EurekAlert! News by Subject: Tech & Engineering - Home

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Apr-2026 21:15 ET (19-Apr-2026 01:15 GMT/UTC)

WEIT paves new way for 6G environment intelligence communication

Higher Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Curious about how 6G will achieve smarter, more efficient communication? A new study in Engineering introduces Wireless Environmental Information Theory, a fresh framework for 6G’s environment intelligence communication. It moves past traditional static channel models, uses sensing and AI for real-time channel prediction, and tests its effectiveness across key 6G tasks, while exploring practical challenges for real-world use.

Journal: Engineering

UC Irvine-led study achieves brain-controlled walking with artificial sensory feedback

University of California - Irvine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An interdisciplinary, multi-institution team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, Caltech, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC is the first to use a bidirectional brain-computer interface to control the gait of a walking exoskeleton. The system enables patients suffering spinal cord impairments to regain both the ability to walk and the associated sensation, which results in safer, more realistic movement. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Journal: Brain Stimulation

AI models lean on autism stereotypes when giving social advice, new study finds

Virginia Tech
Reports and Proceedings

Users who disclose autism to artificial intelligence agents when seeking social advice raise complex questions about bias, stereotypes, and trustworthiness, the study finds.

Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interface

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.

Journal: Nature Communications

Indiana University opens its free generative AI course to anyone worldwide

Indiana University
Business Announcement

Indiana University is now offering its acclaimed essential skills course in generative artificial intelligence — GenAI 101 — to everyone worldwide, free of charge.

Faculty and staff at the IU Kelley School of Business developed one of the largest generative AI courses offered by a leading research university. Since it launched in August, more than 114,000 students, staff and faculty have enrolled in GenAI 101. In October, IU expanded access to its more than 805,000 alumni worldwide; thousands have enrolled since then.

Overreliance on AI programs may undermine confidence at work

American Psychological Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Relying on AI to complete work duties may not be diminishing our cognitive abilities, but it can undermine confidence in our own independent reasoning and perceived ownership of ideas, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

Journal: Technology Mind and Behavior

How landslides happen without heavy rainfall: Early strong runoff coincides with weak geomaterials

Geological Society of America
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the common understanding, heavy rainfall is the primary trigger of landslides. However, to most people’s surprise, many catastrophic landslides occur unexpectedly during periods of little or even no rainfall. New research published in Geology provides new insights for identifying, warning, and mitigating rainfall-free and low-rainfall landslides.

Journal: Geology

Prompt coaching tool raises user awareness of bias in generative AI systems

Penn State
Reports and Proceedings

A coaching tool built into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered systems may raise user awareness of bias in AI algorithms and help individuals better prompt generative AI tools to produce more inclusive content, according to researchers at Penn State and Oregon State University.

Meeting: ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Achieving wafer-scale growth of 2D magnetic materials

Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers devise a technique to grow high-quality 2D magnetic materials over centimetre-scale wafers, paving the way for their integration into next-generation electronics and spintronics materials used in hard drives and sensors.

Journal: Advanced Materials

3
4
5
6
7