A sweeping new analysis finds that rising global temperatures will dampen the world’s capacity to produce food from most staple crops, even after accounting for economic development and adaptation by farmers.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Empa have developed a new image sensor made of perovskite. This semiconductor material enables better colour reproduction and fewer image artefacts with less light. Perovskite sensors are also particularly well suited for machine vision.

Fraunhofer IAF is presenting the latest version of its compact integrated quantum magnetometer at World of Quantum in Munich. The diamond-based system is characterized by its robustness, high integration density, and state-of-the-art measurement sensitivity. Thanks to its easy calibration, high sensitivity of a few picotesla, and high dynamic range, it offers new measurement possibilities for a wide range of applications in biomedicine, materials testing, navigation, and geology.

The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has reached a groundbreaking milestone in humanoid robotics by demonstrating the first flight of iRonCub3, the world’s first jet-powered flying humanoid robot specifically designed to operate in real-world environments. The research team studied the complex aerodynamics of the artificial body and developed an advanced control model for systems composed of several interconnected parts. The overall work on iRonCub3, including real flight tests, took about two years. In the latest experiments, the robot was able to lift off the floor by approximately 50 cm while maintaining its stability. The achievement paves the way for a new generation of flying robots capable of operating in complex environments while maintaining a human-like structure. The aerodynamics and control studies have been described in a paper published today in Nature Communications Engineering, an open access journal from the Nature Portfolio.