Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197245
W. Wayt Gibbs
Plans to end global warming hinge on driving net greenhouse gas emissions to zero (plus or minus a few gigatonnes). It's not going well. CO2 emissions hit an all-time high last year, and for the first time average temperatures on Earth rose 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. To limit warming to 2°C, massive amounts of carbon dioxide will have to be sucked out of the atmosphere and locked away, according to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
{"title":"We Need to Capture a Lot More Carbon: Novel CO2 Removal Methods may Need to Scale up a Millionfold to Limit Global Warming to 2 °C","authors":"W. Wayt Gibbs","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197245","url":null,"abstract":"Plans to end global warming hinge on driving net greenhouse gas emissions to zero (plus or minus a few gigatonnes). It's not going well. CO<inf>2</inf> emissions hit an all-time high last year, and for the first time average temperatures on Earth rose 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. To limit warming to 2°C, massive amounts of carbon dioxide will have to be sucked out of the atmosphere and locked away, according to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 10","pages":"50-51"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145315520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197239
Matthew S. Smith
What happens when you say “Hello” to ChatGPT? • Such a simple query might seem trivial, but making it possible across billions of sessions requires immense scale. While OpenAI reveals little information about its operations, we've used the scraps we do have to estimate the impact of ChatGPT—and of the generative AI industry in general. •OpenAI's actions also provide hints. As part of the United States' Stargate Project, OpenAI will collaborate with other AI titans to build the largest data centers yet. And AI companies expect to need dozens of “Stargate-class” data centers to meet user demand.
{"title":"The Hidden Scale Behind Every AI Answer: Billions of Daily Queries are Reshaping Energy and Infrastructure","authors":"Matthew S. Smith","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197239","url":null,"abstract":"What happens when you say “Hello” to ChatGPT? • Such a simple query might seem trivial, but making it possible across billions of sessions requires immense scale. While OpenAI reveals little information about its operations, we've used the scraps we do have to estimate the impact of ChatGPT—and of the generative AI industry in general. •OpenAI's actions also provide hints. As part of the United States' Stargate Project, OpenAI will collaborate with other AI titans to build the largest data centers yet. And AI companies expect to need dozens of “Stargate-class” data centers to meet user demand.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 10","pages":"56-57"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145315462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197249
Dina Genkina
There's no such thing as a complete vacuum. Even in the cosmic void between galaxies, there's an estimated density of about one hydrogen or helium atom per cubic meter. But these estimates are largely theoretical–no one has yet launched a sensor into intergalactic space and beamed back the result. On top of that, we have no means of measuring vacuums that low. ¶ At least, not yet. ¶ Researchers are now developing a new vacuum-measurement tool that may be able to detect lower den-sities than any existing techniques can. This new quantum sensor uses individual atoms, cooled to just shy of absolute zero, to serve as targets for stray particles to hit. These atom-based vacuum measurers can detect lower atomic concentrations than ever before, and they don't require calibration, making them a good candidate to serve as a standard.
{"title":"How to Measure Nothing Better: Quantum Sensors could Support Big Science, Semiconductors, and More","authors":"Dina Genkina","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197249","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197249","url":null,"abstract":"There's no such thing as a complete vacuum. Even in the cosmic void between galaxies, there's an estimated density of about one hydrogen or helium atom per cubic meter. But these estimates are largely theoretical–no one has yet launched a sensor into intergalactic space and beamed back the result. On top of that, we have no means of measuring vacuums that low. ¶ At least, not yet. ¶ Researchers are now developing a new vacuum-measurement tool that may be able to detect lower den-sities than any existing techniques can. This new quantum sensor uses individual atoms, cooled to just shy of absolute zero, to serve as targets for stray particles to hit. These atom-based vacuum measurers can detect lower atomic concentrations than ever before, and they don't require calibration, making them a good candidate to serve as a standard.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 10","pages":"52-72"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145315489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197248
Paul Bogard
On a clear winter evening, we leave the Chilean seaside city of La Serena in search of darkness. The drive will take us east through the Elqui Valley and into neighboring mountains, where the silver domes of astronomical observatories shine rose gold in the setting sun. Our hope is to come face to face with the universe, to feel our minds overwhelmed, and to share an experience that for most people around the world has been lost. ¶ The scale of the universe is beyond our comprehension, but every time I see a truly dark and starry night I'm reminded of the value of trying. There may be no better place in the world to do this than northern Chile, where dry, stable air and skies bright with stars have made it arguably the best spot on earth for astronomy. By 2030, more than 60 percent of the world's astronomical infrastructure will be located in the region.
