Make an Origami Circuit Board

What could you do if you could make a circuit trace by just bending a piece of paper? How about bridging modern technologies and traditional handicrafts while providing opportunities for learning skills in both.As part of our interdisciplinary research into digital craftsmanship … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

AI Is Designing Radio Chips That Humans Couldn’t Even Imagine

SummaryRFIC design is a complex “dark art” that limits progress in wireless technologies like 5G, autonomous vehicles, and satellite communications.Princeton researchers use reinforcement learning and inverse design to rapidly create RFICs from scratch.Diffusion models rapidly ge … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Home Broadband Is 5G’s Surprise  Killer App

5G telecommunications, according to industry hype when 5G first launched in 2019, was going to be all about buzzy applications like mobile augmented reality and autonomous vehicles. But the surprise plot twist came when replacing home cable internet turned into 5G’s most widely a … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Why the U.S. Uses Only Half of Its Grid Capacity

By most accounts, the United States appears poised to fall woefully short of meeting new electricity demand over the next five years as data centers and domestic manufacturing proliferate.Ian MagruderIan Magruder is the founder of Utilize Coalition and previously served as direct … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

AI Is Learning to Read the Room

Imagine sitting down at your desk and logging in for a performance review, with an AI system analyzing the conversation. You’ve been working long hours, balancing deadlines, and your manager asks how you’re doing. You say you’re fine, and maybe even smile, but there’s a hint of h … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Commemorating 70 Years of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the transformative, strategic technology of the early 21st century. It is significantly reshaping practically every aspect of our lives, including in ways that probably no one anticipated. Its rate of adoption and impact have been unprecedented when com … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

War Taught this Ukrainian Entrepreneur the Value of Resilience

Salome Mikadze-Struk is no stranger to adversity. The daughter of refugees, she built a software-development business as an undergraduate at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and kept it running despite the outbreak of war in her native Ukraine. Now, she’s drawing on her experi … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

IEEE Rolls Out Large Language Models Virtual Training Course

Large language models have moved out of the research lab and into engineers’ daily workflow. LLMs serve as reasoning engines that can orchestrate complex tasks including identifying vulnerabilities in source code and transforming fragmented project discussions into rigorous techn … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

What Amazon’s Astro Taught Me About Giving Robots a Soul

In 2018, Amazon brought me in as the lead UX Sound Designer for Astro, their first consumer home robot. Astro used cameras and other sensors to map and navigate your home and workplace, and could proactively patrol, check up on loved ones, and transport small items using its buil … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

IEEE’s 2026 Education Week Events Emphasized Lifelong Learning

The rapid evolution of the global engineering landscape requires continuous education. For one week in April, the IEEE community focuses on its educational frameworks. IEEE Education Week, which just concluded its fifth year, provided a comprehensive overview of the resources ava … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Behind the Scenes of a Technical Interview

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!I’ve sat on both sides of the in … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

How Musicians Can Get Paid for Training AI

Musicians are accustomed to getting paid each time their creative work is used. Across vinyl/CD sales, streams, radio, cover versions, and those numerous niches like karaoke, there are agreements in place about what “use” means. Underlying this is a simple economic principle: The … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

The Secret to Marathon-Winning Humanoid Robots

On April 19, 2026, the Honor Lightning humanoid robot ran a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by 7 minutes and the best robot time from 2025 by almost two hours.How did they do it? Is there some magical technology or technique that unlocke … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Engineering Is Critical to Boosting Food Security

Nearly 750 million people face hunger today, according to the U.N. World Food Program. And by 2050, global demand for food is expected to increase by 50 percent from 2010 levels, the World Resources Institute says.A smart agriculture special-issue report recently released by the … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

This 1976 University Experiment Spun Up the U.S. Wind Industry

A half century ago, a scrappy crew at the University of Massachusetts Amherst erected a wind turbine on Orchard Hill, the highest point on campus. It was a frugal production, cobbled together from the rear axle of a Ford truck, a donated generator and microcontroller, a steam pip … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Award-Winning Researcher Trains Robots to Make Educated Guesses

Yen-Ling Kuo always wanted to understand how things worked. When she was growing up in Taiwan, reading the story of Michael Faraday in elementary school piqued her curiosity about the natural world. During that time, she was introduced to Logo, a computer program with a turtle cu … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Why Orbital Data Centers Are Harder Than Silicon Valley Thinks

