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This paper discusses how RF propagation simulations empower engineers to test numerous real-world use cases in far less time, and at lower costs, than in situ testing alone. Learn how simulations provide a powerful visual aid and offer valuable insights to improve the performance and design of body-worn wireless devices.Download this free whitepaper now!

In 1930, a young physicist named Carl D. Anderson was tasked by his mentor with measuring the energies of cosmic rays—particles arriving at high speed from outer space. Anderson built an improved version of a cloud chamber, a device that visually records the trajectories of particles. In 1932, he saw evidence that confusingly combined the properties of protons and electrons. “A situation began to develop that had its awkward aspects,” he wrote many years after winning a Nobel Prize at the age of 31. Anderson had accidentally discovered antimatter.Four years after his first discovery, he codiscovered another elementary particle, the muon. This one prompted one physicist to ask, “Who ordered that?”

Nonmedical devices that read brainwaves, such as smart headbands, headphones, and glasses, are becoming more popular among consumers. The products claim to make users more productive, creative, and healthier. IEEE Spectrum previewed several of these

At times, it can seem like efforts to regulate and rein in AI are everything, everywhere, all at once.China issued the first AI-specific regulations in 2021. The focus is squarely on providers and content governance, enforced through platform control and recordkeeping requirements. In Europe, the

As a kid in the 1970s, I watched the Apollo moon missions on TV, drawn like a curious moth to the cathode-ray tube’s glow. The English band Pink Floyd blared through the speakers of my mom’s Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, beckoning us to the dark side of the moon.The far side of the moon, the term most scientists prefer, is indeed dark (half the time), cold, and inhospitable. There’s regolith and a couple of Chinese landers—Chang’e 4 in January 2019 and Chang’e 6 in June 2024—and not much else. That could change in abo

Assistive technology is expensive, and many people with disabilities live on fixed incomes. Disabled assistive tech users also must contend with equipment that was often designed without any capacity to be repaired or modified. But assistive tech users ultimately need the functionality they need—a wheelchair that isn’t constantly needing to be charged, perhaps, or a hearing aid that doesn’t amplify all background noise equally. Assistive tech “makers,” who can hack and modify existing assistive tech, have alw

There’s an interesting development in amateur ballooning: using so-called superpressure balloons, which float high in the atmosphere indefinitely rather than simply going up and up and then popping like a normal weather balloon. Superpressure balloons can last for months and travel long distances, potentially circumnavigating the globe, all the while reporting their position.You might imagine that an undertaking like this would be immensely difficult and cost thousands of dollars. In fact, you can build and launch such a balloon for about the cost of a fancy dinner out. You just have to think small! That’s why amateur balloonists call them pi

As fairies for the Irish or leeks for Welsh,it’s the secret lives of small hidden machines,their junctures, and networks that inspire me:Mystic hidden functionaries that makeour made world live, brave little servo motors,whose couplers, whose eccentric fire-filledsensors are encased in bakelite with brassscrews, who stare with red eyes, who gauge moisture,who notice tiny motions and respond,whose cooling fans call out in white-noiseregisters like older folk singers–I canalmost hear their earlier songs, their strong voicesnow yelps, their thumps, th

This article is part of our exclusive career advice series in partnership with the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society. In your career, you are likely to face many choices and job opportunities. One I faced was whether to participate in a development project involving teams from around the world. It presented a great opportunity for personal and professional enrichment.Throughout my 40-year career with

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 this week’s videos! Westwood Robotics is proud to announce a major update: THEMIS Gen2.5, the world’s first commercial full-size humanoid robot capable of manipulation