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Ceremorphic unveils plans to build supercomputer infrastructure on 5 nanometer chips

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Supercomputing startup Ceremorphic has unveiled plans to deliver a complete silicon system built on 5 nanometer infrastructure.

The company says its system will provide the performance needed for next-generation applications such as artificial intelligence model training, high-performance computing, automotive processing, drug discovery, and metaverse processing.

Designed in advanced silicon geometry (TSMC 5nm node), this new architecture was built from the ground up to solve today’s high-performance computing problems in reliability, security and energy consumption to serve all performance-demanding market segments. [Read more…] about Ceremorphic unveils plans to build supercomputer infrastructure on 5 nanometer chips

Stakeholders’ sentiment can make or break a new CEO

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When a CEO steps down or is dismissed, the attention of the board is on how to choose the right executive to succeed that CEO.

However, Bocconi University professor Dovev Lavie claims that managing the process of introducing the new CEO and choking the negative sentiment that can arise among stakeholders in a moment of uncertainty could be a more critical task, especially when the new CEO comes from outside the firm.

The effect of such a negative sentiment, which is a form of psychological bias, on a firm’s performance is stronger than the implications of the new CEO’s previous experience and fit between the CEO’s corporate background and the appointing firm’s characteristics.

Professor Lavie and co-authors Thomas Keil (University of Zurich) and Stevo Pavi?evi? (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management), in a paper in-press on the Academy of Management Journal, investigate the link between the appointment of an outside CEO and a firm’s performance.

The appointment of outside CEOs has become increasingly common in recent years, with about a third of appointed CEOs originating from outside the firm. Yet most studies report that they underperform compared to inside CEOs and exhibit greater performance variability. [Read more…] about Stakeholders’ sentiment can make or break a new CEO

‘Vegan spider silk’ provides sustainable alternative to single-use plastics

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Researchers have created a plant-based, sustainable, scalable material that could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, created a polymer film by mimicking the properties of spider silk, one of the strongest materials in nature. The new material is as strong as many common plastics in use today and could replace plastic in many common household products.

The material was created using a new approach for assembling plant proteins into materials which mimic silk on a molecular level. The energy-efficient method, which uses sustainable ingredients, results in a plastic-like free-standing film, which can be made at industrial scale. [Read more…] about ‘Vegan spider silk’ provides sustainable alternative to single-use plastics

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Using waste heat to power an environmentally sustainable future

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In his most recent published research, appearing in Applied Thermal Engineering, City, University of London’s Dr Martin White explores a novel organic Rankine cycle system, based on a two-phase expansion through numerical simulations of the system.

His paper, Cycle and turbine optimisation for an ORC operating with two-phase expansion, considers the use of modern fluids whose properties could help to mitigate concerns around turbine damage, whilst allowing the benefits of two-phase expansion to be realised.

Waste heat from a range of industries, ranging from iron and steel to food and drink, is currently ejected into the environment. Thus, the recovery of this wasted energy could have a significant role in reducing the environmental footprint of the manufacturing sector and help to ensure future manufacturing practices are sustainable. [Read more…] about Using waste heat to power an environmentally sustainable future

Solid-state batteries line up for better performance

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Solid-state batteries pack a lot of energy into a small space, but their electrodes are not good at keeping in touch with their electrolytes.

Liquid electrolytes reach every nook and cranny of an electrode to spark energy, but liquids take up space without storing energy and fail over time.

Researchers are now putting solid electrolytes in touch with electrodes made of strategically arranged materials – at the atomic level – and the results are helping drive better solid-state battery technologies. [Read more…] about Solid-state batteries line up for better performance

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    Finding key to low-cost, fast production of solid-state batteries for electric vehiclesConventional Li-ion manufacturing tools drive better fabrication options for lighter, safer, more energy-dense batteries A new fabrication technique could allow solid-state automotive lithium-ion batteries to adopt nonflammable ceramic electrolytes using the same production processes as in batteries made with conventional liquid electrolytes. The melt-infiltration technology developed by materials science researchers…
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  • New storage battery more efficient and heat-resistant
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    New storage battery more efficient and heat-resistantAt the beginning of 2020, for the first time ever, renewable energy was able to cover more than half of the electricity consumed in Germany. But the more important renewable energy sources become, the more urgent is the need to store the electricity produced in this way. Green energy could…
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  • New material enables the usage of ‘calcium’ for batteries
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    New material enables the usage of ‘calcium’ for batteriesScientists from Tohoku University have developed a new fluorine-free calcium (Ca) electrolyte based on a hydrogen (monocarborane) cluster that could potentially realize rechargeable Ca batteries. The researchers say the new material, achieved by designing the coordination structure of Ca cation with a weakly coordinating anion and mixed solvents, shows markedly…
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  • Better batteries start with basics – and a big computer
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    Better batteries start with basics – and a big computerTo understand the fundamental properties of an industrial solvent, chemists with the University of Cincinnati turned to a supercomputer. UC chemistry professor and department head Thomas Beck and UC graduate student Andrew Eisenhart ran quantum simulations to understand glycerol carbonate, a compound used in biodiesel and as a common solvent.…
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Scientists discover ‘major cause’ of solar cell inefficiency

