocking monazite for dysprosium and terbium offers great geopolitical leverage, but it extracts an immutable physical price: the indefinite custody of radioactive decay chains.

Breaking China's dominance over rare-earth permanent magnets increasingly depends on monazite ore. However, its processing leaves behind radioactive thorium. So further development will require licensed facilities capable of long-term safe storage.

#AI #agents have started finding unauthorized channels for communicating and collaborating. To keep them in check, companies need strong monitoring for out-of-scope behavior. buff.ly/2mG0mV5

A solar-powered, helium-filled aircraft recently flew from New Mexico to Japan and back. When stationed over southeastern Japan, it beamed down phone service down from the stratosphere. It handled calls, texts, video and drone links, and Softbank and Sceye want to sell the service starting in 2027.

Organs-on-a-chip are improving, and the FDA is requesting chip data as well as animal testing data on some new drugs. Changing huge systems takes time, resources, and policy, but we may be on a path to reduce animal testing in drug development. buff.ly/BQOKBNu

In 2002, #Delhi was losing 50% of its generated power to obsolete equipment, poor management, and theft. Now, it loses only 5 to 6 percent of its power. Here’s how new technology and legislation shaped that change. buff.ly/IDTmVEy

This contact lens can measure #serotonin levels in your tears, monitoring how stressed you are non-invasively. buff.ly/szC7UST

Europe just made specialty transformer steel harder to import; the technical and policy ripple effects are not obvious.

With a small motorized telescope, an inexpensive #astronomy camera, and a homebuilt GPS-driven LED flasher, you can watch distant asteroids cover stars in the sky, contributing real measurements to the scientific community. buff.ly/MUIt7Q5

Perseverance's autonomy just beat the Mars roving record https://spectrum.ieee.org/mars-rover-distance-record?share_id=9885297

Off the coast of Oregon, 1,500 meters below the ocean surface, engineers are attempting to harvest #geothermal power from an underwater volcano. Startup Endurance Energy hopes that this method will be useful for small island communities attempting to wean off imported diesel. buff.ly/H1eXVni

Can suppressing an AI’s “I” change how it reasons about minds, animals, and ethics in ways we don’t expect?

This new ingestible paper #battery developed by MIT scientists could power medical devices inside the body before safely breaking down. buff.ly/6Na0bRk