Researchers at the University of Maine are theorizing that human beings may be in the midst of a major evolutionary shift — driven not by genes, but by culture. Cultural practices — from farming methods to legal codes — spread and adapt far faster than genes can, allowing human groups to adapt to new environments and solve novel problems in ways biology alone could never match. According to the research team, this long-term evolutionary transition extends deep into the past, it is accelerating and may define our species for millenia to come. 

NJIT's Matthew Loges ’25 and Assistant Professor Tomer Weiss explored how the collective behavior of ants — acting like both fluids and elastic materials — can inspire breakthroughs in engineering materials, robotics and traffic control. Their simulation work, recognized at the prestigious ACM SIGGRAPH conference, highlights how studying biological swarm dynamics may lead to innovations such as self-healing concrete and smarter multi-agent systems.

A new study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics demonstrates that machine learning models incorporating patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensor data can predict which patients with non–small cell lung cancer are most at risk of needing urgent care during treatment. The study was led by researchers and clinicians at Moffitt Cancer Center. 

Nine projects led by faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will receive the first round of funding from AI TechX, a new initiative created by UT to empower Tennessee communities and industry partners to adopt AI technologies that enable high-quality job creation.