EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Artificial Intelligence

This month, we’re focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), a topic that continues to capture attention everywhere. Here, you’ll find the latest research news, insights, and discoveries shaping how AI is being developed and used across the world.

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

University of Florida
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

4-Sep-2025

AI model reveals hidden earthquake swarms and faults in Italy’s Campi Flegrei

Stanford University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new AI model detects thousands of previously unseen earthquakes in near real time, helping scientists understand changes in an Italian volcanic area where earthquakes have been intensifying since 2018.

Journal: Science
Funder: Dipartimental Project LOVE-CF, Pianeta Dinamico project Nemesis, Stanford University Doerr School of Sustainability Discovery Grant, RETURN Extended Partnership, European Union Next-GenerationEU

4-Sep-2025

Artificial intelligence helps boost LIGO

California Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Caltech and Gran Sasso Science Institute in Italy teamed up with Google DeepMind to develop a new AI method–called Deep Loop Shaping–that can better hush unwanted noise in LIGO's detectors.

Journal: Science
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

4-Sep-2025

Making diamonds with electron radiation

University of Tokyo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

There are various ways to create artificial diamonds, but a new method developed by researchers including those at the University of Tokyo yields some extra benefits. By specially preparing samples for conversion to diamond by means of an electron beam, the team found their method can be used to protect organic samples from the damage usually caused by such a beam. This could lead to new and powerful imaging and analytical techniques.

Journal: Science
Funder: JSPS KAKENHI, JST PRESTO

4-Sep-2025

Shaky cameras can make for sharper shots, new research shows

Brown University
Reports and Proceedings

A new imaging technique turns motion blur into an advantage, using a jiggling camera and a clever algorithm to create super-resolution images sharper than would be possible with a steady camera.

4-Sep-2025

Acid-resistant artificial mucus improves gastric wound healing in animals

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hydrogels—materials like gelatin that can absorb and hold water—can aid wound healing and enable slow-release drug delivery, but they usually break down in acidic environments like the stomach. Inspired by the properties of gastric mucus, a team of researchers and clinicians led by Zuankai Wang of Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed an acid-resistant hydrogel called “ultrastable mucus-inspired hydrogel” (UMIH). Publishing September 4 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science, they showed that UMIH improved gastrointestinal wound healing in animals and outperformed a clinically approved mucosal protectant (a material used to protect the stomach lining).

Journal: Cell Reports Physical Science
Funder: Innovation and Technology Commission of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Medical Research Fund

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

Latest News Releases

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

AI model reveals hidden earthquake swarms and faults in Italy’s Campi Flegrei

Artificial intelligence helps boost LIGO

Making diamonds with electron radiation

Shaky cameras can make for sharper shots, new research shows

Acid-resistant artificial mucus improves gastric wound healing in animals

Fast-growing brains may explain how humans — and marmosets — learn to talk