When a stroke strikes, time is measured in brain cells. Thousands of neurons can die every minute treatment is delayed — a reality that makes rapid response not just important but lifesaving. At Rice University, students are stepping into that urgency, working at the intersection of medicine, policy and communication. In collaboration with the Houston Health Department, the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies recently hosted a two-part Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU) Advocacy Hack-a-thon, inviting students to help solve one of the most pressing challenges facing this innovative technology: how to sustain it through public funding.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed Photon, a scalable framework that uses exascale computing to rapidly identify vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence systems. Created by ORNL’s Center for AI Security Research, Photon enables automated, large-scale testing of AI models to uncover risks such as adversarial attacks and system failures before they can be exploited. By combining high-performance computing with advanced AI techniques, the framework significantly accelerates vulnerability discovery and strengthens the security and reliability of AI used in critical applications.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has featured “Shika Sonic” and “Bird Sonic” as examples of academia–industry collaboration tackling regional challenges. Developed by T.M.WORKS and evaluated by Okayama University of Science, the systems are being used at airports, along railways, and on roads to help reduce wildlife-related damage. While the technology has shown effectiveness, further improvements are needed to address non-target species and equipment damage caused by birds.

With the accelerating trend of population ageing and a growing shortage of specialist doctors, enhancing the efficiency and consistency of ophthalmic diagnosis has become a critical challenge for global healthcare systems. A research team of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has launched the development of a next-generation clinical-grade ophthalmic artificial intelligence (AI) co-pilot system “EyeAgent 2.0”, aiming to construct an intelligent decision support platform with advanced clinical reasoning capabilities to assist doctors in disease diagnostic analysis, treatment planning and follow-up management, thereby improving the quality and efficiency of clinical judgments.

A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment.

Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagnetic motors to power them.

More than 800 middle and high school students gathered at Princeton University for the Build Big Dreams Youth STEM Conference, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

ECNU Review of Education (ROE) will be attending the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2026, joining the conference’s “Meet the Editors: Journal Talks” series. Organized by the American Educational Research Association, the event brings together global education researchers and faculty members to discuss groundbreaking education research. ROE editors will present the journal’s scope and priorities, discuss publication and peer-review expectations, and engage scholars interested in contributing to international education research dialogue.

Researchers at AIMR engineered cultured neuronal networks with brain-like hierarchical modularity and directional connectivity using microfluidic devices. Integrating experiments with computational modeling, they demonstrated that directional connections suppress excessive synchrony and enhance balanced network dynamics. This platform advances understanding of brain organization and enables applications in drug discovery and brain-inspired biocomputing systems.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville Electrical Engineering and Computer Science associate professor Charles Cao leads UT’s role in HARVEST, an NSF AI‑ENGAGE project building AI-powered “digital twins” of farms. Combining drone, sensor, and satellite data, the system runs real-time and “what-if” simulations to reduce pest losses 20–30% and cut water and fertilizer use 20%, while preserving cross-country data privacy.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers led by chemical engineering professor Gila Stein studied nonflammable polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) block copolymers that self-assemble into nanostructures for safer batteries. With ORNL’s Yangyang Wang and funding from UTORII, they showed lamellar “dead-end” defects hinder ion flow, then developed molecular design rules boosting conductivity by an order of magnitude.