Science X Newsletter Thu, Dec 14

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for December 14, 2023:

Technology news

	Gathering more effective human demonstrations to teach robots new skills To effectively assist humans in real-world settings, robots should be able to learn new skills and adapt their actions based on what users require them to do at different times. One way to achieve this would be to design computational approaches that allow robots to learn from human demonstrations, for instance observing videos of a person washing dishes and learning to repeat the same sequence of actions.
	Silicon heterojunction solar cells with 26.4% efficiencies fabricated using scalable deposition techniques Solar technologies are helping to reduce carbon emissions and are set to continue contributing to the mitigation of climate change. One type of solar technology found to be promising for future photovoltaic applications is silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells.
	Best of Last Year: The top Tech Xplore articles of 2023 It was a good year for technology research and development, and nothing made the news more often than energy research efforts. Leading the way were efforts surrounding the use and development of solar energy.
	2023: The year we played with artificial intelligence—and weren't sure what to do about it Artificial intelligence went mainstream in 2023—it was a long time coming yet has a long way to go for the technology to match people's science fiction fantasies of human-like machines.
	YouTube video recommendations lead to more extremist content for right-leaning users, researchers suggest YouTube tends to recommend videos that are similar to what people have already watched. New research has found that those recommendations can lead users down a rabbit hole of extremist political content.
	Researchers develop world's first universal metasurface antenna for high-security 6G communications A research team led by Professor Chan Chi-hou, Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), achieved an unprecedented advance in antenna technology by making possible the manipulation of all five fundamental properties of electromagnetic waves through software control.
	Researcher creates VR sequences to test eyewitness statements Eyewitness statements are one of the key sources for identifying perpetrators—and one of the most error-prone. For example, the Innocence Project—an organization that works to clear up miscarriages of justice in the U.S.—states that incorrect eyewitness statements played a role in 64% of the cases in which it was able to secure the release of people who had been wrongly convicted. Further research is needed to find out why eyewitnesses are so often wrong, and this will require extensive visual material.
	Upcycling leftover cardboard to make a new type of foam packaging With the holiday season in full swing, gifts of all shapes and sizes are being shipped around the world. But all that packaging generates lots of waste, including cardboard boxes and plastic-based foam cushioning, such as Styrofoam. Rather than discard those boxes, researchers publishing in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering developed a cushioning foam from cardboard waste. Their upcycled material was stronger and more insulating than traditional, plastic foam-based cushioning.
	Researchers find way to weld metal foam without melting its bubbles Researchers at North Carolina State University have now identified a welding technique that can be used to join composite metal foam (CMF) components together without impairing the properties that make CMF desirable. CMFs hold promise for a wide array of applications because the pockets of air they contain make them light, strong and effective at insulating against high temperatures.
	Policies to support energy transition losers may fall short US efforts to transition to cleaner energy carry risks of mass layoffs in mature industries, say experts, who warn that policies to cushion the blow may not live up to hype.
	Chinese mourners use AI to digitally resurrect the dead At a quiet cemetery in eastern China, bereaved father Seakoo Wu pulls out his phone, places it on a gravestone and plays a recording of his son.
	Meta rolls out Twitter rival Threads in the EU Facebook owner Meta's text-based app Threads arrived in the European Union on Thursday, months after its global launch in July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
	Self-driven and sustainable removal of oil spills in water using textiles Researchers at the ITA, the University of Bonn and Heimbach GmbH have developed a new method for removing oil spills from water surfaces in an energy-saving, cost-effective way and without the use of toxic substances.
	Tesla's recall of 2 million vehicles reminds us how far driverless car AI still has to go Tesla has recalled 2 million US vehicles over concerns about its autopilot function. Autopilot is meant to help with maneuvers such as steering and acceleration, but still needs input from the driver. It comes just a few days after a whistle-blowing former Tesla employee cast doubt on the safety of the autopilot function.
