⚙ Technology Press Releases

Digital Science, a technology company providing innovative solutions to stakeholders across the research ecosystem, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Ontopic, a pioneer in Virtual Knowledge Graph technology. Based in Bolzano, Italy, Ontopic is a spin-off from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and is renowned for its expertise in Ontop, the leading open-source framework for Virtual Knowledge Graphs (VKG) and Ontology-Based Data Access (ODBA). By acquiring Ontopic, Digital Science continues its commitment to democratizing research data and providing enterprise-grade AI solutions that transform fragmented data into actionable knowledge. Integrating ...

The next time you’re scrolling your phone, take a moment to appreciate the feat: The seemingly mundane act is possible thanks to the coordination of 34 muscles, 27 joints, and over 100 tendons and ligaments in your hand. Indeed, our hands are the most nimble parts of our bodies. Mimicking their many nuanced gestures has been a longstanding challenge in robotics and virtual reality.  Now, MIT engineers have designed an ultrasound wristband that precisely tracks a wearer’s hand movements in real time. The wristband produces ultrasound images of the wrist’s muscles, tendons, ...

Thanks to the 5th generation (5G) technology, we now enjoy unprecedented levels of connectivity. Nevertheless, wireless data traffic is facing an increasing demand for an even higher capacity and faster data transfer —a demand that, according to Edholm’s law, could exceed the terabit per second before 2035. Scientists are thus beginning to develop 6G, a technology that will accommodate higher speeds (around 1 terabit per second), ultra-low latency (below a millisecond), and advanced wireless connectivity. Transitioning from 5G to 6G, however, entails one major challenge: moving from the microwave to the sub-terahertz (sub-THz) frequency ...

Release Summary Text: In atomically thin semiconductors, enhancing the frequency-doubled light signal has come at the cost of losing polarization information tied to the valley degree of freedom. Researchers now show that silicon nanospheres can break this dilemma, providing design guidelines for next-generation valley photonic devices. END ...

Astronomers at the University of Warwick have validated over 100 exoplanets, including 31 newly detected planets, using a new artificial intelligence tool applied to data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space mission that monitors the sky for the subtle dimming of starlight caused when planets pass in front of their host stars.  Published in MNRAS, the team applied their newly developed AI pipeline called RAVEN to observations of over 2.2 million stars collected during TESS’s first four years of operations.  They focused on finding planets ...

Large-scale quantum computers are waiting in the wings. One of the main reasons we don't have them yet is because quantum hardware is so noisy. This isn’t the type of noise you’d want to shush in a crowded theater. When it comes to computers, noise means errors that crop up when conditions aren’t perfect. “We need to find a way to detect errors and correct for them,” said graduate student Evangelos Piliouras. Working with physicist Ed Barnes, Piliouras devised a method to reduce the noise and make quantum computers more noise tolerant. His work was published last month ...

In a new article, researchers introduce the capabilities approach-contextual integrity (CA-CI), a framework that addresses privacy and dignity risks posed by modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems, especially foundation models whose capabilities evolve across contexts and purposes. In a case study, they demonstrate how CA-CI can operationalize the European Union (EU)’s AI Act’s fundamental rights impact assessments, harm thresholds, and anticipatory governance. The article, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan, is published in IEEE Security & ...

A new study has developed an innovative biochar-based nanomaterial that can rapidly remove harmful herbicides from soil while simultaneously protecting crops from contamination. The research offers a promising solution to one of agriculture’s most persistent challenges: balancing soil remediation with food safety. “Traditional methods often focus only on removing pollutants from soil, but they overlook how these chemicals and their byproducts still enter crops,” said the study’s corresponding author. “Our approach addresses both problems at once, ensuring cleaner soil and safer food.” Herbicides such ...

Rice University professor Bidong Zhang has received a grant to develop next-generation lunar radiometric dating techniques that will acquire more accurate ages for lunar samples. This project is supported by $2.54 million over a three-year funding period from the NASA Laboratory Analysis of Returned Samples program. “Lunar chronology is essential for understanding the Moon, its cosmological origin and history,” Zhang said. “This grant will allow us to develop next-generation radiometric dating techniques to acquire accurate, precise ages for lunar rocks and from that provide insight into how our closest celestial neighbor formed ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Artificial intelligence holds promise for helping doctors diagnose patients and personalize treatment options. However, an international group of scientists led by MIT cautions that AI systems, as currently designed, carry the risk of steering doctors in the wrong direction because they may overconfidently make incorrect decisions. One way to prevent these mistakes is to program AI systems to be more “humble,” according to the researchers. Such systems would reveal when they are not confident in their diagnoses or recommendations and would encourage users to gather additional information when the diagnosis is uncertain. “We’re ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Neither radiologists nor multimodal large language models (LLMs) are able to easily distinguish artificial intelligence (AI)-generated “deepfake” X-ray images from authentic ones, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The findings highlight the potential risks associated with AI-generated X-ray images, along with the need for tools and training to protect the integrity of medical images and prepare health care professionals ...

