뉴스

The Electron’s Interstate: AI Will Cause An Infrastructure Collision

As data centers transform into "AI factories," global economic power is shifting to nations that can scale power grids, transformers, and energy infrastructure.

One in five homebuyers is a single woman – here’s what’s driving the shift

Rising incomes, financial discipline and shifting life priorities are changing the market—even as affordability and hidden costs remain major barriers.

Model routing is a fix for AI overspending. That's a problem for OpenAI and Anthropic

Companies are shifting from running everything on the most powerful AI model to matching each task to the right one, a practice called model routing.

‘Bojack’ Creator on His New Netflix Show: No Talking Animals, Lots of Kvetching Humans

Animating ‘Long Story Short’ afforded Raphael Bob-Waksberg the freedom to tell hilarious — and sometimes haunting — tales of a Jewish clan’s shifting dynamics.

Meet the big winners of 2026 oil price volatility — and why their strategies are now shifting focus

Computer-based trend-following hedge funds have successfully capitalized on huge price moves in energy markets.

Amazon, Microsoft and Google are quietly morphing their businesses — and Wall Street is missing the big picture

Tech giants are shifting from solely providing computing power to distributing AI models, unlocking a lucrative new revenue stream.

Segway Myon Electric Bike Review: Too Smart?

From app-controlled security to electronic shifting and radar alerts, Segway’s Myon may have more tech than you need. That’s not always a bad thing.

Watch live: The Hill's Invest In America Summit

Join The Hill for our second annual Invest in America Summit on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. This critical half-day summit, featuring titans from Washington and Wall Street, focused on solutions-oriented conversations that will deliver insights into the future of the domestic and global economy amidst a rapidly shifting political landscape. ​​As we enter mid-year and...

What Hormuz Is Teaching Traders About Utilities

Oil traders have spent months obsessing over tanker movements, shipping insurance costs and the fate of crude cargoes attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz. But now, some of that attention will be shifting to a longer-term play: a potential restructuring of American utilities themselves. Instead, Hormuz is exposing how vulnerable electricity markets remain to fuel price shocks, even after years of investment in renewable energy. While crude oil prices have dominated headlines, the effects of the disruption are steadily working their…

Google rolls out fake call detection to protect against AI deepfake impersonation scams

As people increasingly refuse to answer calls from unknown numbers, scammers are shifting their tactics by spoofing trusted phone numbers and using AI deepfake technology to sound like authority figures, family members, or employers.

Hegseth's tone on China and Taiwan changes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's tone on China and Taiwan appears to be shifting following the Trump-Xi summit. CBS News' Ramy Inocencio reports.

Time to move on from the daylight saving time obsession

With the apparent support of President Donald Trump, Congress may soon pass legislation allowing states to adopt misleadingly named daylight saving time year-round. In fact, DST — now in effect from early March until early November — doesn’t save anything. Clocks merely advance an hour, shifting sunlight from the morning to the evening. The length […]

District Lines Are Shifting Fast in the South. Voters Are Rattled.

Republican officials are jubilant, some voters are confused and concerned, and civil rights activists are gearing up for the fight of a generation.

Job training needs new financing, not new debt

Outcomes-based repayment models can help address America's workforce financing problem by shifting some financing risk away from workers and toward funders or providers, while providing clear consumer protections and employer involvement.

