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Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Oct-2026 20:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 00:16 GMT/UTC)

Biochar-coated catalyst turns wet microalgae into cleaner fuel-building chemicals

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microalgae have long been viewed as a promising source of renewable fuel. They grow quickly, capture carbon dioxide efficiently, and do not compete with food crops for farmland. Yet turning algae into usable liquid fuels remains difficult because algae-derived bio-oil often contains high levels of oxygen and nitrogen compounds, which can lower fuel quality, reduce stability, and create pollution concerns during combustion.

Journal: Biochar

Illinois study: How cracks in dry soil impact moisture evaporation

College of ACES at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Soils that are exposed to prolonged drought often develop desiccation cracks, which impact soil properties and exacerbate moisture loss through evapotranspiration. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the evolution of soil cracking and how cracks interact with storage and movement of water in the soil. The findings can help improve hydrological models essential for water management.

Journal: Soil and Tillage Research

SwRI-led Lucy mission reveals wobbling peanut asteroid

Southwest Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

SAN ANTONIO — June 18, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists studying the inner main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson have found that its rotation wobbles. Rather than rolling through space in a steady pattern, Donaldjohanson turns on two axes, rotating end-over-end once every 10.5 Earth days while wobbling around its horizontal axis then once every 26.5 days.

Journal: Science

Scientific computing must adapt in an AI world

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Reports and Proceedings

While the scientific computing community has long been a driver of computing innovation, that is no longer possible. Today, the community must embrace the new realities of an AI-dominated technology world, say Jack Dongarra and colleagues in this Policy Forum. It should integrate AI with simulation and – because energy has become a primary design constraint – it should focus on energy-efficient methods and systems. To make swift progress, the authors propose an initial “minimum viable” suite of workflow-shaped benchmarks. As part of these workflows, data and models are “intellectual gold,” say the authors; they “are investments in future scientific leverage.” Dongarra et al. propose a “moonshot” to build a new foundation that would benefit both scientific computing and AI.

Journal: Science

New membrane technology could transform hydrocarbon processing by slashing energy use

Queen Mary University of London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers develop ultrathin polymer membranes that enable fast, selective separation of crude oil components, offering a scalable, low‑energy alternative to distillation.

Journal: Science

The suburban street design that’s been driving emissions since WWII

Yale University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A century-old planning paradigm still embedded in the physical fabric of suburbs nationwide is driving a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

UCLA-led research finds synchronized electron movement can trigger electrical signals more than 100-fold

University of California - Los Angeles
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team led by researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has shown that a small electric signal could trigger a response more than 100 times larger than what is typically observed in conventional electronic materials, potentially opening a path toward smaller, more energy-efficient devices. Published in Nature Electronics, their study revealed a new way to control electricity using a quantum-like collective state of matter known as a charge-density-wave, in which electrons move together in a synchronized pattern rather than independently.

Journal: Nature Electronics
Funder: Office of Naval Research

From cleaner “cracking” to black gold

University of Pittsburgh
Grant and Award Announcement

While researching a cleaner, more efficient way to produce ethylene, the University of Pittsburgh's Aime Laurent Twizerimana discovered that the carbon byproduct was battery-quality graphite. With Pitt professors Götz Veser and Mohammad Masnadi and PhD student Nader Sawtarie, Twizerimana launched startup Graphonos Materials, which has demonstrated its novel technology in the lab and has caught the attention of venture capitalists, most recently at the Rice Business Plan Competition, where it won a $20,000 Aramco Innovator Prize.

How do flocking birds and schools of fish move? New research offers crystal-clear answer

New York University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by a team of NYU mathematicians reveals that flocks and schools behave in ways that are similar to a soft crystalline material, with individual birds and fish serving as “atoms” that are evenly spaced in a lattice-like formation. The findings offer detailed insights into the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic interactions crucial in aerospace and automotive engineering, robotics, and energy harvesting.

Journal: Physical Review Fluids