Daily Innovation News

June 7^th 2024

💻 Technology

🇮🇹 Italian researchers deploy AI-enabled drones to combat pests and reduce food waste

Researchers at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy have developed AI-enabled drones to help farmers fight pests like the brown marmorated stink bug more efficiently. These drones capture high-resolution images of orchards, allowing AI models to identify pest infestations with 97% accuracy. This innovative approach reduces labor and energy costs and can be integrated into pest management systems for better forecasting and adaptation to environmental changes. The findings were published in Pest Management Science.

⚡️ Energy

🇫🇮 Finnish researchers develop tree-based batteries to counter China’s lithium dominance

Finland's Stora Enso, in partnership with Swiss battery maker Altris, is developing sustainable batteries using lignin, a natural polymer from trees. This innovative material, called Lignode, can replace graphite in lithium and sodium batteries, providing a more stable and eco-friendly supply chain. These tree-based batteries aim to support Europe’s energy storage needs and reduce dependency on China's lithium supply, marking a significant step towards sustainable electrification.

🇬🇧 UK researchers develop water-based heat pump delivering 400% more heat than energy used

SeaWarm, a spin-off from the University of Edinburgh, has developed a Water Source Heat Pump (WSHP) that extracts thermal energy from various water bodies, delivering 400% more heat than the electricity it uses. This innovative system, currently being trialed at multiple sites in Scotland, uses the HotTwist technology to provide efficient heating and cooling by leveraging stable water temperatures. The eco-friendly WSHP offers a sustainable solution for reducing energy costs and carbon emissions, promising significant advancements in residential and commercial heating.

🚀 Space

🇪🇺 European scientists to install powerful alien-hunting tech on the world's largest telescope

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is set to develop and install the ANDES spectrograph on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile's Atacama Desert, aiming to detect signs of life on Earth-like exoplanets and analyze ancient stars. This cutting-edge instrument will break down light into wavelengths to determine the properties of celestial bodies, crucial for understanding their nature. ANDES will also test fundamental constants of physics and measure the universe’s expansion, marking a new era in astronomical research.

🦾 Robotics

🇨🇳 Chinese researchers develop world's first 3D e-skin, giving robots human-like touch

Scientists at Tsinghua University in China have developed the world's first three-dimensional (3D) electronic skin, capable of decoding pressure, friction, and strain in real time. This bio-inspired e-skin mimics the sensory functions of human skin and can be used in medical robots for early diagnostics or applied as a band-aid for real-time health monitoring. This innovation marks a significant advancement in biomedical diagnostics, humanoid robotics, and prosthetics, enabling precise detection of object properties and health metrics.

🇺🇸 US researchers propose sidewalk robots for snow shoveling and crossing guard duties

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have explored how collaborative design with people with disabilities can enhance sidewalk robots, potentially making them more accessible and useful. The study suggests robots could be employed for tasks such as snow shoveling, acting as crossing guards, providing directions, and reporting obstacles, making public spaces more navigable for everyone. By involving diverse stakeholders early in the design process, the researchers highlight opportunities for robots to perform valuable public service roles beyond just deliveries. The study was presented at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2024).

💊 Healthcare

🇨🇦 Canadian researchers develop oral insulin drops as an alternative to diabetes injections

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have created a sublingual insulin delivery method, offering a potential alternative to injections for diabetics. By placing insulin drops under the tongue, paired with a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) from fish byproducts, the insulin efficiently enters the bloodstream, bypassing the stomach. This innovative approach showed promising results in mice, effectively controlling blood glucose levels similar to injections. The research findings were published in the Journal of Controlled Release.

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