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Category: transportation

New study reveals surprising side effects linked to driving electric vehicles: ‘It … has an immediate impact’

Next, the study’s authors will examine whether more ZEVs are associated with fewer asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

Their work adds to the extensive research on whether EVs are better for the planet long-term than their gas-powered counterparts. Despite imperfections such as mining, the findings are clear on that front. The USC team is showing that when it comes to the air we breathe and public health, the benefits of EVs are undeniable.

“These findings show that cleaner air isn’t just a theory—it’s already happening in communities across California,” declared Sandrah Eckel, the study’s lead author.

The world’s longest underwater high-speed train is now in progress, set to link two continents beneath the sea

On a foggy morning off the coast of Finland, the sea looks perfectly ordinary. A few fishing boats, a cargo ship on the horizon, the low hum of engines and gulls complaining overhead. Yet under that flat grey surface, survey vessels are tracing invisible lines, mapping the seabed for something that sounds like science fiction: a high‑speed train that will dive under the Baltic and emerge on another continent.

On deck, an engineer in a neon jacket points to the radar screen like someone tracing the outline of a new city. He talks about boring through rock, laying tracks where only fish and submarines have passed. His words hang in the cold air.

Soon, a train will cross here faster than most people cross a city.

The $350 Million Gamble: Intel Seizes First-Mover Advantage in the High-NA EUV Era

As of January 2026, the global race for semiconductor supremacy has reached a fever pitch, centered on a massive, truck-sized machine that costs more than a fleet of private jets. ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) has officially transitioned its “High-NA” (High Numerical Aperture) Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems into high-volume manufacturing, marking the most significant shift in silicon fabrication in over a decade. While the industry grapples with the staggering $350 million to $400 million price tag per unit, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has emerged as the aggressive vanguard, betting its entire “IDM 2.0” turnaround strategy on being the first to operationalize these tools for the next generation of “Angstrom-class” processors.

The transition to High-NA EUV is not merely a technical upgrade; it is a fundamental reconfiguration of how the world’s most advanced AI chips are built. By enabling higher-resolution circuitry, these machines allow for the creation of transistors so small they are measured in Angstroms (tenths of a nanometer). For an industry currently hitting the physical limits of traditional EUV, this development is the “make or break” moment for the continuation of Moore’s Law and the sustained growth of generative AI compute.

Sloshing liquefied natural gas in cargo tanks causes higher impact forces than expected

What happens if liquefied natural gas (LNG) hits the wall of the cargo tanks in a ship? New research from the team of physicist Devaraj van der Meer from the University of Twente, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that much higher pressure peaks can occur during impact than previously assumed. This insight is important for the design and safety of LNG ships and future liquid hydrogen transport systems.

Normally, a thin layer of air prevents a liquid from hitting a surface directly. The gas acts as a cushion and dampens the blow. In LNG ships, that air has been replaced by vapor from the LNG itself. And that vapor can condense back into liquid during impact. As a result, the cushion disappears, and the load on the wall increases sharply.

AI House Davos

Embodied AI refers to AI integrated into physical systems that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world through sensors and actuators, like robots and autonomous vehicles. This fireside conversation explores how advances in AI like vision–language–action models are redefining what machines can understand and do, especially as we move from navigation to mobile manipulation. The speakers discuss how quickly today’s rapid progress in AI might transfer to robotics and embodied systems, and how soon we can expect to see these technologies making a tangible impact on our daily lives.

Speakers.
Yann LeCun (Advanced Machine Intelligence, Founder and Executive Chairman)
Marc Pollefeys (ETH Zürich and Faculty, ETH AI Center, Professor)

© AI House Davos 2026
Founders & Strategic Partners:
ETH AI Center, Merantix, G42, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, EPFL AI Center, The University of Tokyo.

Presenting Partners:
KPMG.

AI in Charge: Large-Scale Experimental Evidence on Electric Vehicle Charging Demand

Asynchronous firing and off states in working memory maintenance.

