Tech & Engineering
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Jul-2025 01:11 ET (16-Jul-2025 05:11 GMT/UTC)
AI tool built for climate-hit fishers wins top prize at UN Summit
WorldFishGrant and Award Announcement
New research challenges animal dietary classifications in Yellowstone National Park
Brown UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
A new federally funded study led by Brown University biologists and scientists at Yellowstone National Park revealed that different circumstances lead herbivores to eat a much wider variety of plants than previously believed.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new research suggests that the traditional classification schemes that distinguish herbivores by their percent of grass consumption are oversimplifications that can fail to reflect dietary variation within and across species, said study co-author Tyler Kartzinel, an associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Brown.
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, Department of National Parks
Smarter tools for policymakers: Notre Dame researchers target urban carbon emissions, building by building
University of Notre DamePeer-Reviewed Publication
Carbon emissions continue to increase at record levels, fueling climate instability and worsening air quality conditions for billions in cities worldwide. Yet despite global commitments to carbon neutrality, urban policymakers still struggle to implement effective mitigation strategies at the city scale. Now, researchers at Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, the College of Engineering and the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society are working to reduce carbon emissions through advanced simulations and a novel artificial intelligence-driven tool, EcoSphere.
- Journal
- Automation in Construction
For tastier and hardier citrus, researchers built a tool for probing plant metabolism
University of California - San DiegoPeer-Reviewed Publication
A new tool allows researchers to probe the metabolic processes occurring within the leaves, stems, and roots of a key citrus crop, the clementine. The big picture goal of this research is to improve the yields, flavor and nutritional value of citrus and non-citrus crops, even in the face of increasingly harsh growing conditions and growing pest challenges. To build the tool, the team – led by the University of California San Diego – focused on the clementine (Citrus clementina), which is a cross between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange. The effort is expected to expand well beyond the clementine in order to develop actionable information for increasing the productivity and quality of a wide range of citrus and non-citrus crops. The strategy is to uncover – and then make use of – new insights on how plants respond, in terms of metabolic activities in specific parts of the plant or tree, to environmental factors like temperature, drought and disease.
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Funder
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, California Department of Food and Agriculture, University of California
A new theory explaining oscillations in tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR)
National Institute for Materials Science, JapanPeer-Reviewed Publication
NIMS has developed a new theory that explains why tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) —used in magnetic memory and other technologies— oscillates with changes in the thickness of the insulating barrier within a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). This oscillation was clearly observed when NIMS recently recorded the world’s highest TMR ratio. Understanding the mechanisms behind this phenomenon is expected to significantly aid in further increasing TMR ratios. This research was published as a letter article in Physical Review B, a journal of the American Physical Society, on June 9, 2025.
- Journal
- Physical Review B
- Funder
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Mapping important infrastructure could aid emergency response after hurricanes
American Chemical SocietyPeer-Reviewed Publication
In the fall of 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeastern U.S., later downgrading to a tropical storm causing strong winds, flooding and major destruction throughout Appalachia. Now, researchers and public health officials in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters provide a debrief about how their mapping of key locations, including private wells, septic systems and service facilities, helped distribute disaster relief in North Carolina — a part of Appalachia hit particularly hard by the hurricane.
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology Letters