ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Fire ants survive floods by forming rafts made up of thousands of wriggling insects. New research reveals how these creepy-crawly lifeboats change shape over time.

A new review paper on magnetic topological materials introduces the new theoretical concept that interweave magnetism and topology.

A new study proposes a framework featuring a more holistic picture of the cybersecurity landscape, along with a model that explicitly represents multiple dimensions of the potential impacts of successful cyberattacks.

Researchers have shown for the first time how to design the basic elements needed for logic operations using a kind of material called a liquid crystal -- paving the way for a completely novel way of performing computations.

A rare spectroscopy technique directly quantifies the energy required to bind two excitons together. The experiment harnessed interactions between real and virtual states to 'switch' the electronic state of an atomically-thin (2D) material. As well as improving fundamental understanding of biexciton dynamics and exotic new quantum materials, the study aids work towards biexciton-based devices such as compact lasers and chemical-sensors, and the search for future low-energy electronics based on topological materials.

Scientists found that ants and other natural systems use optimization algorithms similar to those used by engineered systems, including the Internet. These algorithms invest incrementally more resources as long as signs are encouraging but pull back quickly at the first sign of trouble. The systems are designed to be robust, allowing for portions to fail without harming the entire system. Understanding how these algorithms work in the real world may help solve engineering problems, whereas engineered systems may offer clues to understanding the behavior of ants, cells, and other natural systems.

Liquid crystals could soon be produced more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way. A new process has been developed. Compared to conventional methods, it is faster, more energy-efficient and promises a high yield. Liquid crystals are used in most smartphone, tablet and computer displays.

A series of experiments using paper airplanes reveals new aerodynamic effects, a team of scientists has discovered. Its findings enhance our understanding of flight stability and could inspire new types of flying robots and small drones.

To understand how hearing loss impacts people, researchers study people's ability to recognize speech, and hearing aid algorithms are often used to improve human speech recognition. Researchers explore a human speech recognition model based on machine learning and deep neural networks. They calculated how many words per sentence a listener understands using automatic speech recognition. The study consisted of eight normal-hearing and 20 hearing-impaired listeners who were exposed to a variety of complex noises that mask the speech.

The development of highly secure but simple and inexpensive encryption technology for the prevention of data leaks and forgeries is decidedly challenging. A research team has now introduced a 'double lock' based on thermoresponsive polymer hydrogels that encrypts information so that it can only be read at a specific window in temperature and time.

Semiconductor experiments reveal a surprising new source of conductivity from oxygen atoms trapped inside the material.

A new study challenges the conventional approach to designing soft robotics and a class of materials called metamaterials by utilizing the power of computer algorithms. Researchers can now build multimaterial structures without dependence on human intuition or trial-and-error to produce highly efficient actuators and energy absorbers that mimic designs found in nature.

A team has revamped the popular crop growth simulation software BioCro, making it a more user-friendly and efficient way to predict crop yield. The updated version, BioCro II, allows modelers to use the technology much more easily and includes faster and more accurate algorithms.

Researchers report that lab tests of a new metasurface-based antenna that can harvest 100 microwatts of power, enough to power simple devices, from low power radio waves. This represents an important step toward making it practical to harvest energy from radio waves, such as the ones used in cell phone networks or Bluetooth connections.