Mobile Computing News

August 29, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Switch on a Strange New Form of Magnetism in an Ultrathin Material

Aug. 27, 2026 Scientists have found a surprising way to potentially switch on an unusual form of magnetism in ruthenium dioxide, a material that normally appears nonmagnetic. When the material was made into an ...

NASA Just Used Satellites and Debris to Navigate Without GPS

Aug. 26, 2026 NASA has successfully tested a system that allows satellites to navigate without GPS by using other spacecraft and debris as landmarks in orbit. In just three days, FALCON also improved the known orbits of more than 200 space objects completely ...

A Tiny “Rainbow on a Chip” Could Help Supercharge 6G Networks

Aug. 24, 2026 Researchers have created a tiny chip that produces a stable “rainbow” of light capable of generating multiple high-frequency signals at once, potentially boosting the speed and capacity of future 6G networks. Its extreme precision could also ...

Screen Time at Ages 1 and 6 May Matter More Than Parents Realize

Aug. 24, 2026 More screen time during infancy and around the start of school was linked to poorer academic performance and weaker working memory years later. The findings suggest that early childhood may contain particularly sensitive windows when screen habits ...

This Frozen Fiber Makes Light and Sound Interact 1,000x More Strongly

Aug. 22, 2026 Freezing the liquid core of an optical fiber produced an extreme environment where light and sound interact more than 1,000 times more strongly than in ordinary fibers. Researchers used the effect to create optoacoustic memory, potentially paving ...

Caltech Breakthrough Brings Fiber-optic Performance to Silicon Chips

Aug. 17, 2026 Caltech scientists have created ultra-low-loss optical pathways on silicon chips that approach the efficiency of fiber optics and dramatically outperform existing technology at visible wavelengths. The breakthrough could unlock more powerful lasers, ...

Scientists Turn DNA Into a Memory Device That Uses 100x Less Power

Aug. 17, 2026 Researchers combined synthetic DNA with a semiconductor to create an ultra-low-power memory device capable of storing and processing information in the same place. The bio-hybrid technology could eventually help make AI systems and next-generation ...

Ordinary WiFi Can Now Identify You with Near-perfect Accuracy

Aug. 12, 2026 Ordinary WiFi networks could quietly become powerful surveillance tools, allowing people to be identified without cameras, special sensors, or even carrying a connected device. Researchers showed that unencrypted signals routinely exchanged between ...

A 0.42-nanometer Breakthrough Could Push Transistors Beyond Silicon

Aug. 9, 2026 Atomically thin semiconductors could enable dramatically smaller and more efficient chips, but a stubborn problem at the boundary between materials has limited their performance. Researchers have now engineered that atomic interface to protect ...

MIT’s New Lidar Chip Could Give Self-driving Cars a Wider View

July 22, 2026 MIT engineers have found a way to give chip-based lidar a wider, clearer view without relying on moving parts. Their design uses differently shaped antennas that can sit close together without scrambling one another’s signals. In tests, the system ...

New Programmable Photonic Chip Can Control How Fast Light Moves

July 21, 2026 Scientists have created a programmable optical chip that can slow light on demand, giving engineers far greater control over how optical signals propagate through a circuit. The technology could provide the delays, synchronization, and buffering ...

An Ordinary Laptop Solved a Problem Thought to Require a Quantum Computer

July 20, 2026 A quantum problem once described as impossible for classical computers has now been solved using relatively modest hardware. Researchers used tensor networks to compress the overwhelming wave function created by hundreds of entangled qubits, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:02am EDT

A 200-Year-Old Physics Experiment Could Help Build Future Computers

July 13, 2026 Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have discovered a surprisingly simple way to create exotic light structures called optical skyrmions using a 200-year-old optical effect ...

Harvard Scientists Turn a Silicon Chip Into a DNA Writing Machine

July 8, 2026 Scientists have created a silicon chip that can write dozens of DNA sequences simultaneously using electricity and water-based enzymes, offering a cleaner alternative to conventional DNA ...

New AI Model Reveals How Neutron Star Mergers Forge Heavy Elements

July 8, 2026 Researchers have created an AI-based simulation that makes it much faster to model how neutron star mergers produce many of the universe's heaviest elements. The new tool could improve predictions of ...

Incredible New Material Makes Heat Programmable

July 7, 2026 A newly developed material can control and "program" heat, allowing it to direct thermal radiation, switch modes, and remember its settings without continuous power. The innovation could lead to ...

Tiny Magnetic Waves Could Unlock Quantum Computers the Size of a Penny

July 2, 2026 A major breakthrough in quantum technology has turned magnons, tiny magnetic waves once considered too short-lived for practical use, into promising carriers of quantum information. Researchers ...

SpaceX Wants to Build AI Data Centers in Space. Will It Work?

June 18, 2026 The race to build data centers in space is gaining momentum as AI drives unprecedented demand for computing power. Orbital facilities could tap into abundant solar energy and avoid many of the ...

Superconductivity Breakthrough Could Unlock Ultra-Efficient Electronics

June 17, 2026 A clever nanoscale redesign may have solved one of superconductivity’s biggest problems. Researchers in Sweden discovered that by subtly sculpting the surface beneath an ultrathin superconducting ...

New Plasma Trick Could Unlock Smaller, More Powerful Computer Chips

June 17, 2026 A new technique could solve one of the biggest challenges in making future computer chips from ultrathin materials. Researchers found that coating molybdenum disulfide with oxygen or fluorine lets ...

