Early in her career, HHMI Investigator Keiko Torii figured out how plant cells talk to each other. Three decades later, she’s still listening — and uncovering exactly what they’re saying.  

Researchers are deploying a suite of AI agents not to replace humans, but to relieve administrative burdens and ease patient suffering.

For the first time, a neuroprosthetic arm developed by the University of Utah is being used by a patient in their home. The Luke Arm, inspired by the Luke Skywalker character in Star Wars, is controlled by thoughts and provides sense of touch.

Texas’ next era of economic growth may depend as much on water as it does on energy, technology or capital. That reality was at the center of the Water Nexus Conference, hosted by the Rice WaTER Institute at Rice University, where more than 120 utility leaders, researchers, government officials, entrepreneurs, corporate water teams, engineers and investors gathered to examine how the state can meet rising demand while confronting water scarcity, aging infrastructure and rapidly changing industrial needs.

Promising battery materials often work in tiny lab cells but falter when made larger. ORNL’s STAR Lab studies what goes wrong during scale-up, using advanced manufacturing, imaging, modeling and testing to build safer, higher-performing batteries.

A program at Golisano Children’s at UK is using genetic testing to uncover inherited cancer risk in children and young adults. By identifying genetic changes linked to cancer, providers can develop personalized care plans, guide family testing and help patients make informed decisions about their future health.

Dual Complementary Four-Switch Three-Phase Inverters is an advanced power electronics technology that improves the efficiency, compactness, and cost-effectiveness of three-phase power conversion systems. The design uses two parallel four-switch inverters operating with a 180-degree phase shift and shared input capacitors, reducing current ripple and lowering capacitance requirements compared with conventional six-switch inverter architectures. These improvements enable smaller components, higher power density, enhanced reliability, and easier thermal management while maintaining high performance. Potential applications include renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, motor drives, and energy storage platforms. The technology is protected by a provisional patent application, is at TRL 2, and is available for licensing.