Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Room-Temperature Plastic-to-Petrol Conversion Achieves 95%+ Efficiency

2025-08-28

Scientists in the US and China have developed a one-step method to convert mixed plastic waste into petrol at room temperature and ambient pressure, achieving over 95% efficiency. This energy-efficient process uses less equipment and fewer steps than conventional methods, making it scalable for industrial use. The method combines plastic waste with light isoalkanes, producing gasoline-range hydrocarbons (molecules with 6-12 carbons) and hydrochloric acid, which can be safely neutralized and reused. This breakthrough addresses the challenge of processing polyvinyl chloride (PVC), integrating dechlorination and upgrading into a single stage, avoiding the high-temperature dechlorination step required by traditional methods. Tests show high conversion efficiency even with real-world mixed and contaminated waste streams, offering a promising pathway towards circular economy goals.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech

Revolutionizing SOFCs: 300°C Operation Achieved, Promising Lower Costs

2025-08-12

Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating at a groundbreaking 300°C, significantly lower than the typical 700-800°C. This breakthrough involves a redesigned electrolyte, utilizing scandium-doped barium stannate and barium titanate to create a highly conductive 'ScO₆ highway' for protons. This low-temperature operation promises drastically reduced manufacturing costs, paving the way for consumer-level SOFC applications and potentially influencing other low-temperature energy technologies like electrolyzers and CO₂ conversion reactors.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Low-Temperature Operation

UK Fusion Firm Astral Systems Achieves First Tritium Breeding in Operational Reactor

2025-07-06

Astral Systems, a UK-based private fusion company, has announced a groundbreaking achievement: successfully breeding tritium, a crucial fusion fuel, within its operational fusion reactor. This milestone, achieved in collaboration with the University of Bristol, overcomes a major hurdle in fusion energy development. Using their Multi-State Fusion (MSF) technology during a 55-hour Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) fusion irradiation campaign, they produced and detected tritium in real-time. This breakthrough, utilizing lattice confinement fusion and a unique reactor design, paves the way for sustainable fusion energy and opens doors to various applications, including medical isotope production and nuclear waste transmutation.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech Fusion Energy Tritium Breeding

Hyundai Deploys Boston Dynamics' Atlas Robots in US Factory

2025-05-06

Hyundai Motor Group is deploying Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid robots at its Metaplant America facility in Georgia to boost factory automation. This marks a significant step in Hyundai's partnership with Boston Dynamics to scale robotic manufacturing and design. The move is part of Hyundai's $21 billion US investment plan aimed at increasing efficiency and lowering costs, partly in response to tariffs. Despite a global sales dip last year, Hyundai's US sales rose 4% to 1.9 million units. Hyundai plans to produce 300,000 electric and hybrid vehicles annually at the facility, eventually scaling up to 500,000.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech Robots

Fudan University Develops Record-Breaking Flash Memory: PoX

2025-04-19

A research team at Fudan University has created PoX, a non-volatile flash memory boasting an unprecedented single-bit programming speed of 400 picoseconds—approximately 25 billion operations per second. Published in Nature, this breakthrough pushes non-volatile memory into speeds previously exclusive to volatile memory, setting a new benchmark for AI hardware. By replacing silicon channels with 2D Dirac graphene and leveraging ballistic charge transport, the team overcame the speed limitations of traditional flash memory. PoX's potential applications include eliminating high-speed SRAM caches in AI chips, reducing energy consumption and chip size, and enabling database engines to store entire working sets in persistent RAM. This innovation could reshape storage technology and open new application scenarios.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech Non-volatile flash memory Graphene

Quantum Navigation: GPS-Independent and Ultra-Accurate

2025-04-18

Australian company Q-CTRL has unveiled Ironstone Opal, a commercially viable quantum navigation system. Unlike GPS, it's immune to jamming and spoofing, boasting 50 times the accuracy of traditional backup systems. Using quantum sensors to read variations in Earth's magnetic field and AI to filter interference, Ironstone Opal achieves unparalleled precision, even outperforming existing systems by 11x in aircraft tests. This breakthrough is poised to revolutionize navigation in challenging environments for military, aviation, and autonomous vehicle applications.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech Quantum Navigation GPS alternative

Regent Craft Secures $10M Follow-on Contract for Stealthy Seagliders

2025-04-01

Rhode Island-based Regent Craft, specializing in all-electric seagliders, has secured a $10 million follow-on contract with the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL), following a successful initial $4.75 million contract. This builds upon successful sea trials of their Viceroy prototype, a high-speed, radar-evading electric seaglider capable of reaching 180 mph over 180 miles. Its unique water takeoff and landing capabilities, low radar/sonar signature, and low operating costs make it ideal for defense and rescue operations. Regent is expanding manufacturing capabilities and has submitted the Viceroy design to the U.S. Coast Guard for certification.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech seaglider

General Fusion Achieves Global First: Steam-Driven Plasma in Fusion Reactor

2025-03-16

General Fusion, a Canadian fusion energy company, has achieved a world-first: generating plasma in a reactor driven by steam. This milestone was reached in their Lawson Machine 26 (LM26) prototype reactor, using magnetized target fusion (MTF), a technology employing steam-powered pistons to compress plasma instead of lasers. After 23 years of dedicated research, this breakthrough represents a significant step, although commercial power generation remains a future goal. The achievement offers promising advancements in clean energy technology.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech

Japan Launches World's First Hybrid Quantum Supercomputer

2025-02-15

Japan has activated Reimei, the world's first operational hybrid quantum supercomputer, integrating a 20-qubit quantum computer with Fugaku, the world's sixth-fastest supercomputer. Reimei utilizes trapped-ion qubits and advanced error correction, addressing challenges in quantum computing stability and scalability. Primarily focused on physics and chemistry research, this breakthrough represents a significant advancement in high-performance computing, paving the way for future innovations.

(interestingengineering.com)

Tech supercomputer tech breakthrough

Scientists 'Write' New Information into the Human Brain Using MRI

2024-12-19

Researchers from the University of Rochester, Yale University, and Princeton University have developed a novel technique to induce learning by directly manipulating brain activity patterns. Using real-time brain imaging and neurofeedback, this method bypasses traditional learning processes that require effort and practice. Participants in an fMRI machine were presented with 'wobbling' abstract shapes and instructed to stop the movement using only their minds. A pre-defined brain activity pattern associated with a new visual category was linked to cessation of the wobble. This feedback mechanism effectively 'sculpted' the participants' brain activity, leading them to learn new visual categories without conscious awareness. This groundbreaking technology holds immense potential for applications in education, rehabilitation, and mental health treatments.

(interestingengineering.com)

AI neurofeedback learning