Apple patents keyboard with dynamically changing key functions

Apple may be preparing to reinvent the keyboard.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-apple-patents-keyboard-dynamically-key.html

Controlling the nanoscale structure of membranes is key for clean water, researchers find

A desalination membrane acts as a filter for salty water: push the water through the membrane, get clean water suitable for agriculture, energy production and even drinking. The process seems simple enough, but it contains complex intricacies that have baffled scientists for decades—until now.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nanoscale-membranes-key.html

Stretching diamond for next-generation microelectronics

Diamond is the hardest material in nature. But out of many expectations, it also has great potential as an excellent electronic material. A joint research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has demonstrated for the first time the large, uniform tensile elastic straining of microfabricated diamond arrays through the nanomechanical approach. Their findings have shown the potential of strained diamonds as prime candidates for advanced functional devices in microelectronics, photonics, and quantum information technologies.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-diamond-next-generation-microelectronics.html

Spontaneous robot dances highlight a new kind of order in active matter

Predicting when and how collections of particles, robots, or animals become orderly remains a challenge across science and engineering.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-spontaneous-robot-highlight-kind.html

COVID-19 dominates annual list of banished words, terms

Even as vaccines are being rolled out to battle the coronavirus, wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University in Michigan's Upper Peninsula say they want to kick any trace of it from the English language.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-covid-dominates-annual-banished-words.html

Magnitude 3.6 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake has jolted the San Francisco Bay Area on the last day of 2020.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-magnitude-earthquake-jolts-san-francisco.html

They were experts in viruses, and now in pitfalls of fame

Dr. Ashish Jha started 2020 thousands of miles from home, taking a sabbatical in Europe from his academic post at Harvard. Then the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the U.S.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-experts-viruses-pitfalls-fame.html

Startup Volcon joins Austin area's electric vehicle scene, plans new HQ

The Austin area's electric-powered vehicle sector continues to power up, as Volcon – a startup focused on off-road electric vehicles – is planning a new headquarters a manufacturing site in Central Texas.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-startup-volcon-austin-area-electric.html

With Sezzle now worth more than $1 billion, CEO describes a year on a rocket ship

During the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend two years ago, about 8,000 people for the first time used Sezzle Inc.'s payment system when they shopped online.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-sezzle-worth-billion-ceo-year.html

The tech refugees bringing Tesla software chops to every car

It's about the software, silly. For all of Tesla's battery wizardry, the company's equally impressive coup has been creating a vehicle that can be updated and improved from afar as easily as a smartphone. And while other automakers are finally making long-range electric vehicles, Tesla has a considerable head start in crafting a computer-like car.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-tech-refugees-tesla-software-car.html

Changes, challenges: The not-so-secret life of pandemic pets

Olivia Hinerfeld's dog Lincoln and Kate Hilts' cat Potato have something in common: They both like to interrupt Zoom calls as their owners work from home.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-not-so-secret-life-pandemic-pets.html

Light-responsive E. coli functional biofilms as scaffolds for hydroxyapatite mineralization

Living organisms have evolved mechanisms of biomineralization to build structurally ordered and environmentally adaptive composite materials. While research teams have significantly improved biomimetic mineralization research in the lab, it is still difficult to engineer mineralized composites with structural features and living components much like their native counterparts. In a new report now published on Nature Chemical Biology, Yanyi Wang and a research team in physics, advanced materials, synthetic biology, and engineering in China, developed living patterned and gradient composites inspired by natural graded materials. They coupled light-inducible bacterial biofilm formation with biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) mineralization in this work, to show how the location and degree of mineralization could be controlled. The cells in the composites remained viable while sensing and responding to environmental signals. The composites showed a 15-fold increase in Young's modulus (i.e., stiffness, the ratio between stress and strain) after mineralization. The work sheds light to develop living composites with dynamic responsiveness and environmental adaptability.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-light-responsive-coli-functional-biofilms-scaffolds.html

Robots with rhythm: Boston Dynamics' dancing androids a hit

These robots have rhythm.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-robots-rhythm-boston-dynamics-androids.html

Well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino found in Siberia

A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-well-preserved-ice-age-woolly-rhino.html

Facebook to close Irish units at center of tax dispute

Facebook confirmed Wednesday it was closing its Irish subsidiaries at the center of a dispute on profit shifting to avoid taxes in the United States.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-facebook-irish-center-tax-dispute.html

Amazon to buy hit podcast producer Wondery

Amazon said Wednesday it signed a deal to acquire the hit podcast production firm Wondery, in a move which boosts the US tech giant's efforts to round out its offerings from its music platform.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-amazon-podcast-wondery.html

Indonesia in $9.8 bln electric vehicle battery deal with Korea's LG

Indonesia said Wednesday it had signed a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery deal with South Korea's LG as it moves to become a global production hub for the green technology.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-indonesia-bln-electric-vehicle-battery.html

Eastern Caribbean issues rare alerts for rumbling volcanoes

Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are rumbling to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists rush in to study activity they say hasn't been observed in years.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-eastern-caribbean-issues-rare-rumbling.html