EurekAlert! News by Subject: Tech & Engineering - News by Subject: Tech & Engineering

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Dec-2025 23:16 ET (17-Dec-2025 04:16 GMT/UTC)

Tiny filter, big breakthrough: UF team helps lithium–sulfur batteries keep their charge

University of Florida
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of engineering researchers recently showed that a one-atom-thick filter can block sulfur chains from shuttling within the battery, potentially unlocking the long-awaited promise of lithium–sulfur batteries.

Journal: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Can AI persuade you to go vegan—or harm yourself?

University of British Columbia
Reports and Proceedings

UBC research shows AI chatbots can be more persuasive than humans—raising concerns about manipulation, mental health risks and the need for safeguards.

Palladium filters could enable cheaper, more efficient generation of hydrogen fuel

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MIT engineers developed a palladium membrane, used for filtering gas mixtures to produce pure hydrogen, that remains resilient at much higher temperatures. The filters could be used in advanced separation methods that enable cheaper, more efficient generation of hydrogen fuel.

Journal: Advanced Functional Materials

Sunlight worsens wildfire smoke pollution, study finds

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wildfire smoke causes more air pollution than current atmospheric models can predict. A new study by researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences explains why by revealing that, under sunlight, wildfire smoke particles act like tiny chemical factories, producing harmful oxidants such as peroxides, a group of highly reactive pollutants contributing to smog and haze.

Journal: Science Advances

Could bacteria help fix the smoky taste of wildfire-tainted wine?

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New laboratory experiments show that a bacterium that lives on grape plants can break down guaiacol—an unpleasant-tasting substance which ruins wines made from grapes exposed to wildfire smoke. Claudia Castro of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on October 1, 2025.

Journal: PLOS One

What are the best ways to protect against chainsaw injuries?

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Fall is the time of year when people head to forests and woodlots with chainsaws to cut firewood to heat and enhance their homes over the coming winter months. It’s a risky endeavor, according to accident statistics and researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Judd Michael, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, who recently published a study in Safety on chainsaw injuries, urges those who use the powerful, dangerous tools to take precautions.

Journal: Safety

Gene editing, traditional crossbreeding produce disease-resistant cacao plants

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a development that could help protect one of the world's most beloved agricultural commodities, a research team at Penn State has successfully created disease-resistant cacao plants using gene-editing technology. According to the researchers, the innovation promises to help resolve a significant problem for the global chocolate industry, worth over $135 billion annually, which faces threat from the phytophthora species, a fungal-like pathogen that gives rise to the destructive black pod disease that can cause yield losses of up to 30% worldwide.

Journal: Plant Biotechnology Journal