Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of California, San Diego, have revealed the exact mechanism underlying how a key protein, called SPD-5, helps regulate where and when spindle fibers assemble in C.elegans during cell division.  Published in Science Advances, the study shows that SPD-5 is activated through a precise, step-by-step process that changes the protein’s shape, unlocking the binding sites needed to begin forming spindle fibers.

A team at Polytechnique Montréal has opened the door to a new generation of photonic chips that could cut the electricity use of data centres and generative AI systems. The work is published today in Science Advances, part of the Science family of journals.

Researchers have drawn inspiration from armadillos to create a protective structure that responds to external threats by curling into a protective ball to protect electronic devices or other payloads. The structure is designed to automatically respond when it detects strain and can be tuned to respond to anything from a delicate touch to a significant impact.

Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira, who designs AI-based tools to study movement in fields ranging from neuroscience to plant biology, joins the faculty as assistant professor. Julie Law, who studies how epigenetics influences human and plant health, has been promoted from associate professor to full professor.

The Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering North America has elected Sana Elyas as president of the 2026-2027 North America Executive Cabinet. Her term will officially begin on July 1, 2026.

Battery electrolytes aren’t just one chemical, but a complex mixture of salts, solvents and additives interacting and reacting with each other. Artificial intelligence has made great headway in helping select ideal materials to go into that chemical soup. But a team from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) is using AI to generate the entire formulation, balancing the complicated tradeoffs and interactions that go into the electrolytes that make batteries possible. The research was published in JACS Au. It is the next step in the Amanchukwu Lab’s ongoing development of generative AI for battery work.

Engineers have invented an ingenious liquid-metal pump which could make future soft robotics and wearable devices much more portable and agile.

Even the most modern random number generators do not produce perfectly random numbers, which can be a problem for cryptographic applications. 

ETH Zurich researchers use entangled superconducting qubits and a so-called Bell-test to amplify such imperfect randomness using quantum physics. 

Their technology could become a key foundation for secure encryption and digital security.