Horizon, the largest U.S. open-science supercomputer arriving in 2026, is being designed around the Characteristic Science Applications program: 11 cutting-edge software projects tackling the scientific challenges that will define the facility’s future.

Through a partnership with industry, researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and Florida State University’s Center for Advanced Power Systems and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have supported the development of a design that uses multiple strands of superconducting tape to create a cable, minimizing the chance of failure from defective spots within a wire.

A new study co-authored by University of Notre Dame researcher Helge-Johannes Marahrens shows that analyzing social media posts can help experts predict when people will move during crises, supporting faster and more effective humanitarian aid delivery. Marahrens, assistant professor of computational social science in Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, said that this research highlights how powerful computational tools can help address major global challenges to human dignity.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa revealed Kīlauea’s magma system started behaving anomalously about a year before the massive 2018 eruption began. This discovery, made using a unique seismic monitoring method, suggests that tracking these hidden processes could aid eruption prediction and volcanic hazard mitigation. 

A new material developed at UVA could lead to breakthroughs in transplant treatments, drug delivery systems, even battery storage. 

There’s a lion’s share of potential energy in the vibrations produced by footsteps on dance floors, exercise machines in the gym, or the engines of cars, planes or construction equipment. Some tech companies have already begun to harvest electricity from waste vibrations to power lights and recharge batteries using a class of piezoelectric ceramic materials, which emit electrical charges when stepped on or manipulated.

Sometimes, less really is more. By removing oxygen during synthesis, a team led by materials scientists at Penn State created seven new high-entropy oxides, or HEOs: a class of ceramics composed of five or more metals with potential for applications in energy storage, electronics and protective coatings.

Ferroelectric materials are used in devices ranging from ultrasounds to miniature speakers in cell phones. The materials commonly used today, however, are lead-based and therefore toxic.