Technology

Surfaces play a key role in numerous chemical reactions, including catalysis and corrosion. Understanding the atomic structure of the surface of a functional material is essential for both engineers and chemists. Researchers used atomic-resolution secondary electron (SE) imaging to capture the atomic structure of the very top layer of materials to better understand the differences

Linguistics and computer science researchers have discovered some of the root causes of why AI large language models perform poorly in human-like conversations. When you have a conversation today, notice the natural points when the exchange leaves open the opportunity for the other person to chime in. If their timing is off, they might be

Asking children 'What does a scientist look like?' now results in more illustrations of women and people of color than decades ago. But do generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools also depict the diversity among scientists? Researchers prompted AI image generators for portraits of chemists. They found that none of the collections accurately represents the gender

Astronomers have discovered the first pairs of white dwarf and main sequence stars -- 'dead' remnants and 'living' stars -- in young star clusters. This breakthrough offers new insights on an extreme phase of stellar evolution, and one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics. Astronomers at the University of Toronto (U of T) have discovered

Researchers have created a method that uses artificial intelligence to more accurately predict short-term river discharge using historical data from two hydrometric stations on the Ottawa River along with other weather-based parameters. They built on an existing type of algorithm called group method of data handling, which constructs predictive models by sorting and combining data

Antibacterial drugs are important for treating infections. But increasingly, bacterial resistance to current drugs -- so they don't work well, or even at all -- means new ones are urgently needed. Researchers have demonstrated a potential antibacterial treatment from a modified darobactin, a compound originally from a bacterium. The team reports proof-of-concept animal trials on

The airflow from an indoor badminton court's HVAC system and cross ventilation can affect the path of a birdie and have a significant role in play, but new research proposes that different roof configurations could help mitigate wind drift. The authors recommend that important badminton games be played on courts with a barrel roof and

A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon. A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise

It is the computational processing of images that reveals the finest details of a sample placed under all kinds of different light microscopes. Even though this processing has come a long way, there is still room for increasing for example image contrast and resolution. Based on a unique deep learning architecture, a new computational model

Researchers have introduced a technique for compressing a large language model's reams of data, which could increase privacy, save energy and lower costs. The new algorithm works by trimming redundancies and reducing the precision of an LLM's layers of information. This type of leaner LLM could be stored and accessed locally on a device like

Using zero liquid discharge to increase water recovery from desalination is an emerging method to combat water scarcity, but is expensive, energy-intensive and comes with environmental risks. Researchers have optimized zero liquid discharge technologies for cost, energy consumption and land use. Climate change is making water scarcer. A promising method to combat this problem is

Researchers employ machine learning to more accurately model the boundary layer wind field of tropical cyclones. Conventional approaches to storm forecasting involve large numerical simulations run on supercomputers incorporating mountains of observational data, and they still often result in inaccurate or incomplete predictions. In contrast, the author's machine learning algorithm is equipped with atmospheric physics