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Researchers in the materials department in UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering have uncovered a major cause of limitations to efficiency in a new generation of solar cells.

Various possible defects in the lattice of what are known as hybrid perovskites had previously been considered as the potential cause of such limitations, but it was assumed that the organic molecules (the components responsible for the “hybrid” moniker) would remain intact.

Cutting-edge computations have now revealed that missing hydrogen atoms in these molecules can cause massive efficiency losses. The findings are published in a paper titled “Minimizing hydrogen vacancies to enable highly efficient hybrid perovskites,” in the April 29 issue of the journal Nature Materials. [Read more…] about Scientists discover ‘major cause’ of solar cell inefficiency

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    Scientists use ‘sandwich’ model to make solar panels more efficientIn a world hungry for cheaper, more efficient renewable energy, Australian researchers have served up a treat. Work led by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science has shown that the two-dimensional (2D) thin films used in some perovskite solar cells closely resemble a sandwich. Perovskite is an exciting…
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Head to toe: Study reveals brain activity behind missed penalty kicks

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Are penalty shots a soccer player’s dream or nightmare? What should be an easy shot can become a mammoth task when the hopes and fears of an entire nation rest on a player’s shoulders, leading them to choke under pressure.

Understanding the brain activity behind choking is the driving force behind a new study in open-access journal Frontiers in Computer Science.

The study is the first to measure brain activity during penalty shots in a soccer pitch environment. It finds that people who choked activated areas of the brain involved in long-term thinking, suggesting that they were overthinking the consequences of missing the shot. [Read more…] about Head to toe: Study reveals brain activity behind missed penalty kicks

Open-source GPU technology for supercomputers

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Researchers from the HSE International Laboratory for Supercomputer Atomistic Modelling and Multi-scale Analysis, JIHT RAS and MIPT have compared the performance of popular molecular modelling programs on GPU accelerators produced by AMD and Nvidia.

In a paper published by the International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications, the scholars ported LAMMPS on the new open-source GPU technology, AMD HIP, for the first time.

The scholars thoroughly analysed the performance of three molecular modelling programs – LAMMPS, Gromacs and OpenMM – on GPU accelerators Nvidia and AMD with comparable peak parameters. [Read more…] about Open-source GPU technology for supercomputers

Small generator captures heat given off by skin to power wearable devices

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Scientists in China have developed a small, flexible device that can convert heat emitted from human skin to electrical power.

In their research, presented April 29 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the team showed that the device could power an LED light in real time when worn on a wristband.

The findings suggest that body temperature could someday power wearable electronics such as fitness trackers. [Read more…] about Small generator captures heat given off by skin to power wearable devices

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  • Stretching the boundaries of medical tech with wearable antennae
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    Stretching the boundaries of medical tech with wearable antennaeCurrent research on flexible electronics is paving the way for wireless sensors that can be worn on the body and collect a variety of medical data. But where do the data go? Without a similar flexible transmitting device, these sensors would require wired connections to transmit health data. Huanyu "Larry"…
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Stretching the boundaries of medical tech with wearable antennae

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Current research on flexible electronics is paving the way for wireless sensors that can be worn on the body and collect a variety of medical data. But where do the data go? Without a similar flexible transmitting device, these sensors would require wired connections to transmit health data.

Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, and two international teams of researchers are developing devices to explore the possibilities of wearable, flexible antennae.

They published two papers in April in Nano-Micro Letters and Materials & Design.  [Read more…] about Stretching the boundaries of medical tech with wearable antennae

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  • Small generator captures heat given off by skin to power wearable devices
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    Small generator captures heat given off by skin to power wearable devicesScientists in China have developed a small, flexible device that can convert heat emitted from human skin to electrical power. In their research, presented April 29 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the team showed that the device could power an LED light in real time when worn on…
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