Mozumder, Wang et al. use high-density recordings in macaque prefrontal and parietal cortex to show that working memory is sustained by asynchronous spiking activity without prolonged silent periods. Off states are characterized by relatively decreased information decoding and are synchronized between areas. The balance between asynchronous firing and off states determines memory maintenance.

Silicon Is Coming to Smartphone Batteries for a Big Energy Boost

A novel lithium-ion battery that uses silicon in its anodes may have the highest energy density of any battery currently commercially available. Its manufacturer, Enovix, says it has shipped the new battery to a leading smartphone company for a debut in mobile phones later this year.

Many of the lithium-ion batteries that power everything from mobile devices to electric cars use graphite in their anodes. However, for decades, researchers have investigated silicon as a replacement for this graphite. In theory, silicon offers roughly 10 times the energy density of graphite in lithium-ion batteries.

“Basically, graphite holds on to lithium using holes in its structure,” says Raj Talluri, CEO of Enovix. “In contrast, with silicon in the anodes—usually a silicon oxide or a silicon carbide—lithium actually chemically combines with the silicon to form a new material. This lets a silicon-based anode hold on to much more lithium than graphite during charging. When the battery discharges, the silicon material goes back to its original state.”

With some help from AI, your next move can be predicted

AI might know where you’re going before you do. Researchers at Northeastern University used large language models, the kind of advanced artificial intelligence normally designed to process and generate language, to predict human movement.

How RHYTHM predicts human movement RHYTHM, their innovative tool, “can revolutionize the forecasting of human movements,” forecasting “where you’re going to be in the next 30 minutes or the next 25 hours,” said Ryan Wang, an associate professor and vice chair of research in civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern.

The hope is that RHYTHM will improve domains like transportation and traffic planning to make our lives easier, but in extreme cases, RHYTHM could even be deployed to respond to natural disasters, highway accidents and terrorist attacks.

New heat-shrinking method integrates electronic circuits on irregular shapes

Most electronics are built on flat, stiff boards, which makes it incredibly difficult to fit them onto curved and irregular shapes we find in the real world, such as human limbs or curved aircraft wings. While flexible electronics have made some progress, they are often not durable enough or are too complex to manufacture for everyday use.

Smart Golden Cities of the Future: 1 Hour Exploring Nature & Sci-Fi Innovation in 2050

Step into the future with “Smart Golden Cities of the Future”, a 1-hour journey exploring how technology and nature will merge to create sustainable, intelligent cities by 2050. In this immersive video, we’ll dive deep into a world where urban spaces are powered by Sci-Fi innovation, green infrastructure, and advanced technologies. From eco-friendly architecture to autonomous transportation systems, discover how the cities of tomorrow will function in harmony with the environment. Imagine a future with clean energy, smart public services, and a thriving connection to nature—where sustainability and futuristic technology drive every aspect of life. Join us for an hour-long exploration of the Smart Cities of 2050, as we uncover the incredible possibilities and challenges of creating urban spaces that work for both people and the planet. ✨ This video was created with passion and love for sharing creative production using AI tools such as: • 🧠 Research: ChatGPT • 🖼️ Image Creation: Leonardo, Midjourney, ImageFX • 🎬 Video Production: Veo 3.1, Runway ML • 🎵 Music Generation: Suno AI • ✂️ Video Editing: CapCut Pro 💡 Note: All of the above AI tools are subscription-based. This project combines imagination and creativity from my perspective as a mechanical engineer who loves exploring the future. 🙏🏻 Please Support: • ✅ Subscribe • 👍 Like • 💬 Comment Thank you so much for watching!I hope you enjoy this journey and gain inspiration from this creative experience ❤️ #SmartCities #Sustainability #FutureOfLiving #SciFiInnovation #EcoFriendlyCities #midjourney #veo3 #sunoai

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