Stanford Scholar envisions using AI to complement people by enabling them to do new things. “Both automation and augmentation can create benefits and both can be profitable,” says Erik Brynjolfsson. “But right now a lot of technologists, managers, and entrepreneurs are putting too much emphasis on automation.”
Researchers at the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis and the Precourt Institute for Energy and the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Lab reported a way of encapsulating catalysts in a web-like alumina framework could reduce the amount needed in catalytic converters which in turn would reduce the practice of precious metal mining.
New modeling of how lithium-ion cells in a pack degrade show a way to tailor charging to each cell's capacity so EV batteries can handle more charge cycles and stave off failure. Simulations by Stanford professor and senior study author, Simona Onori, suggest batteries managed with the new technology could handle at least 20% more charge-discharge cycles even with frequent fast charging.
By 2035, California will ban sales of new gasoline powered cars and light trucks. Yi Cui, professor, materials science and engineering and director, Precourt Institute for Energy predicts the broad adoption of EVs will force a revolution in battery design. The need for fast charging, he says, “will definitely provide opportunities for new battery chemistries to emerge.” By using new materials for electrodes or charge-carrying ions, he and others have already come up with promising candidates.
A new project housed at VAIL is using a process similar to lightning that makes fertilizer as nature does; combining electricity, water and air to dissolve nitrates in water. The clean fertilizer is customizable and the unit can operate on site at the farm which reduces labor and transportation costs.
Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School find that more and more established companies are overcoming the obstacles to innovation with corporate explorers - managers who build new and disruptive businesses inside their companies.
In a recent paper, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Charles Jones argues that excessive taxation reduces incentives to develop new ventures and respond to promising ideas, which ultimately makes everyone-not only those with higher incomes-poorer.
Students in Stanford's Hacking for Climate and Sustainability class are seeking solutions to complex climate and sustainability challenges through deep analysis, innovative thinking, and careful collaboration with those most affected.
Panelists in the Advancing Technology for a Sustainable Planet workshop examined how AI can help advance environmental solutions, improve environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, and also better understand AI’s impact on the environment.
In this Future of Everything episode, computer science professor Omar Reingold explains how we can create definitions of fairness that can be incorporated into computer algorithms.