{"title":"Face to Face with the Scale of the Cosmos: Chile's Dark Skies Remind us of what Billions have Already Lost","authors":"Paul Bogard","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11197248","url":null,"abstract":"On a clear winter evening, we leave the Chilean seaside city of La Serena in search of darkness. The drive will take us east through the Elqui Valley and into neighboring mountains, where the silver domes of astronomical observatories shine rose gold in the setting sun. Our hope is to come face to face with the universe, to feel our minds overwhelmed, and to share an experience that for most people around the world has been lost. ¶ The scale of the universe is beyond our comprehension, but every time I see a truly dark and starry night I'm reminded of the value of trying. There may be no better place in the world to do this than northern Chile, where dry, stable air and skies bright with stars have made it arguably the best spot on earth for astronomy. By 2030, more than 60 percent of the world's astronomical infrastructure will be located in the region.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 10","pages":"66-71"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145315516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150677
JOHNSON I. EJIMANYA is a one-man pony express. Walking the exhaust-fogged streets of Owerri, Nigeria, Ejimanya, the engineering dean of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, carries with him a department's worth of communications, some handwritten, others on disk. He's delivering them to a man with a PC and an Internet connection, who converts the missives into emails and downloads the responses. To Ejimanya, broadband means lugging a big bundle of printed emails back with him to the university, which despite being one of the country's largest and most prestigious engineering schools has no reliable means of connecting to the Internet.
JOHNSON I. EJIMANYA是一个人的小马快递。走在尼日利亚奥韦里（Owerri）废气弥漫的街道上，奥韦里联邦科技大学（Federal University of Technology, Owerri）工程学院院长埃吉曼亚（Ejimanya）随身携带着整个系的通讯资料，有些是手写的，有些是存储在磁盘上的。他把信件交给一个有电脑和互联网连接的人，这个人把信件转换成电子邮件，然后下载回复。对Ejimanya来说，宽带意味着要把一大捆打印好的电子邮件带回大学，尽管这所大学是该国最大、最负盛名的工程学院之一，但却没有可靠的方式连接到互联网。
{"title":"The Student & The Professor: Two Perspectives on Engineering Education in Africa","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150677","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150677","url":null,"abstract":"JOHNSON I. EJIMANYA is a one-man pony express. Walking the exhaust-fogged streets of Owerri, Nigeria, Ejimanya, the engineering dean of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, carries with him a department's worth of communications, some handwritten, others on disk. He's delivering them to a man with a PC and an Internet connection, who converts the missives into emails and downloads the responses. To Ejimanya, broadband means lugging a big bundle of printed emails back with him to the university, which despite being one of the country's largest and most prestigious engineering schools has no reliable means of connecting to the Internet.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"36-37"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150672
Hunter McDaniel
When I left Los Alamos National Laboratory to start a company 11 years ago, I thought my team was ready. We had developed a new class of quantum dots窶馬anoscale particles of light-emitting semi-conductor material that can be used in displays, solar cells, and more. Our technology was safer, more stable, and less expensive than existing quantum-dot materials. The technical advantages were real, but I quickly learned that no amount of scientific merit guarantees market success.
{"title":"Careers: Learn to Love the Problem First: A Tech Founder on why your Solution Should Come Second when Going from Research to Market","authors":"Hunter McDaniel","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150672","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150672","url":null,"abstract":"When I left Los Alamos National Laboratory to start a company 11 years ago, I thought my team was ready. We had developed a new class of quantum dots窶馬anoscale particles of light-emitting semi-conductor material that can be used in displays, solar cells, and more. Our technology was safer, more stable, and less expensive than existing quantum-dot materials. The technical advantages were real, but I quickly learned that no amount of scientific merit guarantees market success.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"19-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11150672","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150641
Engineer Bainomugisha
My name is Engineer Bainomugisha. Yes, Engineer is my first name and also my career. My parents named me Engineer, and they recognized engineering traits in me from childhood, such as perseverance, resilience, and wanting to understand how things work.
{"title":"Learning More with Less: How Improving Access to Electronics Hardware Could Transform Engineering Education in Africa","authors":"Engineer Bainomugisha","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150641","url":null,"abstract":"My name is Engineer Bainomugisha. Yes, Engineer is my first name and also my career. My parents named me Engineer, and they recognized engineering traits in me from childhood, such as perseverance, resilience, and wanting to understand how things work.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"40-50"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150674
Harry Goldstein
I get a lot of email from people asking to contribute to IEEE Spectrum. Usually, they want to write an article for us. But one bold query I received in January 2024 went much further: An undergraduate engineering student named Oluwatosin Kolade, from Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, volunteered to be our robotics editor.
{"title":"Connecting Africa's Next Generation of Engineers: Sub-Saharan Africa Needs Broadband, Electricity, and Hardware Resources to Develop its Engineers","authors":"Harry Goldstein","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150674","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.11150674","url":null,"abstract":"I get a lot of email from people asking to contribute to IEEE Spectrum. Usually, they want to write an article for us. But one bold query I received in January 2024 went much further: An undergraduate engineering student named Oluwatosin Kolade, from Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, volunteered to be our robotics editor.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"62 9","pages":"2-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11150674","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144934403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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