ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Researchers have used virtual reality and 3D eye-tracking technology to examine what drew the attention of the visitors when entering the stunning environment of an ancient Roman house. The team recreated the House of Greek Epigrams in 3D and tracked the gaze of study participants as they viewed the home.

Math is the language of the physical world, and some see mathematical patterns everywhere: in weather, in the way soundwaves move, and even in the spots or stripes zebra fish develop in embryos.

Researchers have developed a technique that leverages hardware and software to improve file system security for next-generation memory technologies called non-volatile memories (NVMs). The new encryption technique also permits faster performance than existing software security technologies.

Scientists have developed a pollen-based 'paper' that, after being printed on, can be 'erased' and reused multiple times without any damage to the paper.

Honey might be a sweet solution for developing environmentally friendly components for neuromorphic computers, systems designed to mimic the neurons and synapses found in the human brain. Hailed by some as the future of computing, neuromorphic systems are much faster and use much less power than traditional computers. Engineers have demonstrated one way to make them more organic too by using honey to make a memristor, a component similar to a transistor that can not only process but also store data in memory. They created the memristors by processing honey into a solid form and sandwiching it between two metal electrodes, making a structure similar to a human synapse. They then tested the honey memristors' ability to mimic the work of synapses with high switching on and off speeds of 100 and 500 nanoseconds respectively. The memristors also emulated the synapse functions known as spike-timing dependent plasticity and spike-rate dependent plasticity, which are responsible for learning processes in human brains and retaining new information in neurons.

Scientists propose an open platform for managing the vast amounts of diverse data produced in chemical research.

A research team has discovered that sandwiching a topological insulator between two 2D ferromagnetic insulators provides a quantum avenue towards ultra-low energy future electronics, or topological photovoltaics.

Though bicycle sharing systems (BSSs) are popular in many big cities, it is necessary to actively rebalance the number of bicycles across the various ports with optimization algorithms. In a recent study, researchers statistically analyzed the bicycle usage patterns in four real-world BSSs to obtain realistic benchmarks for testing these algorithms. Their findings can make BSS rebalancing more efficient through an understanding of the social dynamics of human movement.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of modern technology. Making AI 'emotionally intelligent' could open doors to more natural human-machine interactions. To do this, it needs to pick up on the user's sentiment during a dialog. Physiological signals could provide a direct route to such sentiments. Now, researchers from Japan take things to the next level with an AI with sentiment-sensing capabilities comparable to that of humans.