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Charging an EV at home doesn’t seem like an inconvenience—until you find yourself dragging a cord around a garage or down a rainy driveway, then unplugging and coiling it back up every time you drive the kids to school or run an errand. For elderly or disabled drivers, those bulky cords can be a physical challenge.As it was for smartphones years ago, wireless EV charging has been the dream. But there’s a difference of nearly four orders of magnitude between the roughly 14 watt-hours

Powering the AI data center boom dominated the conversation in the global energy sector in 2025. Governments are racing to develop the most advanced AI models, and data center developers are building as fast as they can. But no one is going to get very far without finding ways to generate and move more electricity to these power guzzlers.Spectrum’s most popular energy stories in 2025 centered around that theme. Readers were particularly interested in stories about next-generation nuclear power, such as small modular reactors and salt-cooled reactors, and how those technologies might support data centers. Readers also turned to Spectrum to learn about the strain all of this is putting on electricity grids, and new technologies to solve those problems.Despite the

Christina had tried dieting and exercise before. The weight always came off but then crept back on, especially after she gave birth to her son in 2022.She had hoped that a new class of weight-loss drugs might finally offer something different. Obesity treatments such as Wegovy and Zepbound had just arrived on the scene, helping people slim down with unprecedented ease. But the price tag of these GLP-1 drugs put them out of reach. Christi

The skies may have rained on this year’s big climate summit in Belém, Brazil, but engineers have invented plenty of exciting climate tech this year worth celebrating. Here are some of the year’s top IEEE Spectrum climate technology stories:1. Device Uses Wind to Create Ammonia Out of Thin Air

SummaryJoby Aviation is realizing Uber’s original “Elevate” dream, moving electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from science fiction toward commercial reality.By 2026, Joby aims to inaugurate the world’s first integrated air taxi network—in Dubai—leveraging aggressive local infrastructure investment to bypass Western bureaucratic hurdles.The plan includes “vertiports” at strategic hubs like Dubai International Airport, creating the essential physical and digital ecosystem required for reliable point-to-point urban flight.While facing a cautious FAA in th

In 2025, many of IEEE Spectrum‘s top consumer electronics stories were about about creating the experience you want with technology. Open-source software offered more customization for laptops and displays, devices with less distracting design received recognition with a new certification, and smart glasses manufacturers forged paths to figure out what users really want in the wearable tech. Other stories highlighted the fascinating fundamental tech in our smartphones, like how your new iPhone stays cool and the potential for its camera to gather information beyond what the human eye can see. And we considered the effects of U.S. tariffs from the Trump administration.We�

SummaryIn data-center terms, scaling out involves linking computers, while scaling up packs more GPUs into a computer, challenging copper’s physical limits.Copper cables face a phenomenon at high data rates at high data rates that necessitate wider wires and more power, complicating a data center’s dense connections.Point2 and AttoTude propose radio-based cables, offering longer reach, lower power consumption, and narrower cables than copper, without the cost and complexity of optics.Startups aim to directly integrate radio cables with GPUs, easing cooling needs and enhancing data-center efficiency.

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! Happy Holidays from Boston Dynamics!

Rarely a week went by in 2025 without some newsworthy development related to rare earth elements, magnets, and electric motors. IEEE Spectrum was on top of the big ones, starting with the production of industrial quantities of the rare-earth oxides of neodymium and praseodymium at the Mountain Pass mine and processing facilities in California’s Mojave desert.Between 1965 and the mid 1980s, the Mountain Pass mine produced as much as 70 percent of the world’s annual supply of rare earths, which are used in nearly all powerful permanent magnets. But following a string of reversals and environmental mishaps, the facil

“AI is not going to take your job. The person who uses AI is going to take your job.”This is an idea that has become a refrain for, among others, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has publicly made the prediction several times since October 2023. Meanwhile, other AI developers and stalwarts say the technology will eliminate countless entry-level jobs. These predictions have come at the same time as reports of layoffs at c