The iconic pea plant experiments of Gregor Mendel laid the foundations for the science of genetics.  

Now 160 years on, an international research collaboration has used genomics, bioinformatics and genetics to map the diversity of a globally important pea collection – revealing secrets behind the traits that Mendel made famous and uncovering agriculturally useful genetic diversity on an unprecedented scale. 

In the realm of smart manufacturing and digital engineering, a new technology named Data-Model Fusion (DMF) is gaining traction. A review paper in Engineering details how DMF integrates model-based and data-driven methods, addresses their limitations, and finds applications across the product lifecycle. It also explores DMF’s future directions, showing its potential to reshape industrial processes.

Florida’s Lake Okeechobee is essential for water management but faces harmful algal blooms, which thrive in warm, nutrient-rich waters.  Daily vertical migration enables them to survive in turbid conditions. A new study using a physical-biogeochemical model reveals that cyanobacteria move toward the surface for sunlight in the morning, boosting growth, and are redistributed by wind and mixing at night. This daily migration, combined with temperature and wind patterns, influences bloom development, offering insights to better monitor and manage harmful algal blooms.

If you haven’t heard of a tardigrade before, prepare to be wowed. These clumsy, eight-legged creatures, nicknamed water bears, are about half a millimeter long and can survive practically anything: freezing temperatures, near starvation, high pressure, radiation exposure, outer space and more. Researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters took advantage of the tardigrade’s nearly indestructible nature and gave the critters tiny “tattoos” to test a microfabrication technique to build microscopic, biocompatible devices.