	Why federal efforts to protect schools from cybersecurity threats fall short In August 2023, the White House announced a plan to bolster cybersecurity in K-12 schools—and with good reason. Between 2018 and mid-September 2023, there were 386 recorded cyberattacks in the U.S. education sector and cost those schools $35.1 billion. K-12 schools were the primary target.
	GM's Cruise robotaxi unit lays off 900 workers with investigation into San Francisco crash ongoing General Motors' troubled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit is cutting over 900 jobs, about a quarter of its workforce, as it moves to reduce costs and remake itself after a series of safety problems in San Francisco.
	EU probes Apple's App Store, Google Play The EU demanded on Thursday that Apple and Google provide more details on how they identified risks concerning their respective software hubs, the App Store and Google Play.
	How gray boxes and a jellyfish could help advance wave energy To an outsider, the gray stack of metal boxes piled on the gray concrete floor might look unimpressive. Machinery meant for storage, maybe. Leftovers from an experiment completed long ago.
	More than a third of those in the UK can't afford tech needed to reach net-zero, study shows More than a third of people in the U.K. can't afford renewable energy technology such as solar panels or heat pumps to help the country meet its climate targets, a new study shows.
	Comprehensive dataset for contactless lip reading and acoustic analysis holds potential for speech recognition tech Sophisticated new analysis of the physical processes which create the sounds of speech could help empower people with speech impairments and create new applications for voice recognition technologies, researchers say.
	Visual active search tool combines deep reinforcement learning, traditional active search methods In geospatial exploration, the quest for efficient identification of regions of interest has recently taken a leap forward with visual active search (VAS). This modeling framework uses visual cues to guide exploration with potential applications that range from wildlife poaching detection to search-and-rescue missions to the identification of illegal trafficking activities.
	Team develops a novel low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle platform for electrical transmission line inspection Electricity is an indispensable resource for our daily lives; it powers our homes, industries, and agriculture, among other things. Electricity is generated in power plants that are often located in remote areas due to safety and environmental concerns. The generated electricity is then transported to residential and industrial areas through transmission lines.
	Engineers develop new method to spot lithium-ion battery problems Mechanical engineers at the University of Sheffield have developed a new way of determining the internal structure and health of batteries that power many of the electronic devices and vehicles at the center of our everyday lives.
	New binder with 72 times higher electrical conductivity enhances battery performance A research team, jointly led by Professor Seok Ju Kang and Professor Hyun-Wook Lee in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, has successfully developed a novel binder technology that promises to revolutionize battery performance. By combining PEDOT:PSS and polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers, the research team has achieved a binder with an impressive 72 times higher electrical conductivity, opening up new possibilities for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
	Ethics on autopilot: The safety dilemma of self-driving cars Self-driving cars, or autonomous vehicles, are revolutionizing how we move from one place to another. They're also raising major safety and responsibility issues.
	EU court rejects Brussels appeal over Amazon tax ruling A top EU court rejected Thursday Brussels' appeal against a ruling blocking its bid to force Luxembourg to recover 25 million euros ($272-million) in back taxes from Amazon.
	Google will reconstruct Chicago's Thompson Center starting early 2024, but will retain the building's atrium Chicago's James R. Thompson Center will undergo a floor-by-floor gut rehab beginning early next year, but the building will retain its atrium while also opening up the base of the structure to retail, according to renderings released by Google Wednesday. Google will occupy the Central Loop icon once the renovation of the building is complete.
	Tech companies slash hundreds more Bay Area jobs as layoffs resurface Tech layoffs have resurfaced just ahead of Christmas and New Year's, with high-tech companies, finance firms and a Pac-12 unit revealing plans to slash hundreds of jobs in the Bay Area, state files show.
	More EVs will slash California's transportation budget, says report. Are gas taxes the answer? California's plans to tackle climate change will lead to a significant decrease in state funding for transportation over the next decade, according to a report by the state legislative analyst's office.

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