As of April 2021, there were an estimated 3.8 billion smartphone users in the world, or nearly half the global population of 7.8 billion. That has implications not only for communication and entertainment, but also safety. That has been shown during the coronavirus pandemic, as nations like Germany and Ireland…

British data scientist Clive Humby was famously quoted in 2006 as saying that “data is the new oil,” a statement that has been over-analyzed and occasionally criticized, but one that nonetheless retains its merits all these years later. Soon after Humby made that statement, Michael Palmer, executive vice president of…

It has long been known that graphene can serve as a superconductor or insulator. But in February 2021, MIT researchers discovered that this material, an atom-thick layer of carbon arranged in a hexagonal pattern, is even more versatile than anyone might have imagined: It also exhibits ferroelectrical qualities. …

The announcement on Jan. …

The 2017 song “Despacito,” by Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (and later re-mixed with no less a talent than Justin Bieber), remains one of the most popular songs of all time. Its music video surpassed three billion YouTube views in record time, and by the end of…

This post originally appeared on Hackernoon.com When first considering blockchain, we typically only consider what we see on the surface: a digital ledger technology used for increased security and efficiency in areas such as data storage, financial transactions, asset management and the like. But more and more, we are starting…

Concrete and discarded rubber tires represent two of the world’s greatest environmental hazards. Is it possible that a discovery by a team of Rice University scientists earlier this year could help curtail the impact of both? Using the same “flash” process that the team first introduced in 2020 — i.e…

Quantum computing has long been regarded as the next “big thing.” Now it’s looming ever larger on the horizon, and graphene is part of the reason for that. Dr. Rajamani Vijayaraghavan, head of the Quantum Measurement and Control Laboratory at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), told Swarajya Magazine…

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, self-cleaning surfaces have become a focal point of those looking to slow the spread of the virus. Enterprises as varied as a Long Island shopping mall and the Norfolk (Va.) Naval Shipyard transitioned to such materials on high-touch surfaces (door handles, elevator buttons…