For more than 30 years, the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Fleet Satellite Communications System (FLTSATCOM) lab has advanced student knowledge in satellite design, engineering and operations. Once a vanguard of the institution’s spacecraft design and engineering education and research programs, the ground test - or qualification - model identical to FLTSATCOM satellites launched decades ago to support advanced U.S. Navy ultrahigh frequency (UHF) communications, executed its final telemetry student exercise, Aug. 25. Long overdue renovations to the school’s Halligan Hall will soon displace the satellite from its NPS home.

Refractory wounds cause significant harm to the health of patients and the most common treatments in clinical practice are surgical debridement and wound dressings. However, certain challenges, including surgical difficulty, lengthy recovery times, and a high recurrence rate persist. Conductive hydrogel dressings with combined monitoring and therapeutic properties have strong advantages in promoting wound healing due to the stimulation of endogenous current on wounds and are the focus of recent advancements. Therefore, this review introduces the mechanism of conductive hydrogel used for wound monitoring and healing, the materials selection of conductive hydrogel dressings used for wound monitoring, focuses on the conductive hydrogel sensor to monitor the output categories of wound status signals, proving invaluable for non-invasive, real-time evaluation of wound condition to encourage wound healing. Notably, the research of artificial intelligence (AI) model based on sensor derived data to predict the wound healing state, AI makes use of this abundant data set to forecast and optimize the trajectory of tissue regeneration and assess the stage of wound healing. Finally, refractory wounds including pressure ulcers, diabetes ulcers and articular wounds, and the corresponding wound monitoring and healing process are discussed in detail. This manuscript supports the growth of clinically linked disciplines and offers motivation to researchers working in the multidisciplinary field of conductive hydrogel dressings.

Scientists from Auburn University and Colorado State University have shown how artificial intelligence can reveal the hidden rules of one of biology’s strangest phenomena: catch-bonds – molecular interactions that get stronger when pulled. Their findings shed light on how bacteria cling to surfaces, how tissues resist tearing, and how new biomaterials might be designed to harness force instead of breaking under it.

A research team in Taiwan’s Academia Sinica led by Dr. James C. Liao has recently designed an artificial carbon fixation cycle using synthetic biology. The team engineered this cycle into Arabidopsis, creating a type of “C2 plant”. In so doing, the research team have achieved a 50% increase in carbon fixation efficiency, along with accelerated plant growth and significantly higher lipid production. The finding offers a new strategy to address climate change, promote sustainable energy, and enhance food security. The research was published in the journal Science in September 2025.