All articles tagged with #solitons
Renowned mathematician Frank Merle won the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, $3 million, for pioneering work in nonlinear dynamics, using solitons to tame blowups in equations that model lasers, fluids, and quantum systems—showing how chaotic systems can reduce to a finite, tractable structure.
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam have demonstrated the unique behavior of topological solitons in a robotic metamaterial, showing that they can be harnessed through non-reciprocal interactions to control the movement of robots, sense their surroundings, and communicate. The solitons, which behave like particles but retain their shape and cannot disappear, are being studied for their potential applications in materials science, robotics, and engineering, offering new possibilities for self-propelled motion and advanced functionality.
Researchers have built a proof-of-concept computer that uses running water instead of traditional logical circuitry processors to forecast future events via an approach called "reservoir computing". In benchmark tests, the analog computer did well at remembering input data and forecasting future events, and in some cases, it even outperformed a high-performance digital computer. The researchers plan to miniaturize the computer as a microfluidic processor, which could produce reliable long-term forecasts in areas such as climate change, bushfires, and financial markets, with much lower cost and wider availability than current supercomputers.