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.

Using AI and big data to reduce global illegal trade in plants

South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

A new study outlines a comprehensive framework leveraging AI and big data to combat illegal plant trade, addressing global biodiversity threats with technological innovation.

Journal: Biological Diversity
Funder: Guangdong Province Basic and Applied Basic Research Project

22-May-2026

Frontiers in Science Deep Dive webinar series | Soil science: how AI could help scientists secure a vital global resource

Frontiers
Meeting Announcement

Explore how AI tools can revolutionize soil science, helping researchers better understand and adapt soils—and the systems they nurture—to a changing climate.

22-May-2026

Photonic spiking reinforcement learning for intelligent routing

Compuscript Ltd
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Announcing a new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI 10.29026/oes.2026.260005.

Journal: Opto-Electronic Science

22-May-2026

Improved omnidirectional small moving object detection with an enhanced YOLO model

Shibaura Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While omnidirectional cameras can provide a 360-degree field of view, they often struggle to detect small moving objects, as important visual details are lost due to distortion and low resolution, even when distortion reduction methods are applied. A new study addresses this problem by building an annotated training dataset and refining a You Only Look Once (YOLO)-based detection model through transfer learning. The method substantially outperformed standard YOLO models, especially for small and distant objects.

Journal: IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems

22-May-2026

AI will not take your job, it will transform it – but only if you trust it

University of Vaasa
Reports and Proceedings

The rise of generative AI has sparked widespread concern about job security and the future of human work. In his doctoral dissertation at the University of Vaasa, Finland, Zhe Zhu reveals that when employees trust the system and see it as a helpful partner rather than a threat, AI can actually increase work engagement and help build more sustainable careers.

22-May-2026

AI learns which market signals to trust

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study presents a neural-network method for building efficient portfolios while keeping the allocation process interpretable. Instead of treating asset correlations as a black box, the model learns how to clean noisy collective market patterns and respects the symmetries of covariance matrices. Tested on U.S. equities, it delivered higher returns per unit of risk under realistic trading conditions.

Journal: The Journal of Finance and Data Science
Funder: PNRR for the PhD, University of Catania, “Mésocentre” computing center of CentraleSupélec and École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay supported by CNRS and Région Île-de-France

22-May-2026

Rediscovering science: new knowledge hidden in old data

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

What if some of the most important scientific discoveries are already hidden in data collected years ago? Researchers at Tohoku University are exploring how AI and data-driven science can reveal new insights from past experiments and scientific literature. Their review highlights how old data could help accelerate discoveries in chemistry and materials science.

Journal: Chemical Communications
Funder: JSPS KAKENHI

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

Using AI and big data to reduce global illegal trade in plants

Frontiers in Science Deep Dive webinar series | Soil science: how AI could help scientists secure a vital global resource

Photonic spiking reinforcement learning for intelligent routing

Improved omnidirectional small moving object detection with an enhanced YOLO model

AI will not take your job, it will transform it – but only if you trust it

AI learns which market signals to trust

Rediscovering science: new knowledge hidden in old data