Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-insect-approach-metals-tune-strength.html "adds trace amounts of nickel, copper, or zinc ions to chitosan, a chitin derivative... programs precise high rigidity zones alongside soft, flexible regions within continuous sheet, mimicking insect exoskeletons' chitin structure alteration using metal-ion cross-linking... origami-inspired prototype folds/ unfolds without glues, seams, or separate mechanical components... seamless gradients within 1 underlying biopolymer, so can be composted/ recycled as single unit without tedious disassembly/ sorting" Related: Flexible mm-thick motor, 2 nested fibers wrapped with electrodes, can drive soft robotics https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1146603

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1140093 "adjusts electrical current noise magnitude/ behavior, inspired by human neurons... preset memristor's resistance state: altering spike-generation probability/ selectively tuning signal frequencies without modifying hardware... 94.8% accurate classifying slow, Hz-range human activity signals/ 95.0% accurate identifying rapid, kHz-range speech patterns... versatile, ultra-low-power neuromorphic hardware capable of processing diverse real-world sensory data directly on a single chip... motion/ speech recognition"

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1139132 "memtransistor of self-assembled block polymeric thin films mimics biological neural plasticity... optimizes hardware performance diverse time-series data without requiring separate specialized processors... handles fast signal processing/ slow memory consolidation on same chip dramatically reducing latency/ power consumption... energy-efficient, brain-inspired neuromorphic hardware capable of real-time environmental adaptation... edge AI"

https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-3d-printable-material-body-robots.html "artificial tissue-like fabrication not scalable, overcome utilizing emulsification/ centrifugation, jamming billions of membrane-bound water droplets together within minutes forming macro-scale, flexible materials... adding specific proteins to droplets enables selective transport of targeted ions, allowing ionic current conduction for neuromorphic computing or filtering valuable nutrients/ minerals from industrial wastewater... bio-scaffolds, soft robotic actuators, and selective chemical extraction membranes" Related: Printable brain-inspired chips that compute at lightning speed and vanish in minutes https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1143977

https://neurosciencenews.com/ai-cerebellum-memtransistor-31036/ "moves past von Neumann design bottlenecks/ enables autonomous real-time edge robotics processing... emulates reflexes, ignoring background, reserving processing for unexpected novelties... 2D molybdenum disulfide semiconductor-based, collapses memory/ computation into asymmetric memtransistor dynamically switching excitatory/ inhibitory neural modes by reversing voltage... >98% accuracy identifying abnormal heart rhythms within 1/5th single heartbeat... >2X faster, 10,000X fewer  operations"

https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-insect-brain-discovery-blueprint.html "AI processes information linearly requiring significant computational power to weigh every variable, overcome mimicking honeybees' complex/ parallel processed decisions using fewer than 1 million neurons identifying potential targets while enabling ms-response brake, ignoring irrelevant data instantly/ focusing only on high-probability successes... drastic energy reduction, reduced data dependency, real-time autonomy... edge AI in small: untethered drones, autonomous vehicles, exploration robots"

https://www.livescience.com/technology/computing/thermodynamic-computer-can-mimic-ai-neural-networks-using-orders-of-magnitude-less-energy-to-generate-images "uses orders magnitude less energy, potentially up to 10 billion times less... instead of 0s and 1s leverages natural thermal noise/ physical energy fluctuations... allows set of images to degrade into noise through random interactions, calculating decay process reversal probability, adjusting internal values so reversal as likely as possible, effectively generating image from noise... compared to human brain which operates on only about 20 watts... potential 3rd way of computing distinct from classical/ quantum" Related: Noise-free full-color holography under incoherent ordinary light: a quarter-wave geometric-phase route to practical 3D imaging https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1115487 Multinex: An ultra lightweight AI model advancing low light image enhancement https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131222

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1113891 "mimics diving bell spider/ fire ant survival strategies traping air bubbles against their bodies to remain buoyant/ breathe underwater... stable air bubble forced to remain inside even if tube pushed vertically into water/ subjected to turbulent motion, due to central divider...remain afloat even after being riddled with holes, or placed at extreme angles... tubes up to 0.5m, scalable, linkable for larger load-bearing structures... shipping, buoys, floating platforms, harvesting wave energy to generate electricity"

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-strong-material-egg-whites-cool.html "protein foaming method used to create structure in which low cost particles densely/ uniformly interconnected, similar to how egg-white proteins expand at high temperatures... enables creation of composite material with continuous thermal pathways, preventing heat transfer from being interrupted... inherently economic/ scalable injection molding fabrication... high performance, eco-friendly, lightweight, strong, low cost... electronics/ battery thermal management" Related: Stress-free magnesium anode breaks through to Ah-level pouch cell, paving way for commercial rechargeable magnesium batteries https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1135852

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-nature-hydrogel-power-free-thermal.html "thermal management inspired by leaf of white poplar tree... polyacrylamide hydrogel-based composite... 2 systems: (1) lithium ions absorb moisture from air condensing it releasing heat keeping material warm in cold conditions, (2) hydroxypropyl cellulose manages radiative heat becoming transparent accepting sunlight in low temperatures/ opaque (reflects sunlight) in high temperatures... titanium dioxide nanoparticles for durability... up to 153 MJ/m² annual savings: up to 3.7°C lower in summer/ up to 3.5°C higher in winter"

