NJIT biologist Eric Fortune and a team of scientists called “Limelight Rainforest” have won the five-year XPRIZE Rainforest Competition, securing half of the competition's $10 million prize purse. The team's dramatic victory was announced Nov. 15 at the G20 Social Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the culmination of a global competition that began in 2019 when the nonprofit XPRIZE Foundation challenged innovators around the world to “develop technology to capture the true biological diversity of rainforests…and show the value of protecting the natural resources within them.”

Alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. nearly doubled from 1999 to 2020. The sharpest spike occurred among 25–34-year-olds (nearly fourfold), while individuals aged 55–64 had the highest rates. Men consistently had higher rates but women saw the largest proportional rise, with deaths increasing 2.5 times. Asian and Pacific Islander communities experienced the steepest ethnic increase, while the Midwest saw the greatest regional rise (2.5 times), followed by the Northeast, West, and South.

Hydrogels created using carbon dioxide (CO₂) offer a safer alternative to those formed with acidic agents. While most research has focused on pre-gelation conditions affecting hydrogel properties, this study by researchers from Tokyo University of Science explores the impact of CO₂ release after gelation. The team prepared alginate-based hydrogels and found that faster CO₂ release decreases crosslinking, while slower release results in stiffer hydrogels. These findings could lead to improved hydrogels for medical applications.