Your Brain Was Never Designed for This Much Bad News

June 16, 2026 Humans evolved to pay close attention to danger, but today that instinct is being overwhelmed by an endless supply of bad news from around the world. Researchers say the answer isn’t to stop ...

Oxford Physicists Just Made Schrödinger’s Cat Even Stranger

June 15, 2026 Oxford physicists have created an entirely new type of Schrödinger’s cat-like quantum state using components that are themselves highly quantum in nature. The advance could open new possibilities ...

Brain-Inspired Chip Runs Near Absolute Zero and Could Transform Quantum Computing

June 12, 2026 Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have created a remarkable new type of brain-inspired chip that can function just above absolute zero, one of the coldest environments imaginable. By using a ...

This Strange Crystal Acts Like Metal and Glass at the Same Time

June 1, 2026 A remarkable crystal called molybdenum oxychloride could help make futuristic technologies like smart contact lenses and ultrathin AR glasses a reality. Scientists have created the first detailed ...

New 3D Silicon Chip Breakthrough Could Extend Moore’s Law for Years

May 30, 2026 As traditional chip miniaturization slows, researchers have found a way to pack more computing power into the same space by stacking silicon circuits in multiple layers. The new process uses ...

New Light-Powered Chip Could Accelerate AI and Quantum Computing

June 2, 2026 Scientists have created a tiny chip that can generate, steer, and read light-based information all in one device, marking a major leap toward ultra-fast, energy-efficient computing. The breakthrough ...

Forget Electrons, This Breakthrough Uses Light-Matter Particles to Power AI

May 18, 2026 Researchers at Penn have created a hybrid light-matter particle that could dramatically speed up AI computing while using far less energy. The breakthrough may help replace some electronic computing ...

NASA’s New AI Space Chip Could Let Spacecraft Think for Themselves

May 15, 2026 NASA is testing a next-generation space computer chip that could give spacecraft the ability to operate far more independently in deep space. The radiation-hardened processor is showing performance ...

Scientists Just Created Exotic New Forms of Matter That Shouldn’t Exist

May 4, 2026 A new quantum physics study reveals that simply changing a magnetic field over time can unlock entirely new forms of matter that don’t exist under normal conditions. By carefully “driving” ...

New AI Method Tackles One of Science’s Hardest Math Problems

May 6, 2026 Penn researchers have developed a smarter AI method for solving notoriously difficult inverse equations, which help scientists uncover hidden causes behind observable effects. By introducing ...

Scientists Built a Memory Chip That Breaks the Rules of Miniaturization

May 3, 2026 A new kind of memory device may finally solve the problem of overheating and battery drain in electronics. By shrinking components to an extreme scale and redesigning their structure, researchers ...

The Hidden Atomic Gap That Could Break Next-Generation Computer Chips

May 9, 2026 A major obstacle may be standing in the way of the next generation of ultra-tiny computer chips. Researchers discovered that many promising 2D materials lose their advantages because an invisible ...

Quantum AI Just Got Shockingly Good at Predicting Chaos

Apr. 17, 2026 Researchers have shown that blending quantum computing with AI can dramatically improve predictions of complex, chaotic systems. By letting a quantum computer identify hidden patterns in data, the AI ...

Artificial Neurons Successfully Communicate With Living Brain Cells

Apr. 18, 2026 Engineers at Northwestern University have taken a striking leap toward merging machines with the human brain by printing artificial neurons that can actually communicate with real ones. These ...

This New Chip Could Slash Data Center Energy Waste

Apr. 10, 2026 A new chip design from UC San Diego could make data centers far more energy-efficient by rethinking how power is converted for GPUs. By combining vibrating piezoelectric components with a clever ...

This New Chip Survives 1300°F (700°C) and Could Change AI Forever

Apr. 7, 2026 A team of engineers has created a breakthrough memory device that keeps working at temperatures hotter than molten lava, shattering one of electronics’ biggest limits. Built from an unusual stack ...

Laser-Powered Wireless Hits 360 Gbps and Uses Half the Energy of Wi-Fi

Apr. 2, 2026 A new breakthrough in wireless technology could dramatically boost internet speeds while cutting energy use—by switching from radio waves to light. Researchers have developed a tiny chip packed ...

Scientists Create Clear Nail Polish That Lets You Use Touchscreens With Long Nails

Mar. 26, 2026 Using a smartphone with long nails can be frustrating, forcing people to awkwardly tap with their fingertips instead of their nails. Now, researchers are working on a clear nail polish that could ...

This New Brain-Like Chip Could Slash AI Energy Use by 70%

Apr. 23, 2026 A breakthrough in brain-inspired computing could make today’s energy-hungry AI systems far more efficient. Researchers have engineered a new nanoelectronic device using a modified form of hafnium ...

This Donut-Shaped Discovery Just Shattered a 150-Year Math Rule

Apr. 22, 2026 A 150-year-old rule in geometry has been proven wrong. Mathematicians found two different doughnut-shaped surfaces that look identical when measured locally but are actually different overall. For ...

Harvard Engineers Build Chip That Can Twist and Control Light in Real Time

Mar. 21, 2026 Scientists at Harvard have built a miniature device that can twist and tune light in real time. By rotating two stacked photonic crystals and adjusting their spacing with a tiny mechanical system, ...

Scientists Finally See the Atomic Flaws Hiding Inside Computer Chips

Mar. 5, 2026 Researchers at Cornell University have developed a powerful imaging technique that reveals atomic scale defects inside computer chips for the first time. Using an advanced electron microscopy method, ...