Aircraft safety faces a critical challenge: “stall,” where wings lose lift at high angles, risking crashes. Researchers from the Civil Aviation University of China have developed a bio-inspired solution—microscopic herringbone grooves mimicking bird feathers—that delays stalls by 28.57%. This passive, low-cost technology reduces flow separation on wings, outperforming traditional methods while minimizing drag.

A new study published in Chinese Journal of Aeronautics reveals critical insights into hypersonic boundary layer instabilities. Using resolvent analysis, parabolized stability equations and direct numerical simulation, researchers investigated disturbance growth on a blunt-tip wedge at Mach 5.9. The study identifies two competing wave patterns: Pattern A (slow amplification in the entropy layer) and Pattern B (rapid transient growth in the boundary layer). Key findings highlight the impact of nose radius, wall cooling, and acoustic wave receptivity, offering new control strategies for nonmodal instabilities. This work advances understanding of hypersonic flow stability with practical implications for aerospace design.

Paulina DeVito, 22, has received the award for her groundbreaking work in AI and education. A standout scholar who earned two bachelor’s degrees by 20 and a master’s with a perfect GPA in just one year, DeVito now investigates how generative AI is discussed across social media – especially among young women in STEM. Her research analyzes themes, sentiments, and engagement around hashtags like #WomenInSTEM to inform ethical, AI-based educational tools and policy, spotlighting issues like flawed AI cheating detectors in schools.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a pivotal tool in modern engineering and scientific research. As simulation scale increases, computational acceleration for CFD have become a prominent focus. The implicit-explicit (IMEX) method partitions spatial regions to apply implicit or explicit methods, maintaining numerical stability while enhancing computational efficiency. Numerical results demonstrate that IMEX methods achieve efficiency improvements exceeding an order of magnitude compared to classical methods. In the future, coupling IMEX methods with GPU architectures will achieve greater computational speedups in extreme-scale simulations.

The rotating stall precursor is a major research focus in the field of aerodynamic compressor flow stability, as an accurate understanding of its physical mechanisms can help improve the operating margin of the compressor system in aircraft engines and ensure flight safety. With advances in numerical simulation techniques, the physical essence of spike-type stall has been increasingly investigated in depth. Many studies assume that weak-amplitude disturbances exist prior to stall and facilitate its onset; however, the specific nature of these disturbances, their relationship with the spontaneous unsteady behavior of the flow, and whether these disturbances serve as the origin of the spike-type stall, have yet to be clarified.

Laura Cancedda, head of the Brain Development and Disease Research Unit at the Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – IIT), has today been elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the international community of more than 2,100 distinguished scientists in the life sciences field across Europe and around the world. Receiving EMBO Membership is a recognition of the excellence of her research and the outstanding achievements throughout her career.