Combining multiple sensory inputs has been a big hurdle for developing physical AI robots. Recent research at Tohoku University solves this problem using a brand new approach.

In the next 75 years, surface sea temperatures may rise by up to 4°C, with increasingly frequent short-term marine heatwaves also predicted. This could cause significant damage to our essential marine ecosystems, for example with corals widely known to be vulnerable to bleaching. But how will fish fare in these changing climates? In iScience, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) describe the metabolic and molecular changes that can support young clownfish to adapt to climate change and warming seas. Through genomic and transcriptomic studies across multiple tissues within young clownfish, the team identified the biological processes affected by rising water temperatures. And the outlook is more positive than we may have thought.

Farmed fish are increasingly replacing wild fish to meet consumer demand in China, as well as Australia – and barramundi is a popular choice.

 

Aquaculture research led by Flinders University and experts in China continues to examine the benefits – and possible side effects – of improving fishmeal for farmed fish, with a new study investigating the potential of herbal additives to improve fish immunity in more sustainable future production systems.

A recent review in International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing highlights advances in fabricating compositionally heterogeneous and gradient structures, exploring methods, equipment, and strategies to control interfacial defects. It also showcases innovative designs and potential applications, from Z-direction gradients to fully three-dimensional heterogeneous structures. The authors conclude with perspectives on future research directions, offering a roadmap for integrating functionality and performance in next-generation manufacturing.

With rising risk to the environment and human health, the race for biodegradable plastics is gaining pace – with several projects under way at Flinders University in South Australia.

 

Published in Polymers, one of the latest experiments finds researchers combining calcium caseinate – a commercially available derivative of casein, the main protein in milk – with modified starch and bentonite nanoclay into a thin film, adding glycerol and polyvinyl alcohol to improve its strength and plasticity.