IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150669
Lucas Laursen
{"title":"In Nigeria, Why Isn't Broadband Everywhere?: It Has 8 Undersea Cables, but Fiber-Optic Networks Miss Half the Country","authors":"Lucas Laursen","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150669","url":null,"abstract":"Under the shade of a cocoa tree, outside the hamlet of Atan, in southwest Nigeria, Bolaji Adeniyi holds court in a tie-dyed T-shirt. “In Nigeria we see farms as father's work,” he says. Adeniyi's father taught him to farm with a hoe and a machete, which he calls a cutlass. These days, he says, farming in Nigeria can look quite different, depending on whether the farmer has access to the Internet or not. Not far away, farmers are using drones to map their plots and calculate their fertilizer inputs. Elsewhere, farmers can swipe through security-camera footage of their fields on their mobile phones. That saves them from having to patrol the farm's perimeter and potentially dangerous confrontations with thieves. To be able to do those things, Adeniyi notes, the farmers need broadband access, at least some of the time. “Reliable broadband in Atan would attract international cocoa dealers and enable access to agricultural extension agents, which would aid farmers,” he says.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"22-31"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934394","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150668
David Schneider;Steven Searcy
{"title":"Dim Bulb, Bright Idea: This DIY Test Equipment is a Must-Have for Repairing Vintage Electronics","authors":"David Schneider;Steven Searcy","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150668","url":null,"abstract":"Recently I noticed an irresistible offer on Craigslist: a Majestic 3C70 AM/shortwave radio for just US $50. This model dates from the 1930s, when such radios came in gorgeous wooden cabinets. The specimen I stumbled on was still in the possession of the original owner, who used to listen to it with her family when she was a little girl. The wood and speaker fabric were nicely preserved, probably looking much as they did when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. I snatched it up.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"16-18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934441","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150644
Oluwatosin Kolade
{"title":"Lessons from a Janky Drone: What a Failed Class Project Taught Me About Engineering","authors":"Oluwatosin Kolade","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150644","url":null,"abstract":"The package containing the arducopter 2.8 board finally arrived from China, bearing the weight of our anticipation. I remember picking it up, the cardboard box weathered slightly from its journey. As I tore through the layers of tape, it felt like unwrapping a long-awaited gift. But as I lifted the ArduCopter 2.8 board out of the box, my heart sank. The board, which was to be the cornerstone of our project, looked worn out and old, with visible scuffs and bent pins. This was just one of a cascade of setbacks my team would face.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"38-49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934457","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150645
Allison Marsh
{"title":"Past Forward: The First Inkjet Printer Was a Medical Device","authors":"Allison Marsh","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150645","url":null,"abstract":"Millions of people worldwide have reason to be thankful that Swedish engineer Rune Elmqvist decided not to practice medicine. Although qualified as a doctor, he chose to invent medical equipment instead. In 1949, while working at Elema-Schonander (later Siemens-Elema), in Stockholm, he applied for a patent for the Mingograph, the first inkjet printer. Its movable nozzle deposited an electrostatically controlled jet of ink droplets on a spool of paper, recording physiological signals from a patient's electrocardiogram in real time. Nine years later, Elmqvist worked with cardiac surgeon Åke Senning to develop the first fully implantable pacemaker. So whether you're running documents through an inkjet printer or living your best life due to a pacemaker, give a nod of appreciation for Dr. Elmqvist and his creative career pivot.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"68-68"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11150645","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934463","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150666
G. Pascal Zachary
{"title":"What It Will Really Take to Electrify All of Africa: Don't Underestimate the Sub-Sahara's Grid Issues and Population Growth","authors":"G. Pascal Zachary","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150666","url":null,"abstract":"I dined Recently with Joe, a Nigerian who manages a 400-hectare rice farm in the north of his country. Nigeria imports about 2.4 million tonnes of rice annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farmers like Joe are helping to move his country of 237 million people toward self-sufficiency in rice.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"32-35"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934389","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150673
James Blanchard
{"title":"The Unlikely Revival of Nuclear Batteries: Startups Plan to Put them in Robots, Sensors, and Medical Implants","authors":"James Blanchard","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150673","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150673","url":null,"abstract":"In 1970, surgeons in paris implanted the first nuclear-powered pacemaker, and over the next five years, at least 1,400 additional people received the devices, mostly in France and the United States. Encased in titanium, the batteries for these devices contained a radioactive isotope—typically about a tenth of a gram of plutonium-238—and could operate for decades without maintenance. The invention provided relief to a population of people who previously needed surgery every few years to change out their pacemaker's chemical battery.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"42-48"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934523","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 : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150636
Margo Anderson
{"title":"The Data: Drones: Tomorrow's Cell Towers?","authors":"Margo Anderson","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150636","url":null,"abstract":"The future of wireless communication is today being sketched out in the skies and in space. A new generation of intelligent aerospace platforms—drones, airships, and satellites—will be part of tomorrow's 6G networks, acting as, in effect, base stations in the sky. They're expected to roll out in the earl 2030s.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"14-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934559","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 : 2025-07-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11074434
Edd Gent
{"title":"Careers: Javier Orman: The Violinist Fell in Love with the “Magic” of Machine Learning","authors":"Edd Gent","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11074434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11074434","url":null,"abstract":"Music and engineering might seem like career paths that are almost diametrically opposed. But for Javier Orman the transition from professional violinist to a machine learning engineer at LinkedIn was a surprisingly natural one.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 7","pages":"19-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11074434","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581465","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}