Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.
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.
Latest News Releases
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-May-2026 06:16 ET (2-May-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)
Efficient clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-based gene activation using combinatorial human transcription activation domains
Higher Education PressPeer-Reviewed Publication
This study presents a comprehensive benchmarking of human-derived transcription activation domains (hTADs) for use in CRISPR-based artificial transcription factors (ATFs), aiming to circumvent the immunogenicity associated with viral TADs like VP64 and VPR. The authors systematically compared eight hTADs—CITED1, CITED2, MYB, KLF7, CSRNP1, NFZ, MSN, and p65HSF1—fused to dCas9. While several hTADs surpassed VP64 in activating a synthetic EGFP reporter, none outperformed VPR at endogenous gene targets.
- Journal
- Protein & Cell
AI-assisted interviews increase accuracy in diagnosing mental illness
Lund UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
A new study shows that an AI assistant can conduct assessment conversations with patients with higher accuracy than the rating scales used in healthcare today. In the study, 303 participants were interviewed by the AI assistant Alba, who then suggested possible psychiatric diagnoses.
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
Mayo Clinic physicians map patients’ brain waves to personalize epilepsy treatment
Mayo ClinicPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Annals of Neurology
- Funder
- Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute
AI helps unlock secrets of Europe's prehistoric 'green gemstone' trade
University of SevillePeer-Reviewed Publication
A multidisciplinary team develops a method based on Artificial Intelligence that determines with great precision the provenance of prehistoric archaeological materials
- Journal
- Journal of Archaeological Science
Humans bring gender bias to their interactions with AI – new study
Trinity College DublinPeer-Reviewed Publication
Humans bring gender biases to their interactions with Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to new research from Trinity College Dublin and Ludwig-Maximilians Universität (LMU) Munich.
- Journal
- iScience
Dancing on the brain
University of TokyoPeer-Reviewed Publication
Dance is a form of cultural expression that has endured all of human history, channeling a seemingly innate response to the recognition of sound and rhythm. A team at the University of Tokyo and collaborators demonstrated distinct fMRI activity patterns in the brain related to a specific audience’s level of expertise in dance. The findings were born from recent breakthroughs in dance motion-capture datasets and AI generative models, facilitating a cross-modal study characterizing the art form’s complexity.
- Journal
- Nature Communications