Researchers introduce a novel generative AI-driven framework, MMCN (Memory-aware Multi-Conditional generation Network), for forecasting future urban layouts by jointly considering building density, building height, transportation networks, and historical development patterns. Leveraging a generative architecture-enhanced diffusion model with multi-conditional control, semantic prompt fusion, and spatial memory embedding, MMCN offers a novel approach to modeling complex urban evolution. This framework provides a powerful ...

New research led by Colorado State University highlights a critical need for system-level thinking and innovation in shaping the electric power grid of the future. Professor Zongjie Wang recently published a paper in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature portfolio, that outlines a novel framework. The proposed method helps different how parts of the grid – transmission and distribution operations – work together to make holistic decisions, without requiring system centralization. The research is particularly relevant as power industry leaders and consumers grapple with the impacts of weather-related outages, rising energy costs, and ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Recycled plastics are promoted on everything from water bottles and fleece jackets to shopping bags and yogurt cups. Verifying such claims, however, is another matter because there is no quick and reliable way to measure how much recycled plastic these products contain. University at Buffalo researchers are addressing this problem by combining several scientific tests, as well as artificial intelligence, to create a new method for differentiating recycled plastic from new plastic. Described in a study published today in Nature's Communications Engineering, the method aims to help ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - For 150 years, Major League Baseball (MLB) players and fans have accepted that an umpire missing a few balls and strikes is just part of the game. But this spring, MLB is rolling out an artificial intelligence-augmented camera system that will provide a second opinion for players to tap if they think an umpire whiffed. This historic change inspired a Cornell research team to study how MLB stakeholders are integrating the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) – which tracks pitches in real time – into baseball’s sacred gameplay. “We hear so much about AI influencing political views and ...

A machine learning-based computational approach to accelerate therapeutic discovery Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by recurrent intestinal inflammation, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Although current treatments, including 5-aminosalicylic acid, antibiotics and biologics, can control or ameliorate symptoms, many patients experience incomplete responses or adverse effects. The search for safer and more effective therapies remains a major challenge. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), naturally occurring ...

Natural hazards cause enormous damage to infrastructure systems that societies depend on every day. When these systems fail, the consequences can ripple through economies and communities. Researchers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help governments and emergency managers restore critical infrastructure faster and more effectively. A new review published in Civil Engineering Sciences examines how machine learning (ML) methods are being applied to support infrastructure recovery following natural hazards. The study was conducted by researchers from University College London and Tsinghua University and systematically analyzed 57 academic studies to understand ...

Physicists have directly visualized compact molecular orbitals in the kagome metal Ni3In, confirming a theory linking flat electronic bands to quantum critical behavior. The work, published in Nature Physics, could inform the search for high-temperature superconductors.

Rice University sociologist Corey Abramson earned a fellowship at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences to complete a book combining 20 years of clinical fieldwork with computational methods, tracing how social inequality becomes embedded in physical health.

By creating silver oxide nanoclusters at the metal-perovskite interface, UCLA researchers reduced the energy barrier tenfold and enabled quantum tunneling of charge carriers - a potential path to practical perovskite transistors and sensors.

Michael Franklin, the computer scientist who co-founded the AMPLab at UC Berkeley and helped build UChicago's data science infrastructure, has been appointed Deputy Dean for Computational and Mathematical Sciences in the university's Physical Sciences Division.

AI foundation models trained on general time-series data from energy and transport sectors predicted river flows across 500+ U.S. basins nearly as well as models trained on decades of hydrological records. The approach could bring flood and drought forecasting to regions that lack monitoring infrastructure.

Machine learning models trained on quadrupole moments can predict molecular electrostatic potentials with high accuracy, sidestepping the days-to-weeks computational cost of quantum-chemical calculations. The approach could accelerate screening of battery electrolyte molecules.

In a 52-student trial across Chicago public schools, robots that openly admitted lacking emotions helped fourth-graders master social-emotional learning vocabulary more effectively than robots given fictional backstories and feelings.

A UCLA study in Nature Neuroscience shows that when cold mice huddle for warmth, their prefrontal cortex monitors both their own behavior and that of their groupmates. Silencing that brain region in some animals makes them passive, but untouched groupmates compensate so precisely that body temperatures stay stable.