Topic
#Hardware
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Fifteen computers built with human brain cells work together and do better than one
Australian company Cortical Labs linked fifteen computers that use lab-grown human brain cells. In early tests they did better together than a single machine and a common AI program. The results are preliminary and come from the company itself.
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IBM links two quantum chips with 80-centimetre cables
IBM researchers connected two quantum chips of 120 qubits each with four superconducting links of 80 centimetres. Quantum information came across correctly 99 times out of 100 on average. It is a step towards quantum computers built from separate modules.
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Graphene coil draws power from the magnetic field of power cables: sensor works without a battery
Researchers from Arkansas and Michigan power a temperature sensor with energy from the magnetic field around power cables, using a component made of graphene. If the power goes out, the sensor keeps working for at least 24 hours.
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Chinese team sends 3.2 petabits per second through a single optical fibre
Chinese researchers sent 3.2 petabits per second through one optical fibre with 24 cores, and the equipment processed everything straight away. That is a record for this kind of real-time measurement and could help connect AI data centres faster in future.
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Svolt starts series production of fast-charging batteries with a partly solid electrolyte
Chinese battery maker Svolt is now building 100 kWh battery packs in series, with cells that partly use a solid material. According to the company, 12 minutes of charging adds 500 kilometres of range. Svolt will soon announce which cars will get them.
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Free tools take the brakes off Nvidia graphics cards: up to twice as much AI computing power
Free open-source tools remove a brake that Nvidia built into the firmware of its GeForce graphics cards. For AI calculations, some cards become up to twice as fast. In practice the gain is smaller, and the tools are still experimental.
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Tiny holes that slow down light make a small Japanese chip for optical fibre far more efficient
Japanese researchers built a component that turns electrical signals into light, using tiny holes that slow the light down. It is 0.3 millimetres long, runs on low voltage and sends up to 200 gigabits per second. The next step: losing less light along the way.
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Wafer-thin mesh draws electricity from beating human heart cells
Researchers in the US grew beating human heart tissue around a wafer-thin mesh that generates a little electricity with every heartbeat. The work has so far been done in the lab. The goal: implants such as pacemakers that no longer need a battery.
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Low-power brain implant recognises mental state from how brain regions work together
Researchers at EPFL have built a chip of 4 by 2 millimetres that measures how brain regions work together and so recognises concentration and emotional arousal. It uses very little power. The chip already works on recordings from people and in rats; patients are the next step.
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Quantum computer keeps chaos under control on 100 qubits: a step towards fault-tolerant computing
Researchers from Rutgers, IBM and other institutions had a quantum computer check and correct itself thousands of times while it was computing. It is not yet a working fault-tolerant quantum computer, but it is an important building block for one.
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d-Matrix splits the work of an AI model across two kinds of chips for faster answers
At a major data centre conference, the American chip company d-Matrix showed how an AI model answers faster when ordinary graphics chips and its own chips each do the work they are good at. The company now also supplies complete computing clusters.
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Chinese company Sugon shows computing cluster with 100,000 home-grown AI chips
China's Sugon is showing its Sugon 8000: a computing cluster that links 100,000 computing cards made in China. The system combines AI with classic supercomputing and, according to Sugon, has already run ten research projects.
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Working AI server rack lets chips talk through light, with the optics right next to the chip
At a major data centre trade show in the US, three tech companies showed a working server rack in which chips talk through light, with the light components right next to the computing chip. That could make AI data centres much more energy-efficient. Large-scale production is next.
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Humanoid robot walks 560 kilometres on a treadmill in nine days
A humanoid robot from the American company Figure AI has been walking on a treadmill for nine days in a row: more than 560 kilometres and 1.2 million steps, reports chief executive Brett Adcock. The trial is meant to find weak spots in the hardware and is still running.
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Home-built drone flies and steers with a single propeller
Maker Joshua Bird built a small drone at home that flies and steers with one motor and one propeller. The secret lies in a hinge in the hub and lightning-fast motor control. The design files and code are free online.