Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a high-throughput computational method to design new materials for next generation solar cells and LEDs. Their approach generated 13 new material candidates for solar cells and 23 new candidates for LEDs. Calculations predicted that these materials, called hybrid halide semiconductors, would be stable and exhibit…
New Technology Encodes and Processes Video Orders of Magnitude Faster Than Current Methods
Computer scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a new technology that can encode, transform and edit video faster–several orders of magnitude faster–than the current state of the art. They presented their work at the ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing, Oct. 11 to 13 in Carlsbad, Calif. The system, called Sprocket, was…
‘Building Up’ Stretchable Electronics To Be As Multipurpose As Your Smartphone
SDSC’s ‘Comet’ Supercomputer Extended Into 2021
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego a supplemental grant valued at almost $2.4 million to extend operations of its Cometsupercomputer by an additional year, through March 2021. The extension brings the value of the total Cometprogram to more than $27 million. Since entering service in May…
Rocket Development Gets A ‘Colossal’ Boost
The University of California San Diego’s chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) conducted a successful live fire test of its static rocket engine test stand, Colossus, in the Mojave Desert on June 16. The undergraduate students decided to develop Colossus when they ran into a roadblock in 2016 as they…
Flexible Ultrasound Patch Could Make It Easier To Inspect Damage In Odd-Shaped Structures
Researchers have developed a stretchable, flexible patch that could make it easier to perform ultrasound imaging on odd-shaped structures, such as engine parts, turbines, reactor pipe elbows and railroad tracks—objects that are difficult to examine using conventional ultrasound equipment. The ultrasound patch is a versatile and more convenient tool to inspect machine and building parts for defects…
4-D Camera Could Improve Robot Vision, Virtual Reality And Self-Driving Cars
Engineers at Stanford University and the University of California San Diego have developed a camera that generates four-dimensional images and can capture 138 degrees of information. The new camera—the first-ever single-lens, wide field of view, light field camera—could generate information-rich images and video frames that will enable robots to better navigate the world and understand certain aspects…
Engineers Harness The Power Of 3-D Printing To Help Train Surgeons, Shorten Surgery Times
A team of engineers and pediatric orthopedic surgeons are using 3D printing to help train surgeons and shorten surgeries for the most common hip disorder found in children ages 9 to 16. In a recent study, researchers showed that allowing surgeons to prep on a 3D-printed model of the patient’s hip joint cut by about…
‘Near-Zero-Power’ Temperature Sensor Could Make Wearables, Smart Devices Less Power-Hungry
Electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a temperature sensor that runs on only 113 picowatts of power — 628 times lower power than the state of the art and about 10 billion times smaller than a watt. This near-zero-power temperature sensor could extend the battery life of wearable or implantable…
3-D-Printed, Soft, Four Legged Robot Can Walk On Sand And Stone
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the first soft robot that is capable of walking on rough surfaces, such as sand and pebbles. The 3D-printed, four-legged robot can climb over obstacles and walk on different terrains. Researchers led by Michael Tolley, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of California San…
New Tool Allows Scientists to Visualize ‘Nanoscale’ Processes
Chemists at UC San Diego have developed a new tool that allows scientists for the first time to see, at the scale of five billionths of a meter, “nanoscale” mixing processes occurring in liquids. “Being able to look at nanoscale chemical gradients and reactions as they take place is just such a fundamental tool in…
Study: Surgeons Receive Most Payment from Suppliers
The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, passed under the Affordable Care Act, requires all pharmaceutical and medical device companies to report payments to physicians, including consulting fees, gifts, speaking fees, meals, travel and research grants. This information is searchable to the public on a database called Open Payments, managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medical…
Engineers Give Invisibility Cloaks a Slimmer Design
Researchers have developed a new design for a cloaking device that overcomes some of the limitations of existing “invisibility cloaks.” In a new study, electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego have designed a cloaking device that is both thin and does not alter the brightness of light around a hidden object. The…
Bird Feather-Inspired Nanomaterials Play with Light to Create Color
Inspired by the way iridescent bird feathers play with light, scientists have created thin films of material in a wide range of pure colors – from red to green – with hues determined by physical structure rather than pigments. Structural color arises from the interaction of light with materials that have patterns on a minute…
Security Flaws Found in Backscatter X-Ray Scanners
A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University have discovered several security vulnerabilities in full-body backscatter X-ray scanners deployed to U.S. airports between 2009 and 2013. In laboratory tests, the team was able to successfully conceal firearms and plastic explosive simulants from the Rapiscan…
Researchers Find Security Flaws in Backscatter X-Ray Scanners
A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University have discovered several security vulnerabilities in full-body backscatter X-ray scanners deployed to U.S. airports between 2009 and 2013. In laboratory tests, the team was able to successfully conceal firearms and plastic explosive simulants from the Rapiscan…
Superconductivity Could Form at High Temperatures in Layered 2D Crystals
An elusive state of matter called superconductivity could be realized in stacks of sheetlike crystals just a few atoms thick, a trio of physicists has determined. Superconductivity, the flow of electrical current without resistance, is usually found in materials chilled to the most frigid temperatures, which is impractical for most applications. It’s been observed at…
Using Stolen Computer Processing Cycles to Mine Bitcoin
Who does it and how much do they make? A team of computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, has taken an unprecedented, in-depth look at how malware operators use the computers they infect to mine Bitcoin, a virtual currency whose value is highly volatile. Researchers examined more than 2,000 pieces of malware…
Petaflop-Level Earthquake Simulations on Supercomputers
A team of researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a highly scalable computer code that promises to dramatically cut both research times and energy costs in simulating seismic hazards throughout California and elsewhere. The team, led…
Photos of the Day: Nature Inspired Design
Joanna McKittrick and Marc Meyers, from the materials science program at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, examine the three characteristics in a wide range of materials, from spider silk, to lobster and abalone shells, to toucan beaks and porcupine quills. Lessons learned from these materials could lead to better body armor,…