Damage to nerve tissue due to skin defects such as burns, skin diseases, and trauma causes loss of sensory and cognitive functions that are essential for life-sustaining activities, as well as mental and physical distress. If the damage is severe enough that natural healing is not possible, surgical treatment is required to implant artificial skin in the affected area, but the artificial skin developed to date has focused on skin regeneration, providing a structure and environment similar to skin tissue, but has not restored sensation to patients.
A research team led by Dr. Youngmee Jung of the Center for Biomaterials and Dr. Hyunjung Yi of the Post-Silicon Semiconductor Institute, in collaboration with Prof. Ki Jun Yu of Yonsei University and Prof. Tae-il Kim of Sungkyunkwan University, has developed a human-implantable tactile smart bionic artificial skin. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.
A team of materials scientists and engineers from Donghua University, in China, and the National University of Singapore, has developed a type of fiber that does not rely on chips or batteries to convert visual signals to digital transmissions as it interacts with the human body.
The paper is published in the journal Science. Yunzhu Li and Yiyue Luo with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and MIT, respectively, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the team on this new effort.
Researchers developing the next generation of computing technology aim to bring some light to the field—literally. Optical computing, which relies on particles of light called photons, is expected to provide alternatives to traditional electronic approaches. Such systems—or light-based components of hybrid systems that also retain electronic parts—could be faster, consume less energy and compute visual information more efficiently through simultaneous, parallel processing.
To date, optical computing has faced a limitation in achieving nonlinear responses, which means producing signals not directly proportional to the input. Nonlinearity makes universal computing applications, including artificial intelligence, possible.
Nonlinear materials and devices under development need a substantial amount of light to work. Previously, this required high-powered lasers that operate only in a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum; absorbing light over time, making processing slow; or using energy-inefficient materials that take in lots of light but preclude applications that require light efficiency or transparency.
A team of South Korean scientists led by Professor KIM Dae-Hyeong of the Center for Nanoparticle Research within the Institute for Basic Science has pioneered a novel approach to stretchable displays. The team announced the first development of intrinsically stretchable quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs).
The findings are published in Nature Electronics.
In the rapidly evolving world of display technologies, the quest for creating intrinsically stretchable displays has been ongoing. Traditional displays, constrained by rigid and inflexible components, have struggled to evolve beyond flexible ones. There has been a clear need for novel materials and device designs that can endure significant stretching while maintaining their functionality, which is essential for applications including wearable and adaptable interfacing technologies.
A new study from NC State University combines three-dimensional embroidery techniques with machine learning to create a fabric-based sensor that can control electronic devices through touch. The paper is published in the journal Device.
As the field of wearable electronics gains more interest and new functions are added to clothing, an embroidery-based sensor or "button" capable of controlling those functions becomes increasingly important. Integrated into the fabric of a piece of clothing, the sensor can activate and control electronic devices like mobile apps entirely by touch.
Logitech lets users cook GPT shortcuts into its mice and keyboards
By Paul Ridden
April 18, 2024
Logitech has introduced new software that gives users of its peripherals easy access to ChatGPT. After matching the feature to a keyboard key or mouse button, the user can quickly tap into the power of GPT via preset or custom recipes.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that many new Windows 11 PCs and laptops would gain a dedicated key for accessing its "everyday AI companion." Logitech's approach is a little different. Instead of having to buy a bunch of new hardware, users can assign any key on an existing keyboard or a button on a mouse as a shortcut to GPT – so long as the hardware is Logitech's own.
The mass production of conventional silicon chips relies on a successful business model with large "semiconductor fabrication plants" or "foundries." New research by KU Leuven and imec shows that this "foundry" model can also be applied to the field of flexible, thin-film electronics. Adopting this approach would give innovation in the field a huge boost.
Silicon semiconductors have become the "oil" of the computer age, which was also demonstrated recently by the chip shortage crisis. However, one of the disadvantages of conventional silicon chips is that they're not mechanically flexible.
On the other hand, you have the field of flexible electronics, which is driven by an alternative semiconductor technology: the thin-film transistor, or TFT. The applications in which TFTs can be used are legion: from wearable health care patches and neuroprobes over digital microfluidics and robotic interfaces to bendable displays and Internet of Things (IoT) electronics.
