IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727653
David Schneider
{"title":"Catch an Asteroid's Shadow: Watch Space Rocks Obscure Stars with this DIY Telescope Rig","authors":"David Schneider","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727653","url":null,"abstract":"I've seen two total solar eclipses and have been duly impressed by what happens as the moon casts its shadow on Earth. But recently I've become even more intrigued by a similar phenomenon that doesn't involve the sun or the moon—something called an asteroid occultation.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"14-16"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727655
Emily Waltz
{"title":"The Hemorrhaging of Electricity: One way to Meet Rising Energy Demand is to Stop Losing Electricity to Heat and Theft","authors":"Emily Waltz","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727655","url":null,"abstract":"It's disheartening how much power gets generated and then promptly lost as it travels through grid networks. This leaking of electricity happens when it vanishes as heat as well as when it is pilfered by thieves and nonpaying customers.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"2-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11727655","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149125450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727651
Allison Marsh
{"title":"Past Forward: The Keyboard That Moved Markets","authors":"Allison Marsh","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727651","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727651","url":null,"abstract":"Introduced in 1982, the Bloomberg Terminal was designed to give Wall Street traders and analysts quick access to a wide range of financial data along with the ability to model market scenarios, produce yield curves, make investment calculations, and even place a trade. The function keys on the computer terminal's keyboard were color coded and labeled according to their usage. Keyboard shortcuts let the user easily call up information on government securities, corporate debt, or currency markets. Throughout the finance industry, mastering the Bloomberg Terminal and learning how to digest the vast amount of information displayed on screen became a rite of passage.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"52-52"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11727651","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727660
Brandon Keim
{"title":"Beyond the Lab Rat: Tech to Replace Animal Testing is Almost Ready. Scientists are Not","authors":"Brandon Keim","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727660","url":null,"abstract":"Seventeen years ago, cell biologist Donald Ingber and his colleagues at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering submitted a paper to the journal Science describing their model human lung. It was smaller than a USB stick and made of a clear polymer slab containing narrow channels, which were lined with the type of cells that line a lung's air sacs and blood vessels. When air was pumped through hollow chambers beside the channels, the device rhythmically expanded and contracted—it “breathed.”","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"30-49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149125470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727603
Lawrence Ulrich
{"title":"Why Rivian is Building Its Own Brain: Remaking Itself into an AI Powerhouse May be the Only Way to Beat Tesla","authors":"Lawrence Ulrich","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727603","url":null,"abstract":"I'M SITTING IN A RIVIAN R1S SUV as it drives itself down the leafy streets of Palo Alto, Calif., through areas crowded with touchstones of tech history. We cruise near the landmark HP Garage, the one-car workshop where Hewlett- Packard and, arguably, Silicon Valley, was founded in 1939. We skirt Stanford University, where a team led by computer science professor Sebastian Thrun won a US <tex>${$}$</tex>2 million DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005. The team's Volkswagen SUV, named Stanley, became the world's first vehicle to navigate a grueling 212-kilometer Mojave Desert course with no human intervention.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"36-41"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149125494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727657
Edd Gent
{"title":"Careers: Barbara Mazzolai: After Taking Inspiration from Nature, She Wants Robotics to Give Back to the Environment","authors":"Edd Gent","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727657","url":null,"abstract":"Throughout her career, roboticist Barbara Mazzolai has turned to nature for inspiration. Now she wants to ensure the technology she builds gives back to the environment, too.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"17-18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11727657","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727644
Mini Shaji Thomas
{"title":"The Epic Comeback of Delhi's Power Grid: The City Used to Lose Half of its Power Through Old Equipment and Theft. Now Its Grid is World-Class","authors":"Mini Shaji Thomas","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11727644","url":null,"abstract":"It's 6 a.m. on a cold January morning in 2002 in New Delhi. It's still dark outside, and I'm in the kitchen preparing breakfast, packing lunches, and getting my two children ready to catch the school bus when, for the third time in a week, the power goes out. No lights, no mixer to finish my daughter's puttu—her favorite rice dish—no kettle, no toaster. The bathroom is dark, and the kids are upset.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 10","pages":"20-29"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}