Reporte #132
IBM and MIT to pursue joint research in artificial intelligence, establish new MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab
MIT News – Engineering
IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment in new lab with MIT to advance AI hardware, software, and algorithms.
Concluída a construção da maior central fotovoltaica flutuante do mundo
Engenharia Civil
O Governo Chinês anunciou a conclusão da construção da maior central fotovoltaica do mundo, nos arredores da cidade de Huainan, no Nordeste da China. A massiva estrutura flutuante com capacidade de 40 Megawatt encontra-se localizada num lago artificial com profundidade que varia entre 4 e 10 metros, resultante de uma antiga operação de mineração a céu aberto. É constituída por perto de 160 mil painéis fotovoltaicos assentes em módulos flutuantes.
Firebricks offer low-cost storage for carbon-free energy
MIT News – Engineering
Ancient technology could be used to level electricity prices for renewables.
Sistema de montagem e soldadura automática de elementos estruturais metálicos
Engenharia Civil
A fabricante alemã Zeman divulgou imagens do seu inovador sistema de montagem e soldadura automática (SBA) de elementos estruturais para construção metálica. Ao contrário dos processos tradicionais de assemblagem e ligação, que recorrem à colocação manual e soldadura sequencial dos diferentes componentes de aço, o sistema ZEMAN SBA permite uma automatização completa do processo, graças à utilização de um conjunto de braços robóticos de elevada precisão e dispositivos transportadores avançados.
Neighboring exoplanets may hold water, study finds
MIT News – Engineering
Observations and modeling suggest TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets may have held onto water, billions of years after their formation.
Team gathers unprecedented data on atmosphere’s organic chemistry
MIT News – Engineering
Colorado forest study provides clearest-ever picture of gases released into the atmosphere and how they change.
Lithium-ion battery boost comes without risk of fire or explosions
The Engineer
Researchers in the US have developed a lithium-ion battery that uses a water-salt solution electrolyte and reaches the 4V mark without fire and explosive risks.
Cancer probe distinguishes tumour cells from healthy tissue during surgery
The Engineer
Texas team develops handheld device that promises more accurate tumour removal.
R.I.P. SPARC and Solaris
IEEE Spectrum Recent Content
Oracle is laying off 983 employees at its Santa Clara facility, according to a notice filed with the California Employment Development Department and reported in the San Jose Mercury News, with 615 of those involved in hardware development. The cuts are essentially falling on teams working on the company’s SPARC processor and Solaris operating system, two technologies Oracle picked up when it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010. This follows layoffs of about 450 from those groups earlier this year.