Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

18 Sep 23

5 Big Ideas for High-Temperature Superconductors

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes plunged a mercury wire into liquid helium and noticed that the wire’s electrical resistance vanished. The wire had become a “superconductor.” The extremely low temperatures and high pressures needed to induce superconductivity limited its practical value for decades. But the 1986 discovery of…

17 Sep 23

MIT Looks Ahead to Hydrogen’s Aviation Future

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore. As investment in hydrogen-powered flight expands, airports and air carriers today are realizing that it’s not enough to retrofit or design new planes for hydrogen power. So while researchers and companies large and small…

16 Sep 23

Linda Doyle Blasts Through Ireland’s Academic Glass Ceiling

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Linda Doyle has broken through Ireland’s academic glass ceiling. She is the first woman to be provost of the country’s top-ranked university, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin.Trinity’s provost is elected by faculty members and student representatives, not a board of trustees, as happens with American university presidents. The…

16 Sep 23

Why the Next Microgrids Will Be Well Connected

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. It was one of the deadliest and most damaging natural disasters to ever make landfall in the United States. Maria destroyed infrastructure and crops and initially claimed 64 lives. The aftermath was even more calamitous: More than 4,000 people are estimated to…

15 Sep 23

5G “Open” Standards Are in Play—Just How Open Are They?

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

At a June meeting of major cellular-industry stakeholders in Osaka, Japan, a course correction was under discussion that could jeopardize the industry’s quest for open standards. At issue, specifically, was what the telecom industry calls interoperability: The hope from companies operating cellular networks that they won’t be forced into buying…

15 Sep 23

MIT Makes Low-Power Underwater Communication Practical

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Underwater sensor networks could prove invaluable for applications as diverse as monitoring fish farms, hurricane forecasting, and detecting enemy submarines. Transmitting data through liquids is much trickier than sending it through air, however. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a solution that could enable…

15 Sep 23

Video Friday: Origami Microflyers

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.IROS 2023: 1–5 October 2023, DETROITCLAWAR 2023: 2–4 October 2023, FLORIANOPOLIS,…

15 Sep 23

See-Through Sensors Hide Eye-Tracking in Plain Sight

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

The list of applications for eye-tracking technology has grown long in recent years with virtual reality and augmented reality devices, systems that make driving safer and more efficient, hands-free control of computers and assistive communication devices, and detection of diseases.Gaze tracking today relies on bulky, opaque silicon-based image sensors mounted…

15 Sep 23

Soft Robot Walks by Repeatedly Blowing Itself Up

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

It’s hard to beat the energy density of chemical fuels. Batteries are quiet and clean and easy to integrate with electrically powered robots, but they’re 20 to 50 times less energy dense than a chemical fuel like methanol or butane. This is fine for most robots that can afford to…

15 Sep 23

Remembering Former IEEE President Ken Laker

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Ken Laker, the 1999 IEEE president, died on 2 August at the age of 76. Laker worked with the IEEE Board of Directors in the early 1990s to purchase personal computers for the organization’s leaders to make it easier to conduct IEEE business via the Internet. Later, he led the…

5 Big Ideas for High-Temperature Superconductors

MIT Looks Ahead to Hydrogen’s Aviation Future

Linda Doyle Blasts Through Ireland’s Academic Glass Ceiling

Why the Next Microgrids Will Be Well Connected

5G “Open” Standards Are in Play—Just How Open Are They?

MIT Makes Low-Power Underwater Communication Practical

Video Friday: Origami Microflyers

See-Through Sensors Hide Eye-Tracking in Plain Sight

Soft Robot Walks by Repeatedly Blowing Itself Up

Remembering Former IEEE President Ken Laker

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law