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102020 "scalable/ stable high-yield production, 80% transparency with monolayer cellular structure preserved intact... 0.41% absolute photoelectric conversion efficiency enhancement in solar cells, native cellulose alignment and wax-cellulose interfaces enable 88% broadband light-scattering haze... squid-inspired peeling: peroxyformic acid selectively disrupts parenchyma cell bonds, preserving cellulose structure... retains native cellulose I crystallinity (64.76%) and uniaxial fibril alignment (Hermans factor: 0.23)." Related: UNSW innovation could slash solar manufacturing cost by billions https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2025/11/unsw-innovation-could-slash-solar-manufacturing-cost-by-billions

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100517 "mimics how room temperature photosynthesis depends on rapid/ efficient energy transfer following absorption... starting in delocalized quantum state provides system with more pathways, coherence allows quicker transfer even in presence of environmental noise, demonstrated across parameters: environmental coupling strength, interaction range between sites, disorder within system... molecule regions: donor where energy absorbed, acceptor where energy eventually arrives... extends to more complex molecular systems"

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1097584 "frequency converted up/ down changing input light polarization/ tuned by changing temperature... dichalcogenide crystal combined with chalcogenide anions,,, scalable using silicon chip technology... resonances 1220 nm, 2X that of exciton, to harness the energy... interaction between exciton/ quasi-bound state in continuum resonance on/ off switchable... 2 to 4 orders magnitude enhancement... adaptive camouflage, night vision, biosensing, photon generation for on-chip computing, secure communications."

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1095100 "3D printers produce only rough 3D structures... mimicking way pinecone’s scales bend outward releasing seeds... record 3D length-to-thickness ratio, helices, concave/ convex mirrors with <1 nm variation... micro-zoom lenses replacing 5 separate cameras in smartphones, microphotonic using light instead of electricity... <2 ms: 1 side heated with laser, glass liquifies, surface tension becomes stronger than gravity, glass pulled into fold where laser hits... bend sheets up to 10 µm thick, fine control down to 0.1 μrad" Related: Breakthrough in laser glass: A rational path to designing complex materials https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100066

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-08-small-mighty-seed-monocopter-idea.html "small propellers exhibit poor endurance/ limited thrust yet still draw significant power, overcome mimicking spinning maple seeds spiraling gently to ground... AI optimized wing shape, pitching angle, mass distribution, stabilized through passive dynamics while providing lift through large airfoil... 9.1 grams/ watt power loading... future: increase payload capacity and flight time without significantly increasing weight... reusable radiosonde balloon-borne instrument for weather sensing/ monitoring" Related: Tiny, gold-coated particles can lift and steer themselves using heat from near-infrared light https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1105930 Seedcoat-inspired metal lets wings change shape on their own https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1111942 Unweaving the aerodynamics of ultra-thin, bio-inspired airfoils https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1144160

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1089541 "bees use wiggles of body, head, eyes for pattern recognition training... built digital model of bee brain's creating clear/ efficient brain signals... smarter, more efficient AI and robotics without relying on huge computer networks. The study highlights a big idea: intelligence comes from how brains, bodies and the environment work together. It demonstrates how even tiny insect brains can solve complex visual tasks using very few brain cells, which has major implications for both biology and AI" Related: Chinese model with high success rate helps humanoid robots adapt to tasks without training https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/chinese-model-humanoid-robots-tasks

  https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-membrane-mimics-protein-channels-efficient.html "inspired by ClC-ec1 antiporter in Escherichia coli, facilitating chloride (Cl-) and proton movement... COFs integrated with aramid nanofiber membrane composite forms hydrogen-bonding network featuring amide groups selectively binding to Cl- ions, lowering energy barrier for proton conduction... in acidic environments, adding 0.1% Cl- ions (relative to protons) increases membrane's proton permeation rate 3X, reaching 9.8 mol m-2 h-1... Cl- binding stretches ANF chains, improves hydrogen-bond networks"

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-03-super-turing-ai-energy-mimicking.html "mimics human brain's synaptic plasticity where new circuits form/ alter existing ones at same locations that store/ retrieve information... no backpropagation, which is not biologically plausible and is computationally intensive... utilized Hebbian learning (cells that fire together, wire together), spike-timing-dependent plasticity... faster, more efficient, uses less energy than traditional AI"

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-03-3d-approach-dynamic-bionic-robots.html "simple, quick... objects made to bend, coil, twist, fold, compress... software fully customizes designs, sending to multi-material 3D printing all parts in desired locations in 1 step, including cables, joints... 40% less production time... bring to life via fused deposition modeling 3D printer: plastic melted down (260°C) into nozzle before filaments poured out building up (10-20 mm/sec)... lays strings (endure >60K pullings) horizontally/ build around them... robotic fingers/ fist, art installations, dynamic fashion designs"

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-03-nature-3d-method-faster-bamboo.html "Frontal ring-opening metathesis polymerization: pour amber-colored dicyclopentadiene liquid resin into open glass container submerged in ice water, heat resin center point to 70°C... heat radiates outward at 1 mm/s, >100X faster than home 3D printers, 60X faster than fastest-growing bamboo, hardening everything touched into growing sphere, self-sustaining... uses minimal energy... computational tool predicts rod's upward motion achieving target shape... wind turbine blades... limitations: curved objects, perfect cube" Related: Composites Use In Wind/Energy Markets https://www.compositesworld.com/topics/wind-energy Redefining how wind energy blades withstand environmental stress and operate at peak performance https://explore.st-aug.edu/exp/amwf-the-critical-force-reshaping-modern-renewable-energy-advancement