spectrum.ieee.org

Walk into a typical data center and one of the first things that jumps out at you is the noise—the low, buzzing sound of thousands of fans: fans next to individual computer chips, fans on the back panels of server racks, fans on the network switches. All of those fans are pushing hot air away from the temperature-sensitive computer chips and toward air-conditioning units.But those fans, whirr as they might, are no longer cutting it. Over the past decade, the power density of the most advanced computer chips has exploded. In 2017, Nvidia came out with the V100 GPU, which draws 300 watts of power. Most of that power dissipates back out as heat. Three ye

The bacteria Geobacter sulfurreducens came from humble beginnings; it was first isolated from dirt in a ditch in Norman, Oklahoma. But now, the surprisingly remarkable microbes are the key to the first ever artificial neurons that can directly interact with living cells.G. sulfurreducens communicate with each other through tiny, protein-based wires that researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have harvested and used to make artificial neurons t

This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore. The rapid buildout of fast-charging stations for electric vehicles is testing the limits of today’s power grid. With individual chargers drawing 350 to 500 kilowatts (or more), which makes charging times for EVs now functionally equivalent to the fill-up time for a gasoline or diesel vehicle, full charging sites can reach megawatt-scale demand. That’s enough to str

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.World Robot Summit: 10–12 October 2025, OSAKA, JAPANIROS 2025: 19–25 October 2025, HANGZHOU, CHINAEnjoy today’s videos! There are two things that I really appre

This is a sponsored article brought to you by ADIPEC.Returning to Abu Dhabi between 3 and 6 November, ADIPEC 2025 – the world’s largest energy event – aims to show how AI is turning ideas into real-world impact across the energy value chain and redrawing the global opportunity map. At the same time, it addresses how the world can deliver more energy – by adding secure supply, mobilizing investment, deploying intelligent solutions, and building resilient systems.AI as energy’s double-edged swordAcross heavy industry and utilities, AI is cutting operating costs, lifting productivity, and improving energy efficiency, while turning data into real-time decisions that prevent failures and optimize output. Clean-energy and enabling-technology investment is set to reach

Without support from her family, Mini Thomas says, she would not have had a successful career in academia.The IEEE senior member has held several leadership positions in India, including dean of engineering at the Delhi Technological University (formerly the Delhi College of Engineering) and (the first female) president of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Today she is a professor of electrical engineering at

In the drive to make a practical quantum computer, researchers are developing bigger and better quantum networks—ones with capabilities that will complement and enhance quantum computing. Put another way, building a functioning quantum network that can exchange many qubits securely, over long distances, could be a useful end goal completely apart from the quantum-computer race.In that vein, Cisco launched a quantum-networking soft

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Taro and delivered to your inbox for free!Cursor, the AI-native code editor, recently reported that it writes nearly

The internet’s next existential crisis won’t be disinformation or deepfakes. It will be copper.The world is building AI like it’s Minecraft, stacking data centers, transmission lines, and cooling systems with little regard for the physical limits beneath them. Everyone is focused on models and computation, but few acknowledge the metal that makes them run.Every piece of modern electrical infrastructure—not just AI—depends on copper. AI data centers are simply accelerating demand. One hyperscale facility can require tens of thousands of tonnes of copper. For example, one Microsoft data center

Physics simulations have a problem—engineers who need those simulations’ results often don’t have time to wait. Add in real-world settings with multiple independent calculations required (for example, separate thermal, mechanical, and electromagnetic elements in the system), and “multiphysics” computations that are both realistic and real-time might seem an either-or proposition.Coders and modelers gathering in Burlington, Mass. this week will be exploring new inroads to multiphysics on-the-go in the COMSOL simulation software environment. Over three