ENGGtalks Newsroom

23 Jun 23

The Internet Isn’t Completely Weird Yet; AI Can Fix That

Computer & Information Technology

The Internet is hurtling into a hurricane of AI-generated nonsense, and no one knows how to stop it.That’s the sobering possibility presented in a pair of papers that examine AI models trained on AI-generated data. This possibly avoidable fate isn’t news for AI researchers. But these two new findings foreground…

23 Jun 23

IBM: Quantum Computers Are Already Doing Heavy Lifting

Computer & Information Technology

As powerful as quantum computers may theoretically one day be, they are currently so prone to error that their ultimate utility is often questioned. Now, however, IBM argues that quantum computing may be entering a new era of utility sooner than expected, with its 127-qubit Eagle quantum computer potentially delivering…

22 Jun 23

New Oyster card released to mark 20th anniversary

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Transport for London (TfL) said the limited edition cards - which display the message, “20 years shaping life in London” – are available from all Tube stations in Zone 1, as well as visitor centres and selected Oyster ticket stops. The launch of the Oyster card on 30 June 2003…

22 Jun 23

Iron Fuel Shows Its Mettle

Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

By the end of June, a large 1-megawatt plant that burns iron fuel will fire up, producing the heat needed to brew beer at the Swinkels brewery near Eindhoven, Netherlands, in a test lasting for several months. The plant, named IRON+, is a joint venture between three companies and built…

22 Jun 23

Campaigners lose High Court challenge against Sizewell C nuclear plant approval

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Protest group Together Against Sizewell C launched a bid to challenge development consent granted for the multi-billion-pound project in Suffolk by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in July 2022. At a hearing in March this year, lawyers for the group of local residents argued the government failed to assess possible…

21 Jun 23

The AI Apocalypse: A Scorecard

Computer & Information Technology

What should we make of OpenAI’s GPT-4, anyway? Is the large language model a major step on the way to an artificial general intelligence (AGI)—the insider’s term for an AI system with a flexible human-level intellect? And if we do create an AGI, might it be so different from human…

21 Jun 23

Concept-Car Tech Makes Wheels Wise to Well-being

Civil, Structural & Architecture

Concept cars used to be all about looking under the hood. More and more, they’re about looking inside the microchips, and the cool features, services, and competitive edge they can provide. The latest is the H1st Vision, a car so software-driven that its creators barely nodded to its electric power…

20 Jun 23

Semiconductor Lasers Hit Steel-Slicing Levels

Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Semiconductor lasers, unlike bulky gas lasers and fiber lasers, are tiny, energy efficient, and highly controllable. The one thing they can’t do is deliver their competitor’s steel-slicing brightness.In results reported last week in Nature, a group of researchers at Kyoto University, in Japan, led by IEEE Fellow Susumu Noda, has…

20 Jun 23

EV Chargers for All!

Civil, Structural & Architecture

When IEEE Spectrum’s editor in chief, Harry Goldstein, needed to replace his 2008 Honda Fit in October 2020, he thought seriously about buying an electric vehicle. Two obstacles stood in his way. One was affordability. Even without a son soon to be entering college, the premium prices of EVs were…

20 Jun 23

Bob Kahn on the Birth of “Inter-networking”

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

IEEE Spectrum recently published a profile of Vint Cerf, who together with Bob Kahn developed what later became known as TCP/IP, the suite of protocols that power the Internet. That article didn’t detail the events leading up to their influential technical collaboration, though. So IEEE Spectrum talked with Kahn to…