“Space computing, the final frontier, has arrived,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared at the Nvidia GTC conference in March.Indeed, the idea of data centers in orbit has gone from science fiction to a serious spending category. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has acquired xAI (also Musk’s) and … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

EPICS in IEEE’s Awards Honor Outstanding Students and Faculty

The EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) in IEEE program, administered by IEEE Educational Activities, has launched the Excellent EPICS in IEEE Contributor Awards. The recognitions honor the program’s outstanding students and faculty volunteers in Excellent Team Lead … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

We Are Crowd-Sourcing the Panopticon

A man raises his phone as police move into a crowd. The video is shaky, loud, immediate. Within minutes, it is online. Within hours, it is everywhere. This is how accountability works now. Something happens, someone records it, and that footage can show what really happened, some … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

What Size Company Is Right for You?

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!Small Startup, Mid-Size Company, … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

The Pros and Cons of Job Hopping as an Engineer

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!Job Hopping as an Engineer: The … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

The Computer Science Degree Isn’t Dead

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!The CS Degree Isn’t Dead. The En … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

Beyond Dexterity: Why Contact May Define the Next Era of Robotics

This article is brought to you by AGILINK.Throughout the exhibition hall at the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics (ICRA), in Vienna, one demonstration seemed to attract a disproportionate amount of attention.Two robotic hands were making a balloon dog. Slowly and del … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 1 month ago

IEEE Celebrates Technology’s Brightest Minds at Annual Event

New York City was the backdrop of this year’s IEEE Honors Ceremony, held on 24 April.The event celebrates engineering pioneers who have developed technologies that have changed how people connect and learn about the world. This year’s celebrants included the engineers behind inno … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

50 Years of The Institute

The Institute is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Launched in 1976, the publication was designed to keep members informed about IEEE and what its constituents were doing, as well as to report on the organization’s initiatives, technical standards, products, and service … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

7 Ways New Engineers Can Flourish in the Age of AI

New graduates’ careers are unfolding in an era when AI is not optional. The most successful engineers treat artificial intelligence as leverage, not competition.Here are seven tips to help keep young professionals in demand no matter how quickly the field’s tools evolve.1. Master … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

What It Takes for Future-Ready Power Distribution

This sponsored article is brought to you by Black & Veatch.The biggest challenge facing utilities today isn’t what it seems. It’s not demand, even as load growth accelerates. It’s not extreme weather, even as “major events” become routine. It’s not cybersecurity, even as connecti … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

IEEE President’s Note: Designing a Safer Digital World for Kids

Children born after 2013 are the first generation to grow up fully immersed in digital systems, which weren’t designed with them in mind. One‑third of the world’s Internet users are younger than 18, according to UNICEF, yet these systems shaping their daily lives were built for a … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Why Sardinians Are Fighting the Renewable Energy Transition

“Not in my backyard” is the rallying cry of citizens everywhere resisting projects proposed for their locality. Whether it’s affordable housing, a waste treatment plant, or a new data center, they may recognize the benefit of the activity. They just don’t want it near them. And t … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

This DIY Bipedal Robot Used Pneumatic “Air-Muscles” Instead of Motors

In 1987, Richard Greenhill, a British photographer who was fascinated by (but had no actual training in) robotics, decided he wanted to build a life-size humanoid that could do useful things, like carrying luggage. He was working at a startup called Intergalactic Robots, but he c … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Poetry for Engineers: Cyborg Laboratory

This is the place where you face yourself,the you that could be you with a fewdifferent parts, a pump for your heart,eyes off color, and fresh off the shelffake hair (a bit obvious), skin smoothed.You’re not perfect, but it’s a good start.Down to small digits, you’ll be improved. … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Make a Soft Digital Clock Tick With Millifluidics

Electrons are great. We use them to move vehicles, illuminate cities, and, of course, compute. But computation is not confined to the world of electronics. And shifting to alternative nonelectronic realms can unlock unique advantages: Photonic chips, for instance, process informa … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Finding Success in Industry as a Chip Designer

I have been an application-specific IC (ASIC) designer for almost three decades. Over that time, I’ve moved through the full academic trajectory, from graduate student to full professor; later, I transitioned to industry after an unsuccessful stint at entrepreneurship. When I mad … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

