IEEE Spectrum

Scientists in Japan zap seeds with cold plasma device to shorten harvest

Wealth and poverty maps from mobile phone metadata could guide economic policy

Hit Victrola records made owning music fashionable

IEEE Spectrum’s roundup of gadgets for the techie in your life

By prioritizing the dynamic parts of a scene, machines can capture images more efficiently

Two San Francisco startup incubators, two companies from Estonia, and two low-cost approaches to one idea: connecting existing window shades to the Internet

The digital currency is at the center of linguistic, as well as financial, innovation

The new technique could help scan for cancer, stroke, heart disease

We take a close look at the FAA Task Force recommendations for mandatory drone registration

How to use single electrons for probing magnetic fields

The open-source movement hits the airwaves

The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s a good time to pause and reflect—about what new robots to get

Self-assembly process offers promising approach to producing nanowires at a lower cost

At stake is not only adherence to the law but the way software is integrated into the total package

Nuclear authorities are convinced that two idled Belgian reactors can operate safely despite thousands of flaws in their pressure vessels. Independent experts concur

The cold-cathode traveling-wave tube, an ultracompact, ultraefficient source of RF waves, may finally be within reach

Simple production method also creates a moisture-resistant barrier on water-sensitive perovskites

The country has slipped off the list of the 500 most powerful machines

A specialty processor diagnoses critically ill infants in record time

Energy could be stored as heat, hydrogen

A new jetpack, stabilized with high-­tech gyroscopes, could help astronauts navigate low-gravity environments

A new study shows that improved aircraft designs and air traffic management could slash aviation emissions

An investigation into dynamic random-access memory chip failure reveals surprising hardware vulnerabilities

Will a failed launch allow these navigation satellites to do some fundamental physics?

New graphene production could enable electronics over large and flexible substrates

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos

The first demonstration of growing electronic wires inside plants could change the meaning of green energy

Pocket refrigerators, whirling heat sinks, and more

Ohio calls itself "first in flight," perhaps California should adopt as its motto "a day late and a dollar short"

​There's no better opportunity to ask, What could possibly go wrong?

A light-powered motor pushes around a molecule-size submarine

You can find any fact (but many are false) and any site—except those that have gone missing

Gadgets use colored light to try to change behavior

Robotics labs at MIT and Northeastern will both get their very own "superhero robot" on loan

Face time promotes empathy, curiosity, and learning

Physicists pin their hopes on new magnets and fast lasers

Energous founder and CTO Michael Leabman answers (most of) our questions about their wireless charging technology

University of Tehran researchers unveiled yesterday the latest generation of their adult-sized humanoid

The only moving parts are the propellers

Iron pyrite-based quantum dots enable Li-ion batteries to charge in seconds over repeated cycles

This expert on ultrahigh-voltage systems has intimate access to the world’s most powerful places

If you think STEM education needs to happen in preschool, this would be the way to do it

Finland issues first permit for long-term nuclear waste repository

Tomorrow’s megavolt transmission lines need breakers that can withstand titanic forces

More crickets needed

Driverless cars for the Tokyo Olympics are part of a plan to boost the economy

Higher-resolution, lower-cost circuit and component analysis from ultrashort laser pulses

New Cherenkov telescope for astrophysics could image Mt. Etna's innards

Robotic hands-free luggage, door-to door-delivery bots, and more

The TOP500 ranking shows little change in the world's fastest supercomputers