Phosphorus, a nutrient in soil essential for sustaining most forms of life, is increasingly disappearing from land as it is washed into waterways throughout the United States, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State.

Can artificial intelligence-powered tools help enrich child development and learning? That question is the crux of a series of research projects led by Zhen Bai, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Rochester and the Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science at the Goergen Institute for Data Science. From tools to help parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children learn American Sign Language (ASL) to interactive games that demystify machine learning, Bai aims to help children benefit from AI and understand how it is impacting them.

Researchers at New York University have devised a mathematical approach to predict the structures of crystals—a critical step in developing many medicines and electronic devices—in a matter of hours using only a laptop, a process that previously took a supercomputer weeks or months. Their novel framework is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Scientists at Auburn University have made an important discovery that could improve cancer treatments. Just like a coach places players in the best spots on a football field, researchers found that carefully positioning protein molecules can make them more effective in delivering cancer therapies. By attaching these proteins at specific points on a structure that targets cancer cells, the team was able to increase the proteins' effectiveness by up to four times. This approach could lead to treatments that are stronger, more focused, and better equipped to target cancer cells directly. Auburn’s biophysicists are advancing this research to create better tools in the fight against cancer.