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SummaryFully homomorphic encryption (FHE) allows computing on encrypted data without decryption, but it’s currently slow on standard CPUs and GPUs.Intel’s Heracles chip accelerates FHE tasks up to 5,000 times faster than top Intel server CPUs.Heracles uses a 3-nanometer FinFET technology and high-bandwidth memory, enabling efficient encrypted computing at scale.Startups and Intel are racing to commercialize FHE accelerators, with potential applications in AI and secure data processing.Worried that your latest ask to a cloud-based AI reveals a bit too much about you? Want to know your genetic risk of d

Explore structured finite-element methodologies for analyzing transformer behavior under harmonic and transient conditions — covering modelling, solver configuration, and result validation techniques.What Attendees will LearnHow FEM enables pre-fabrication performance evaluation — Assess magnetic field distribution, current behavior, and turns-ratio accuracy through simulation rather than physical testing.How harmonic analysis uncovers saturation and imbalance — Identify high-flux regions and current asymmetries that analytical methods may not capture.How transient simulations characterize dynamic response — Examine time-domain current waveforms, inrush behavior, and multi-cycle stabilization.How

Innovation rarely happens in isolation. Usually, the systems that engineers design are shaped by global teams whose members’ knowledge and ideas move across borders as easily as data.That is especially true in my field of robotics and automation—where hardware, software, and human workflows function together. Progress depends not only on technical skill but also on how engineers frame problems and evaluate trade-offs. My career has shown me how cross-cultural experiences can shape the framing.Working across different cultures has influenced how I approach collaboration, design decisions, and risk. I am an IEEE member and a mechanical engineer at

When the Trump administration last year sought to freeze construction of offshore wind farms by citing concerns about interference with military radar and sonar, the implication was that these were new issues. But for more than a decade, the United States, Taiwan, and many European countries have successfully mitigated wind turbines’ security impacts. Some European countries are even integrating wind farms with national defense schemes.“It’s not a choice of whether we go for wind farms or security. We need both,” says

A simmering dispute between the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and Anthropic has now escalated into a full-blown confrontation, raising an uncomfortable but important question: who gets to set the guardrails for military use of artificial intelligence — the executive branch, private companies or Congress and the broader democratic process?The conflict began when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a deadline to allow the DOD

Through the Artemis Program, NASA hopes to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon in its southern polar region. China, Russia, and the European Space Agency (ESA) have similar plans, all of which involve building bases near the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs)—craters that contain water ice—that dot the South Pole-Aitken Basin. For these and other agencies, it is vital that these bases be as self-sufficient as possible since resupply missions cannot be launched regularly and take several days to arrive.

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! The functional replication and actuation of complex structures inspired by nature is a longstanding goal for humanity. Creating such complex structures combining so

Inside a cavernous hall at the Swiss-French border, the air hums with high voltage and possibility. From his perch on the wraparound observation deck, physicist Walter Wuensch surveys a multimillion-dollar array of accelerating cavities, klystrons, modulators, and pulse compressors—hardware being readied to drive a new generation of linear particle accelerators.Wuensch has spent decades working with these machines to crack the deepest mysteries of the universe. Now he and his colleagues are aiming at a new target: cancer. Here at

Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) using low earth orbit (LEO) satellites present unique technical challenges, from managing large satellite constellations to ensuring reliable communication links. In this webinar, we’ll explore how to address these complexities using comprehensive modeling and simulation techniques. Discover how to model and analyze satellite orbits, onboard antennas and arrays, transmitter power amplifiers (PAs), signal propagation channels, and the RF and digital receiver segments—all within an integrated workflow. Learn the importance of including every link component to achieve accurate, reliable system performance.Highlights include:Modeling large satellite constellationsAnalyzing and visualizing time-varying visibility and link closureUsing graphical apps for

No one had very high career aspirations for teenager David A. Weston—except for Weston himself. Growing up in London, he scored low on the U.K. national assessment test given to students finishing primary school. The result meant that his next path was either to become a laborer or attend a vocational school to learn a trade.What Weston really wanted to do was to work as a radio and TV repairman. He was fascinated by how the devices worked. He had taught himself to build an AM radio when he was 15. Even after showing it to his parents and teachers, though, they still didn’t think he was smart enough to pursue his chosen career, he says.David A