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 information with light while generating little heat. Another compelling alternative is fluidics, which uses pressurized gases or liquids to build logic circuits. Pioneered in the 1960s but sidelined by microchips, the field reemerged in the 1990s as “microfluidics.” This approach aims to shrink laboratories onto a single chip by creating microscopic fluid channels with integrated micropneumatic control systems. Today, there is a second fluidic revival, this time in the domain of soft robotics. Scaling microfluidic designs up to the millimeter-scale range (millifluidics) enables the higher flow rates necessary to drive robotic actuators. These robots exploit the nonlinear behaviors of soft materials to create lifelike motion and safer interactions, often utilizing pressurized air. By building systems that “think” with the same air that powers them, we can drastically reduce the need for bulky electronic-to-pneumatic interfaces. This is the focus of my Soiboi Studio robotics lab. With millifluidic logic, I have steadily scaled the complexity of my designs. What began with a simple oscillator has most recently evolved into a clock featuring a soft, four-digit, seven-segment display. What Is Millifluidics? Building on microfluidics research from the early 2000s and recent developments from the Grover Lab at the University of California, Riverside, I’ve developed millifluidic devices using standard 3D printing and silicone casting. The basic architecture is simple: A flexible membrane is sandwiched between rigid layers embedded with networks of air channels. Just as electronics rely on differing voltage potentials, these fluidic circuits operate on the pressure difference between atmospheric pressure (logical 0) and a near-vacuum at around −60 kilopascals of relative pressure (logical 1). Using negative pressure means the membrane is pulled into openings. This creates robust seals that allow me to replicate electronic building blocks. A cast silicone membrane forms the face of the clock [top], while behind it sits 3D-printed millifluidic blocks [middle rows]. An Arduino Uno controls driver boards that operate solenoids, which are connected to valves that are attached to a vacuum pump [bottom row].James Provost While fluidic resistors are easily realized by adjusting the channel geometry, the heart of the system is a valve that mimics a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOSFET. This vacuum “transistor” features a flow layer with two chambers (the source and drain) divided by a central valve seat and a control layer containing a cavity (the gate). A membrane runs between the control and flow layers and normally prevents airflow between the source and drain chambers. To switch the transistor on, a vacuum is applied to the gate chamber, sucking the membrane into the cavity and lifting it off the seat. This opens a path for airflow, equivalent to closing an electric circuit. By adding a small aperture to the membrane, I created a check valve—the fluidic equivalent of a diode. By combining transistors and resistive “pull-down” channels, I can build a full suite of logic gates. The original microfluidic designs that inspired me were fabricated from etched glass and milled acrylic. Adapting them for a standard 3D printer required reengineering the logic elements and mastering two critical fabrication techniques. First, I need airtight prints, yet printed plastic is notoriously porous. By printing at elevated temperatures, slow speeds, and slight overextrusion, I was able to fill microscopic gaps. When you’re using transparent filament, there’s a handy visual indicator: The more transparent the plastic appears, the lower its porosity. Second, I used glass for my print bed. By printing the upper and lower chambers directly against this bed, I got the interface surface to become mirror smooth. This finish is essential for creating reliable, airtight seals. A 0.3-millimeter silicone membrane is placed between the layers and secured with screws. How Does the Soft Clock Work? The clockface is a cast silicone membrane. Each digit segment is formed by a small underlying cavity. When air is evacuated from this cavity, the membrane is sucked inward to create a concave hollow; when atmospheric pressure is restored, the silicone pops back flush with the surface. The result is a mesmerizing, organic motion. The “brain” of the clock is an Arduino Uno, while the fluidics significantly reduce the hardware footprint. A four-digit, seven-segment display with two separator dots would require 29 solenoid valves to control directly. My clock needs just 11 valves. A pneumatic transistor is off when its upper control chamber is at atmospheric pressure [top]. When air is removed from the control chamber, it lifts a membrane, which allows air to flow between lower flow chambers and turns the transistor on [bottom]. James Provost To understand how it works, consider a standard electronic four-digit, seven-segment LED display. This also uses 11 pins to drive its digits. (In clockface displays, an additional pin is required to drive the separator dots.) Every digit is connected to a shared data bus with seven lines, one per segment. The four control lines select individual digits. Only one digit is illuminated at time, and strobing the digits at least 50 times per second creates the illusion that all four are simultaneously illuminated. Such high-speed switching is not possible with air. Instead, I rely on memory. Each segment acts like a capacitor: By evacuating its cavity (logic 1), you “charge” the segment; by restoring atmospheric pressure (logic 0), you discharge it. Hence, each digit acts as an independent 7-bit memory. If the system is sufficiently airtight, the segments maintain their state for several seconds. Like the electronic display, the system utilizes a seven-line data bus. Each line connects to a solenoid valve that provides either vacuum or atmospheric pressure. To selectively address the individual digits, I placed a fluidic transistor between each segment and its data line. All the transistors’ control inputs for a given digit are combined into one “write enable” line connected to its own solenoid valve. Activating this valve allows me to write data into the corresponding digit’s memory. The clock updates one digit per second, meaning a full cycle across the face takes 4 seconds. This cycle also drives the separator dots: A set of fluidic diodes connects the enable lines to the dots’ cavities. Consequently, as each digit is addressed, the dots pulse automatically. This display is more than a clock; it is a soft robot that happens to tell time. By offloading computation to the same air that powers movement, the clock approaches a new class of machines that are simpler, lighter, and more integrated. I’m now developing a guide for getting started with vacuum-powered logic and may release a refined version of this clock in the future. Watching the silicone skin morph serves as a fascinating reminder that not all logic needs silicon; sometimes, all you need is flexible silicone and a flow of air. This article appears in the June 2026 print issue as “The Soft Clock.”

Zohra Opoku, a ‘Woven Storyteller,’ Is Shapeshifting Her Way into Africa’s Biggest Museums

Her current survey is being held at Zeitz MOCAA, a South African museum whose director was formerly Koyo Kouoh.

AI is moving fast. 2028 hopefuls will be forced to adapt: From the Politics Desk

In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen explores how presidential contenders from both parties will need to grapple with ever-shifting AI issues ahead of 2028.

Hormuz and the Shifting Global Energy Landscape

How Americans are handling a gas price spike

Gas prices are the highest since 2022, shifting how some Americans are choosing to spend their money. Kris Van Cleave reports.

Google I/O showed how the path for AI-driven science is shifting

During Tuesday’s Google I/O keynote, Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, proclaimed that we are currently “standing in the foothills of the singularity.” It was a striking statement—the singularity is the theoretical future moment when AI rapidly exceeds human intelligence and dramatically transforms the world. But what struck me as I listened in the…