IEEE Spectrum

The latest technology news and analysis from the world's leading engineering magazine.

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Last Notes

2026-07-09 22:26:03 UTC

Happy tenth birthday to the Megaprocessor, a giant CPU built from 42,300 hand-soldered transistors. Explore the full seven-panel, two-meter-tall wonder in our interview with creator James Newman. https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-megaprocessor-laughs-at-your-puny-integrated-circuits
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/892/366/393/387/339/original/3b15dc1f8322f4b1.jpeg

2026-06-22 19:30:00 UTC

Videos intended to hold people in power accountable are being run through surveillance databases and may later be used to identify some of the same people who made the footage. This is the surveillance ouroboros. https://spectrum.ieee.org/unintended-consequences-video-surveillance?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-04-20 19:30:00 UTC

This chip is a Wi-Fi receiver that still works inside a nuclear reactor. It can endure 500 kilograys of radiation. https://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics-in-nuclear-industry?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-04-12 14:30:00 UTC

As funding uncertainties and visa restrictions bite, U.S. engineering Ph.D. programs are seeing lower interest from international students. This could lead to future shortages in key technology fields. https://spectrum.ieee.org/us-engineering-phd-enrollment-drop?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-27 23:00:08 UTC

The reasoning given by the Trump administration for shutting down wind farms was due to concerns about interrupting military radar and sonar. But now offshore wind farms can be integrated into national defense programs, boosting sensing technologies. https://spectrum.ieee.org/offshore-wind-military-radar?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-23 19:00:07 UTC

While we don't have access to the astrophage from #ProjectHailMary in real life, scientists are designing space probes that rely on the same basic principle it uses to travel between the stars: very low mass objects accelerated to very high speeds using photons. It would take these probes about 60 years to reach Tau Ceti. https://spectrum.ieee.org/high-speed-interstellar-travel
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/280/027/096/458/454/original/81c91273b76903dd.png

2026-03-20 19:30:00 UTC

Humans have collaborated with AI to formally verify two versions of the sphere packing problem, a Fields Medal winner in 2022. An AI tool called Gauss helped to create the Lean code that verified the mathematical result. https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-proof-verification?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-20 14:30:00 UTC

Being a power engineer is a high-risk job in Ukraine, as Russia is intent on destroying the electrical grid. It's now about finding new solutions, working on backups, and bravery. https://spectrum.ieee.org/repair-ukraine-power-grid?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-09 14:30:00 UTC

Mainstream data storage techniques inevitably break down. Microsoft is trying to store data etched in glass because of its resistance to temperature and moisture levels. https://spectrum.ieee.org/glass-data-storage-microsoft-silica?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-07 15:30:00 UTC

The majority of carbon emissions from data centers actually come from the devices that access them, so we’re missing a crucial measurement when reporting on data center sustainability. https://spectrum.ieee.org/data-center-sustainability-metrics?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-04 15:30:00 UTC

LLMs can translate as well as most humans. Only experienced translators working for 10 or more years in their field could beat them in a recent test. https://spectrum.ieee.org/chatgpt-translate-skills-human-comparison?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-03-02 15:30:01 UTC

Prices for the DRAM used to feed GPUs in AI data centers have skyrocketed, leaving personal computer makers and other manufacturers in a bind. When will supply rise to meet demand? https://spectrum.ieee.org/dram-shortage?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-02-25 21:30:19 UTC

Last night, the Vera Rubin Observatory sent out 800,000 alerts for changes it spotted in the night sky. What do they all mean? https://spectrum.ieee.org/vera-rubin-observatory-first-images
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/133/397/606/252/719/original/1c09eb2dcc27254f.jpeg

2026-02-12 20:30:14 UTC

Wikipedia’s editors and readers have a dangerous generational gap. Can it become something that serves younger audiences, or will it remain stuck in the past? https://spectrum.ieee.org/wikipedia-at-25?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2026-02-10 14:30:14 UTC

Physicists are facing a problem: massive experiments, mountains of data—and few breakthroughs. Could #AI help them find what they’ve been missing? Our new feature explores how machine learning is reshaping particle physics: https://spectrum.ieee.org/particle-physics-ai
Read on for article highlights (1/8)

2026-02-07 16:00:03 UTC

The Great Refactor initiative aims to convert open-source software from C and C++ into Rust, a more secure language. Rust is specifically designed to prevent memory exploits from occurring. https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-code-rust-great-refactor?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-12-23 20:30:00 UTC

The UK has a power transmission problem. Wind farms in Scotland are producing huge amounts of energy, but getting it flowing to London in the south is costly.
New grid-enhancing technologies allow more #power to be transferred across the grid, without building new power lines.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/grid-congestion-uk?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-12-10 15:30:00 UTC

Human traffickers often post photos of their victims in hotel rooms. This app is asking people to take photos of their hotel rooms, so analysts can determine where the photos were taken. https://spectrum.ieee.org/traffickcam-human-trafficking-hotel-ai?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-10-14 19:30:00 UTC

Scientists have developed a method of measuring heart rate through wifi, bypassing the need to wear any equipment on your body. It works by filtering our noise and detecting the change in signal amplitude between heartbeats. https://spectrum.ieee.org/wi-fi-signal-heartbeat-detection?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-10-02 14:30:02 UTC

Scientists have found a simple way for any conventional smartphone camera to serve as a hyperspectral sensor, reporting what molecules are in its photo. Identifying chemicals present in photos could be used in medical diagnostics, distinguishing authentic versus counterfeit products, monitoring air quality, and non-destructive analysis of pigments in artwork. https://spectrum.ieee.org/hyperspectral-imaging?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-09-17 19:30:00 UTC

Computer #programming is, at its core, creative. If you’ve lost your spark, try checking out one of Daniel Temkin’s 44 esoteric coding languages. It’s not about making sense, it’s about stretching the limits of what a programming language can be, and what a community of programmers can do together.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/esoteric-programming-languages-daniel-temkin?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-08-25 19:30:00 UTC

AI lies to us. That’s why Jaime Fernández Fisac created a “bullshit index” to track how and why AI is misleading its users. https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-misinformation-llm-bullshit?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-08-19 19:30:02 UTC

A new solar panel is here that concentrates the sun’s light onto smaller areas. It extracted about 50 percent more power than previous designs. It’s also cheaper, using less than one-thousandth of the expensive semiconductor materials required by normal panels. https://spectrum.ieee.org/solar-panels-micro-cpv?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-08-16 14:30:00 UTC

New grid-scale battery sites in Scotland are stabilizing the power supply with their ability to quickly inject power and current during emergencies, just like fossil fuel plants do. One site already proved its worth when it leapt into action after a wood-burning generator unexpectedly shut down.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/grid-scale-battery-scotland?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-08-11 19:30:00 UTC

GPS systems can be jammed and spoofed. Quantum gravity sensors can't be fooled. A prototype tested in Australia provided a ship with accurate navigation with no GPS sensing for 144 hours.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-gravity-sensor?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-06-26 19:30:00 UTC

JPEG’s resilience in the digital world isn’t just about image quality. How does this image format still rule the web?
https://spectrum.ieee.org/jpeg-image-format-history?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-Mastodon-Daily-Pipeline

2025-06-10 17:37:11 UTC

When Sojourner went to Mars, Marie Curie, its less-famous twin, stayed home on Earth. NASA used Marie Curie to mimic Sojourner’s movements in a Mars-like setting, testing algorithms and strategies.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/mars-pathfinder-rover

2025-05-27 16:02:42 UTC

Hi Mastodon!
IEEE Spectrum is an award-winning technology magazine, dedicated to bringing you the best technology news and analysis.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/