Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://techxplore.com/news/2026-02-physics-principle-absorption-barriers-ventilated.html "sound-absorbing foam/ fiber solid/ porous blocks ventilation, overcome with destructive interference balancing structure's monopole/ dipole resonances... traps sound waves, causing dissipation into heat... Figure of Merit evaluates absorption bandwidth/ material thickness/ air channel openness relationship... jet engine roar reduction while maintaining intake/ exhaust efficiency, silent fans/ heat sinks for computers/ servers, noise barriers for highways/ tunnels allowing natural wind passage/ preventing heat buildup" Related: Ultralight ‘organ-pipe’ structure absorbs noise with high structural strength https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121140

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1101411 "switching between different topologies that govern wave direction to find magic angle focusing/ guiding sound vibration spread for faster, more efficient signal processing... greater broadband signal control across wide range of frequencies... enables quickly adjusted wave behavior, improving information transmission... facilitates the design of systems with greater resistance to glitches due to fabrication imperfections... sensing, communication, signal processing, ultrasound, microfluidics, chip-scale devices"

https://phys.org/news/2025-07-based-visual-microphone.html "simplifies/ reduces cost using light to capture sound, enables applications in scenarios where traditional microphones ineffective as long as light to passes through... single-pixel computational imaging of sound... recover sound using surface vibrations of objects such as leaves, paper... signal processing filter enhances high-frequency... no expensive lasers, high-speed cameras... sound-induced motion causes subtle changes in light intensity... environmental monitoring, security, industrial diagnostics" Related: Nanodevice uses sound to sculpt light, paving the way for better displays and imaging https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1093148 Conversations remotely detected from cell phone vibrations, researchers report https://techxplore.com/news/2025-08-conversations-remotely-cell-vibrations.html

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-method-phonon-lasers-stable-powerful.html "lasers using sound instead of light... tiny electronic nudge enhances laser-produced sound wave power, precision... locks sound waves into more stable, powerful state... phonon lasers create more sensitive, less harmful medical imaging techniques, while deep-sea vehicles could implement improved communication and navigation. Phonon lasers could also have applications in material science, quantum computing, and other fields. This research represents a significant step forward in phonon laser development"

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-implications-electromagnetic-technology.html "harmless, self-sustaining, sound wave propagation through synchronization with incoming waves allowing them to gain energy from those oscillations... circulator: disk-shaped cavity through which swirling air blown from 1 side through opening in center, whistle tailored to specific blowing speed/ intensity... 3 acoustic waveguides arranged triangularly along edge... sound leaving 1st waveguide enters 2nd, 3rd, but not back... radar, topological circuits... future: apply to metamaterials for electromagnetic waves"

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-05-ai-headphones-wearer-person-crowd.html "Target Speech Hearing: off-the-shelf headphone fitted with microphones wearer looks 3 to 5 seconds at person speaking, taps button enrolling them, cancelling all other sounds in real time even as listener moves around in noisy places no longer facing speaker... speaker's sound waves reach microphones on both sides of headset simultaneously, machine learning software learns speaker's vocal patterns, improving as speaker keeps talking, adding training data... later, can run another enrollment on speaker improving clarity" Related: AI's solution to the 'cocktail party problem' used in court https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yk5mdj9gxo Audible enclaves could enable private listening without headphones https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1076892 Scientists create sound that bends through crowds to reach just one person https://yourstory.com/2025/03/penn-state-audible-enclaves-per...

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-internet-quantum.html "mechanical memory for quantum data... quantum drum: small ceramic glass-like membrane with holes scattered in neat pattern along edges... light emitted through existing high-speed fiber-optic cable between quantum computers pass through periodic quantum drums receiving and re-transmuting signals, avoiding noise while keeping data in quantum state... record-long 23 ms of memory time... quantum drum a kind of quantum RAM, temporary working memory for quantum information" Related: Crucial connection for 'quantum internet' made for the first time https://phys.org/news/2024-04-crucial-quantum-internet.html Physicists demo first metro-area quantum computer network in Boston https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/05/glimpse-of-next-generation-internet/

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-team-robust-propagation.html "energy gain and loss systematically distributed cancelling each other out, ensured by parity-time (PT) symmetry... tests on laser photonic chips mimic behavior of natural and synthetic materials arranged in periodic lattice structures... laser-inscribed photonic waveguide induced topological insulators convey lossless stream of electrons or light (retaining average amplitude) along their boundary, suppressing impact of topology's varying defects and scattering... robust electric, light and sound wave circuits"

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-unveils-shape-configurable-mxene-based-thermoacoustic-loudspeakers.html "2D MXene conductive nature and parylene's controllable thickness enables thermophonic speakers with superior performance... high SPL output 74.5 dB at 15 kHz and maintained stable for 14 days... 3D bi-/ omni- directional and deformation-independent sound in various bent, stretched-kirigami configurations using parylene substrate... parabolic and spherical versions with sound-focusing... ultra-thin, wearable, shape-deformation-induced sound control, immersive, active noise control, flexible active displays"

