Recently, a team of researchers led by Prof. DU Zhixue from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIGCAS) has discovered that substantial amounts of water could have been efficiently "locked away" deep within the mantle as it crystallized from a molten state.

The SETI Institute’s Artist in Residency (AIR) program announced that American artist Adrien Segal is the recipient of the Planetary Futures Public Art Residency. This research-creation residency invites the artist to collaborate with scientists whose work advances planetary science, with a focus on climate research. By connecting artistic practice with scientific discovery, the residency aims to foster dialogue, raise awareness, and inspire collective action, emphasizing how the study of other planets can provide valuable perspectives to better understand and address climate-related issues here on Earth. This two-year residency includes a $30,000 stipend.

Based in Oakland, CA, Adrien Segal is an internationally exhibited artist with work featured in books, academic journals and galleries around the world. She has participated in numerous Artist Residencies across the US, Canada, and Europe, and has work in permanent collections including the City of Homer, Alaska, the Museum of Art in Wood in Philadelphia, and the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C. In 2022, Segal was a US-UK Fulbright Scholar with the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Past appointments include the Latham Fellowship at IIT Institute of Design in Chicago, a Visiting Artist at San Diego State University, Benchspace Cork in Ireland, and the University of Lethbridge in Canada.

"I'm excited to welcome Adrien into the SETI Institute's Artist in Residence program," said Bettina Forget, SETI AIR Program Director. "She weaves together science, landscape, data, and materiality to create cross-disciplinary sculptural works that evoke deep emotional responses and a unique sense of place. I look forward to working with Adrien as she starts diving into the research at the SETI Institute."

With some 5,000 grades of steel available today, the steel manufacturing process hinges on fine nuances. To create new properties or to ensure consistent material quality, steels are analysed using a range of imaging techniques. Over many years, Professor Frank Mücklich and his research team have built extensive expertise in this field. Using their data from microscopy-based analyses, they have trained an AI to detect the smallest of changes in steel. This AI can now serve as a benchmark in industrial laboratories that conduct analyses of metallic and ceramic materials.