As long as humans write software by hand, errors will remain inevitable. “Automatically synthesizing systems that are correct by design is considered the Holy Grail of software engineering,” says CISPA-Faculty Rayna Dimitrova. While it is already possible to automatically and correctly generate simple programs, suitable techniques for complex software systems are still lacking. With a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) worth approximately two million euros, Dimitrova aims to change that. In her SyReP project, she is developing new synthesis methods for so-called reactive software systems—systems that continuously interact with their environment and must make sophisticated decisions on the fly.

Future quantum networks could revolutionize many aspects of our lives from cybersecurity to healthcare and energy. But how do we make such networks practical and affordable? Professor Mehul Malik, from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, has been awarded a grant of more than £2.6 million by the European Research Council (ERC) to address some of the key challenges involved. His five year project will focus on harnessing the spatial and temporal properties of light. 

IMDEA Software researcher Marco Guarnieri has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to develop PRIMULA, a pioneering project aimed at building hardware–software systems that are secure by design against microarchitectural attacks.

With 2€ million in funding over 5 years, PRIMULA will drive a paradigm shift in cybersecurity by establishing formal foundations and tools to protect computer systems against attacks, eliminating the dependence on ad-hoc mitigations.

MIT researchers analyzed an ancient Pompeii construction site to determine how the ancient Romans produced concrete that endured for thousands of years.

University of Utah research engineers finetune robotic prosthetic hand to improve its manual dexterity through an artificial intelligence-powered neural interface.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, have for the first time succeeded in using existing laser technology to continuously vary the magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials. This simple and fast method should make a large number of applications possible, including techniques for data storage and processing. 

In an interesting turn of botanical events, University of Houston engineers report that while melatonin keeps us asleep, it wakes up plants, helping them grow.