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Automated or semi-automated shipping, which requires fewer people aboard vessels, could help expand the capacity of Europe's shipping industry. Image credit: Kongsberg Maritime
transport | ict
30 June 2020

Automated shipping coming to Europe’s waters

Moving more goods by water could reduce pressure on roads and cut emissions, yet Europe’s shipping industry is held back by labour shortages. Automated shipping – which would work in a similar way to self-driving cars – could help expand capacity but safety and regulatory hurdles remain.

Ear tags with a wireless radio frequency identification antenna along with a smart robotic feeder can tell farmers every time a cow goes to feed and what dose of mineral supplements it receives. Image credit - Ivan Andonovic
agriculture | ict
18 May 2020

How crop and animal sensors are making farming smarter

Installing wireless sensors among crops and attaching ‘smart’ ear tags to livestock could help farmers produce more food with less impact on the environment.

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of microscopes, which could make this equipment more widely accessible and facilitate faster diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. Image credit - Ed Uthman/Flickr, licenced under CC0 1.0
health | ict | industry
07 May 2020

‘Microscope on a chip’ could bring medical expertise to distant patients

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of medical microscopes to make it possible to use them more widely, and hook them up to experts able to diagnose an illness even from far away.

As speech and seismic signals have properties in common, speech recognition techniques are being used to understand what volcanoes are saying and when they might erupt. Image credit - milito10/ Pixabay, licenced under CC0
security | ict | environment
05 May 2020

How speech recognition techniques are helping to predict volcanoes’ behaviour

Dr Luciano Zuccarello grew up in the shadow of Mount Etna, an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily. Farms and orchards ring the lower slopes of the volcano, where the fertile soil is ideal for agriculture. But the volcano looms large in the life of locals because it is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Professor Cecilia Mascolo at the University of Cambridge, UK, hopes her coronavirus sounds app could provide the data needed to build a quick and cheap Covid-19 screening test in the future. Image credit - Salvatore Scellato
interview | health | coronavirus outbreak | ict | frontier research
30 April 2020

Q&A: The sound of your voice could help fight Covid-19

A recording of a cough, the noise of a person’s breathing or even the sound of their voice could be used to help diagnose patients with Covid-19 in the future, according to Professor Cecilia Mascolo, an expert in mobile health at data analysis at the University of Cambridge, UK.

A robot 'recognises' itself in the bathroom mirror. Image credit - Pablo Lanillos
industry | ict
15 April 2020

Why robots are being trained in self-awareness

Robots passing cognitive tests such as recognising themselves in a mirror and being programmed with a human sense of time are showing how machines are being shaped to become a bigger part of our everyday lives.

'Transport layer security' means your internet activities are secure on three fronts - authentication, encryption and integrity. Image credit - Pxhere, licenced under CCO
ict | frontier research
24 March 2020

The story behind that little padlock in your browser

Whenever you see a little padlock in the address bar of your internet browser, as well as when you use apps, email and messaging, you’re relying on something called ‘transport layer security’ or TLS. It’s a protocol that keeps us safe online.

When it comes to improving amputees’ quality of life, one of the biggest challenges is making prostheses that feel like a natural part of the user. Image credit - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Wikimedia Commons
health | frontier research | ict | industry
19 March 2020

The prostheses that could alleviate amputees’ phantom limb pain

New prosthetic technologies that stimulate the nerves could pave the way for prostheses that feel like a natural part of the body and reduce the phantom limb pain commonly endured by amputees.

Satellite-fixing robots could revive the more than 3,000 dead satellites in orbit today. Image credit – Pxhere, licenced under CCO
space | ict
10 March 2020

Docking, rendezvous and Newton’s third law – the challenge of servicing satellites in space

If you want to build or fix something in space, you might think you’d need a human to do it. But what if you didn’t? What if robotic spacecraft could be used to refuel satellites in orbit, add new instruments to outdated machinery and even build entire structures while in space?

When ultrasound waves from different emitters meet in mid-air, it creates the sensation of a solid object which could enhance people's videogaming experience. Image credit - Maurizio Pesce, licensed under CC BY 2.0 (brands blurred out)
ict
21 November 2019

Levitation, touch and sound – how you’ll be able to feel videogames in the future

Despite advances in both virtual and augmented reality technology in the last few years, there’s one area that remains neglected: touch. With your VR headset on, you might be able to explore the sights of a vast forest and hear birdsong all around you, but you won’t feel the dampness of the moss on a tree trunk or the squelch of leaves underfoot.

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