South Africa Has AI Leverage. Its Draft Policy Leaves It Unused

This article is adapted by the author with permission from Tech Policy Press. Read the original article.South Africa is not just another developing country struggling to govern artificial intelligence (AI); it is the exception with leverage, and the window to act on it is closing … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

What It Takes to Preserve Floppy Disks

Floppy disks are several decades old—many of the disks are degrading and the data stored on them is at risk of being lost. In response, Leontien Talboom, a technical analyst at Cambridge University Libraries and Archives, led a roughly year-long project preserving floppy disks ca … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Meet NASA Low Outgassing Standards With Adhesives for Aerospace and Optical Systems

This sponsored article is brought to you by Master Bond.Outgassing is the release of volatile substances from a cured adhesive over time. These released materials, which may include residual solvents, unreacted monomers, or other chemical species, can deposit on nearby surfaces, … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

IEEE TryEngineering OnCampus Program Expands to 7 Universities

The OnCampus program, administered by IEEE Educational Activities, last year expanded its engineering experiences from two to seven universities.Part of TryEngineering, the program is held at universities around the world, offering preuniversity students hands-on opportunities to … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Reclaiming Social Engineering for Good

“Social engineering” sounds like something out of a conspiracy thriller, charged with totalitarian control and fringe paranoia. More mundanely, it’s come to be associated with phishing and other scams, in which fraudsters manipulate people into disclosing personal information. Ye … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Developers: Get Your Medical Mobile App Verified By IEEE

Patients who use mobile applications to manage medical conditions including depression and chronic pain might assume the apps have been evaluated by regulatory agencies to be safe and effective. But that isn’t necessarily the case.Most of the more than 55,000 medical apps that cl … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

The Future of Physical AI Isn’t Smarter Robots, It’s Smarter Interfaces

This sponsored article is brought to you by Wetour Robotics.A field technician on a wind turbine, harness clipped, both hands on a wrench, needs to send a command to the diagnostic device hanging at her belt. A logistics worker on a loading dock, gloves on, eyes on the pallet, ne … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Will Robotics Have a ChatGPT Moment?

Over the next few decades, billions of autonomous, AI-powered robots will work alongside people in factories, perform tedious tasks in warehouses, care for the elderly, assist in unsafe disaster areas, deliver packages and food to our doorsteps, and eventually help out in our hom … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Manchester Code Made Bits Behave

In the late 1940s—when computer engineers were grappling with unreliable hardware and noisy transmission environments—a team of engineers inside a modest lab at the University of Manchester, England, confronted a problem so fundamental that it threatened the viability of digital … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

What Makes a Job Dull, Dirty, or Dangerous?

For years, the field of robotics has used the terms “dull, dirty, and dangerous” (DDD) to describe the types of tasks or jobs where robots might be useful—by doing work that’s undesirable for people. A classic example of a DDD job is one of “repetitive physical labor on a steamin … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

How Melbourne’s AI and Data Center Flywheel Is Accelerating Research Innovation

This sponsored article is brought to you by Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) supported by Business Events Australia.Melbourne’s reputation as a global events city, from the Australian Open tennis and Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to hosting NFL regular season games, now inters … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Striking New Views of the First Atomic Bomb Test

Editor’s note: If you’d like to pinpoint the instant when the world entered the nuclear age, 5:29:45 a.m. Mountain War Time on 16 July 1945, is an excellent choice. That was the moment when human beings first unleashed the power of the nucleus in an immense, blinding ball of fire … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

IEEE Society Helps Researchers Meet Their Next Corporate Backer

The IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc)’s Research Collaboration Pitch Session initiative is proving to be a catalyst for meaningful engagement between academic researchers and industry innovators. Launched last year, the program connects promising researchers with industry lead … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

Accelerating Chipmaking Innovation for the Energy-Efficient AI Era

This sponsored article is brought to you by Applied Materials.At pivotal moments in history, progress has required more than individual brilliance. The most consequential breakthroughs — such as those achieved under the Human Genome Project — required a new operating paradigm: Co … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago

IEEE Program Aims to Connect the Billions Who Are Still Offline

Given how integral the Internet has become to everyday tasks such as shopping, paying bills, and holding virtual meetings, it’s interesting that nearly 30 percent of the global population still has no access to it. More than 2 billion people are still offline, according to a repo … | Continue reading


@spectrum.ieee.org | 2 months ago