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-spider-silk-kind-microphone.html "flow microphone... analog and digital version... spider silk responds to sound motion of the air with perfect fidelity from 1 Hz to 50 KHz, broader frequency range with flatter frequency response than any microphone... velocity and pressure a more complete description of sound field... Soundskrit, patented,  begins mass production and distribution... unlike human hearing, doesn't even need to sense air pressure... improve treatments for hearing loss and other auditory problems" Related: Stretching spider silk makes it stronger https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075882 Amino acid 'stickers' help decode spider silk's strength and flexibility https://phys.org/news/2026-02-amino-acid-stickers-decode-spider.html

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-audio-images-silent-videos.html "can determine gender and exact words of someone speaking in room where photo was taken even if they were off-camera... voice near camera lens causes tiny vibrations bending light... smart phone photographic method makes it easier, scanning 1 row of pixels at a time hundreds of thousands times in single photo. So amplifies > thousand times amount of frequency information, audio granularity... As long as there is even a little bit of light, even photo pointed at ceiling... trained with machine learning... cybersecurity" Comment by Simon Derricutt at Revolution-Green: It's helped along by the fact that Apple phones no longer actually take photographs as a single image, but as a short video sequence of multiple photos. Allows you to select the frame that's best, for example where people aren't blinking. If you read the description carefully, though, the claim of "determine gender and exact w...

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-physicists-transmitted-vacuum.html "sound produces electricity which tunnels fully across vacuum gap between 2 piezoelectric solids... works with audio, ultrasound and hypersound frequencies, as long as gap size smaller than wavelength... In most cases the effect is small, but we also found situations where the full energy of the wave jumps across the vacuum with 100% efficiency, without any reflections. As such, the phenomenon could find applications in microelectromechanical components (MEMS, smartphone technology) and in the control of heat"

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-solar-cells-cheaper.html "allow cell removal revealing new, contaminant-free surface from within substrate does not require polishing... spalling standard GaAs layers large facets on substrate that consume extra material and may require planarization (via polishing or other methods) before the substrate can be reused... acoustic spalling takes seconds, within substrate parallel to surface control fracture, suppress facet formation and improve substrate flatness, surface less corrugated, minimal or no surface repreparation"

  https://phys.org/news/2023-06-device-door-quantum.html "flexible plates that are vibrated by sound waves at extremely high frequencies. When an electric charge is placed on those plates, they become able to interact with electrical signals carrying quantum information. This allows that information to be piped into the device for storage, and be piped out for later use—not unlike the door to the room into which you were shouting earlier in this story... based on microwaves... storage 2 orders magnitude longer"

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-sustainable-efficient-method-absorption-thermal.html "pectin converted into freeze-dried porous outperform commercial sound absorption such as glass and wool... pores various dimensions and scales... waste streams that are already being produced... local K-market for waste exchange and a chance to collect the orange peels from their juice pressing machine"

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-microchip-links-nobel-prize-winning-techniques.html "ceramic sheet (1000X thinner than hair) trampoline shaped patterned with holes to enhance interaction with lasers... trampoline's comb-like signature functions as ruler for distance measurement...  miniaturize on microchip... optical trap: using light to manipulate small particles with extreme precision in one spot... optical frequency combs: precise measurements of time and distance... high precision distance measurement in opaque materials, eg: underwater or medical imaging, using sound waves"

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-spinning-induced-next-generation-acoustic-devices-phonon.html "incident beams affected scattering induced by spinning object... radiation torque and force... single beam striking spinning cylinder produced negative radiation force... simple configuration involving single beam sufficient to build acoustic tweezers... additional uses of spinning fluids, such as nonreciprocal waveguiding and acoustic equivalents of the optical fiber to bring acoustic telecommunications one step closer to practical applications"

https://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/2022/05/31/direct-sound-printing-is-a-potential-game-changer-for-manufacturers-of-microdevices.html "polymer used additive manufacturing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)... transducer generate ultrasonic field passes through shell and solidifies the targeted liquid resin and deposits it onto a platform or another previously solidified object. The transducer moves along a predetermined path, eventually creating the desired product pixel by pixel. The microstructure’s parameters can be manipulated by adjusting the duration of the ultrasound wave’s frequency and the viscosity of the material being used"

https://phys.org/news/2022-05-custom-headphones-boost-atomic-radio.html "loop captures the incoming magnetic field, creating a voltage across the gaps... large electromagnetic field is developed across the gap... loop and gap sizes determine the natural, or resonant, frequency of copper structure... gap over 10 mm, limited by outside diameter available vapor cell... commercial mathematical simulator determine loop size needed... resonant frequency near 1.312 gigahertz... Rydberg atoms switch between energy levels... signal could be 130 times stronger... measured result hundredfold"

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-acoustic-propulsion-nanomachines.html "traveling ultrasound waves would be used... propulsion of nanoparticles depends on their orientation... particles will behave in applications and that the propulsion has the right properties for the particles to actually be used in these applications... nanoparticles could move through the bloodstream without blocking up the finest blood vessels... propulsion is also suitable for other fluids and for tissue" Related: Discovery of new mechanisms to control the flow of sound https://phys.org/news/2022-05-discovery-mechanisms.html Breaking boundaries in tiny labs: New technology using sound waves has implications for nanoparticle manipulation https://phys.org/news/2024-04-boundaries-tiny-labs-technology-implications.html