You think you're taking crazy pills, but it's just science doing its thing. Reality is not partial to computers; computing on the other hand...
Researchers build next-gen swarm robots using simple linked particles
May 2025, phys.org
The research team created a new type of robot inspired by this phenomenon, known as "emergent collective behavior." Their solution, called the link-bot, connects small self-moving particles in a V-shaped chain formation that naturally gives rise to coordinated, lifelike movement - without any embedded intelligence.
via Seoul National University: Kyungmin Son et al, Emergent functional dynamics of link-bots, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adu8326.
Image credit: AI Art - This is a Computer Thinking - 2025
Synthetic molecules encode and decode 11-character password using electrical signals
May 2025, phys.org
"This is the first attempt to write information in a building block of plastic that can then be read back using electrical signals"They designed molecules that contain electrochemical information, a method that allows messages to be decoded using electrical signals."It opens exciting prospects for interfacing chemical encoding with modern electronic systems and devices.""polymer-based data storage"
via University of Texas at Austin: Electrochemical Sequencing of Sequence-Defined Ferrocene-Containing Oligourethanes, Chem (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2025.102571
Low-power 'microwave brain' on a chip computes on both ultrafast data and wireless signals
Aug 2025, phys.org
Unlike traditional neural networks that rely on digital operations and step-by-step instructions timed by a clock, this network uses analog, nonlinear behavior in the microwave regime, allowing it to handle data streams in the tens of gigahertz - much faster than most digital chips.
via Cornell University: An integrated microwave neural network for broadband computation and communication, Nature Electronics (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-025-01422-1
'Singing' electrons synchronize in Kagome crystals, revealing geometry-driven quantum coherence
Oct 2025, phys.org
After sculpting micrometer crystalline pillars into Kagome metal CsV₃Sb₅, then applying magnetic fields, the electrons remained coherent far beyond what single-particle physics would allow.Even more surprisingly, the oscillations depended on the crystal's geometry.
via Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter: Chunyu Guo et al, Many-body interference in kagome crystals, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09659-8
Programming robots with rubber bands
Oct 2025, phys.org
Here's another way of saying it:
There's another way to design robots: Programming intended functions directly into a robot's physical structure, allowing the robot to react to its surroundings without the need for extensive on-board electronics.
Or this:
"This is kind of an extreme version of 'form follows function,' where functionalities like memory, adaptability and intelligence can be enabled by geometry and material parameters."
via Harvard: Leon M. Kamp et al, Reprogrammable sequencing for physically intelligent underactuated robots, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2508310122
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