EurekAlert! In the Spotlight

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: 6-Nov-2025 22:11 ET (7-Nov-2025 03:11 GMT/UTC)

3-Jun-2025

APA calls for guardrails, education, to protect adolescent AI users

American Psychological Association
Reports and Proceedings

The effects of artificial intelligence on adolescents are nuanced and complex, according to a report from the American Psychological Association that calls on developers to prioritize features that protect young people from exploitation, manipulation and the erosion of real-world relationships.

3-Jun-2025

Underwater robots take to the deep to map unexplored oceans

University of Sydney

Autonomous underwater robots from the University of Sydney are supporting an Australian Museum scientific expedition exploring the marine environment around Norfolk Island. The expedition aims to document previously unexplored reefs and to provide information to the local community, marine parks and museums in Australia and New Zealand about the state of seafloor (benthic) flora and fauna.

2-Jun-2025

Expanding the sequence spaces of synthetic binding protein using deep learning-based framework ProteinMPNN

Higher Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research team used ProteinMPNN to expand the sequence space of synthetic binding proteins (SBPs), improving their solubility and stability, and showed ProteinMPNN-designed proteins outperform classical methods.

Journal: Frontiers of Computer Science

2-Jun-2025

Application of machine learning in drug side effect prediction: databases, methods and challenges

Higher Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A review on machine learning-based prediction methods for drug side effects sorts out methods for predicting side effects caused by single drugs and DDIs, highlights the prediction of side effect frequency and severity, and discusses current challenges and future directions.

Journal: Frontiers of Computer Science

2-Jun-2025

Prevalence of artificial sweetener neotame in U.S.-marketed disposable e-cigarettes

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This study demonstrates that the artificial sweetener neotame was a ubiquitous constituent of popular disposable e-cigarettes sold in the U.S. in 2024, including those containing no nicotine or the nicotine analogue 6-methylnicotine. Neotame is 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than table sugar and is 35 to 65 times sweeter than aspartame.

Journal: JAMA

2-Jun-2025

When less is more: How inhibition shapes learning

Georgia Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Georgia Tech researchers reveal the dynamic role of inhibitory neurons in spatial memory and learning.

Journal: Nature
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

2-Jun-2025

AI chatbots aren’t experts on psych med reactions — yet

Georgia Institute of Technology
Reports and Proceedings

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new framework to evaluate how well AI chatbots can detect potential adverse drug reactions in chat conversations, and how closely their advice aligns with human experts.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Meeting: 2025 Annual Conference of the Nations of the Americas Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics