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The first time she tried to seduce me,(atoms falling in a vacuum)she asked about blackberries—(every mass exerts some gravity)Did I know their season, where they grow?(galvanometers, gravimeters)I could answer both easily—(tools to measure small attractions)down the dirt road in September.(devices that report, don’t interfere)She eagerly went there with me,(variations in readings occur)We ate more berries than we kept.(electron exchange may explain this)The sweet dark juice painted our lips.(equilibrium then entropy)

Data centers for AI are turning the world of power generation on its head. There isn’t enough power capacity on the grid to even come close to how much energy is needed for the number being built. And traditional transmission and distribution networks aren’t efficient enough to take full advantage of all the power available. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA),

IEEE has enhanced its standing as a trusted, neutral authority on the role of technology in climate change mitigation and adaption. Last year it became the first technical association to be invited to a U.N. Conference of the Parties on Climate Change.IEEE representatives participated in several sessions at COP30, held from 11 to 20 November in Belém, Brazil. More than 56,000 delegates attended, including policymakers, technologists, and representatives from industry, finance, and development agencies.Following the conference, IEEE helped host the selectiv

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNAEnjoy today’s videos! So, humanoid robots are nearing peak human performance. I would point out, though, that this is likely very far from

More money has been invested in AI than it took to land on the moon. Spending on the technology this year is projected to reach up to $700 billion, almost double last year’s spending. Part of the impetus for this frantic outlay is a conviction among investors and policymakers in the United States that it needs to “beat China.” Indeed, headlines h

In the rapidly evolving world of engineering technology, professionals devote enormous energy to such tasks as mastering the latest frameworks, optimizing architectures, and refining machine learning models. It’s easy to let technical expertise become the sole measure of professional value. However, one of the most important skills an engineer can develop is the capacity to write and communicate effectively.Whether you’re conducting research at a university or leading systems development projects at a global firm, your expertise can become impactful only when you share it in a way that others can understand and act upon. Without a cl

One day soon, a doctor might prescribe a pill that doesn’t just deliver medicine but also reports back on what it finds inside you—and then takes actions based on its findings.Instead of scheduling an endoscopy or CT scan, you’d swallow an electronic capsule smaller than a multivitamin. As it travels through your digestive system, it could check tissue health, look for cancerous changes, and send data to your doctor. It could even release drugs exactly where they’re needed or snip a tiny biopsy sample before passing harmlessly out of your body.This dream of a do-it-all pill is driving a surge of research into ingestible electronics: smart capsules designed to monitor and even treat disease from inside the gastroint

At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Singapore-based startup Strutt introduced the EV1, a powered personal mobility device that uses lidar, cameras, and onboard computing for collision avoidance. Unlike manually-steered

Join Hannah Alpert (NASA Ames) to explore thermal data from the record-breaking 6-meter LOFTID inflatable aeroshell. Learn how COMSOL Multiphysics® was used to perform inverse analysis on flight thermocouple data, validating heat flux gauges and preflight CFD predictions. Attendees will gain technical insights into improving thermal models for future HIAD missions, making this essential for engineers seeking to advance atmospheric reentry design. The session concludes with a live Q&A.Register now to watch this free on-demand webinar!

In 2024, Google claimed that their data centers are 1.5x more energy efficient than industry average. In 2025, Microsoft committed billions to nuclear power for AI workloads. The data center industry tracks power usage effectiveness to three decimal places and optimizes water usage intensity with machine precision. We report direct emissions and energy emissions with religious fervor.These are laudable advances, but these metrics accou