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.

Green AI helps Pakistani SMEs go greener — but leadership, investment, and policy still fall short

Bentham Science Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Green Artificial Intelligence (Green AI) holds the potential to revolutionize sustainability efforts in emerging economies—but new research shows that without committed leadership, targeted investment, and stronger institutions, adoption may remain limited to a few early adopters.

Journal: Sustainable Futures

5-Aug-2025

Researchers create better blue food dye from algae

Cornell University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cornell University food scientists have created a natural blue food dye made of algae protein that could replace petroleum-based artificial food colorants with a stable, adaptable option.

Journal: Food Hydrocolloids

5-Aug-2025

AI helps chemists develop tougher plastics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new strategy for strengthening polymer materials could lead to more durable plastics and cut down on plastic waste, MIT and Duke University researchers report.

Funder: National Science Foundation Center for the Chemistry of Molecularly Optimized Networks

5-Aug-2025

Zhou receives funding for novel performance profiling & analysis infrastructure for scientific deep learning workloads

George Mason University
Grant and Award Announcement

Keren Zhou, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), received funding for the project: “Collaborative Research: Elements: DLToolkit: A Novel Performance Profiling and Analysis Infrastructure for Scientific Deep Learning Workloads.”

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

5-Aug-2025

Action curiosity algorithm boosts autonomous navigation in uncertain environments

Intelligent Computing
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Self-driving cars know their own way in unpredictable traffic, thanks to path planning technology. Among current AI-driven efforts to make path planning more efficient and reliable, a research team has developed an optimization framework proven especially effective in uncertain environments. The results were published June 3 under the title “Action-Curiosity-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Path Planning in a Nondeterministic Environment” in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal.

Journal: Intelligent Computing

5-Aug-2025

But first, pizza: Team creates assistive robotics that can make you a meal

Virginia Tech

Could robots help those with mobility issues make a pizza? With support from the National Science Foundation, a team of Virginia Tech mechanical engineers are using robotic grippers and artificial intelligence to make that idea a reality.

Journal: Soft Robotics

5-Aug-2025

BU researchers find that new curriculum’s focus on patient trust makes learning bedside cardiac assessment meaningful

Boston University School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The patient–doctor relationship is built upon trust in not only doctors’ knowledge and skills but also attitudes. Over time, notions of trust in medical education have focused increasingly on trainees becoming “entrustable” to proficiently complete important professional tasks.

In a new study recently published in the online journal Advances in Medical Education and Practice, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine explored medical students’ experience of participating in a curriculum that encouraged them to explore attitudes like trust, even while learning how to complete the important task of caring for patients with heart problems.

Journal: Advances in Medical Education and Practice

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

Green AI helps Pakistani SMEs go greener — but leadership, investment, and policy still fall short

Researchers create better blue food dye from algae

AI helps chemists develop tougher plastics

Zhou receives funding for novel performance profiling & analysis infrastructure for scientific deep learning workloads

Action curiosity algorithm boosts autonomous navigation in uncertain environments

But first, pizza: Team creates assistive robotics that can make you a meal

BU researchers find that new curriculum’s focus on patient trust makes learning bedside cardiac assessment meaningful