In a student-centered teaching project, undergraduates analyzed botanical elements in Taylor Swift music videos to activate prior knowledge and reinforce complex plant science concepts. The experience reports improved comprehension, high student satisfaction, and potential to counter “plant blindness” through popular culture.

Korean researchers have achieved a breakthrough in the safety of generative AI. They developed a vision language model optimized for safety and released it for the first time. In this model, AI can preemptively analyze both images and text, even detecting risks. The research team is paving the way for a safe AI era. ETRI announced that it has unveiled a new type of vision language model called “Safe LLaVA,” which structurally enhances safety in generative AI models.

Researchers at AIMR achieved breakthrough 95.8% purity synthesis of (6,5) carbon nanotubes using a novel NiSnFe trimetallic catalyst. The discovery of Ni₃Sn crystal formation within catalyst nanoparticles enabled selective chirality control. This advancement opens pathways for semiconductor device applications and establishes multi-element catalysts as a promising approach for single-chirality nanotube synthesis.

Imagine soaring more than 400 feet in the air before landing on skis, launching off a nearly 50-foot platform strapped to a snowboard, or sledding face first over 80 miles an hour down a sheet of ice—on purpose. Spectators of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games may wonder if the brains of elite athletes are wired differently than the rest of us mere mortals. For neuroscientist Sayamwong Hammack, professor of psychological science at the University of Vermont, the answer is much more complicated.