Meetings

The Consortium for Enhancing Resilience and Catastrophe Modeling (CERCat)—a landmark partnership between Lehigh University and Rice University—convened at Rice University between Feb. 5-6, 2026, for its semi-annual meeting. This meeting featured comprehensive mid-year updates on six projects launched at the inaugural meeting of CERCat held at Lehigh University in August 2025 and served as a critical touchpoint to ensure CERCat’s research remains aligned with the evolving catastrophe modeling and resilience assessment needs of its industry partners.

BETHESDA, MD – When you scratch an itch, something tells your brain when to stop. That moment of relief, when scratching feels “enough,” is not accidental. Scientists have now identified a key molecular and neural mechanism behind this built-in braking system, shedding new light on how the body regulates itch and why this control fails in chronic conditions. The research will be presented at the 70th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Francisco from February 21–25, 2026.

The American College of Medial Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) announced today that press registration is now open for the  2026 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting, taking place in Baltimore, Maryland on March 10-14, 2026. Join us “Where Genetics Meets Innovation” and experience first-hand the transformation of clinical genetics, from primarily a diagnostic field to one increasingly driven by treatment and precision therapeutics.

After nearly five years of collaborative work, the European Horizon 2020 REST-COAST project convened for its final consortium meeting in Barcelona in early February. On the agenda were the main results that demonstrate how nature-based solutions (NbS), operational tools, business plans and policy insights can support evidence-based decision-making across Europe to reduce coastal risks, restore ecosystems and biodiversity, while improving the well-being of citizens.

Kogakuin University has officially announced the launch of a prestigious global scholarly volume entitled “Global Engineering Educational Management: Comparative Trends and Insights” which will be published by Springer Nature as part of the Emergent Directions in Engineering Education book series. This publication marks a significant milestone in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Advanced Engineering. The initiative was formally announced at the School of Advanced Engineering Executive Meeting at Kogakuin University on January 19^th, 2026.

Change is afoot in the U.S. beef supply chain. More dairy cattle seem to be specifically bred to generate a calf to be sold as beef, but so far documentation for the trend is mostly anecdotal.

In an invited talk at the USDA’s 102^nd Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, University of Tennessee agricultural economist Charles Martinez is poised to show the impact of beef on dairy crossed cattle on the U.S. beef supply chain and propose a new category for recording cattle market data: beef on dairy. Martinez says documenting this developing market will help industry analysts understand the true nature of the U.S. beef supply chain as well as the economic state of the beef and dairy industries.

The Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality (ICCN) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will host Hong Kong Climate Week (HKCW) 2026 from 26 March to 1 April 2026, bringing together policymakers, business leaders, and innovators to drive the transition from climate commitments to tangible solutions. The event will open with a keynote address by Mr Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, reinforcing Hong Kong’s sustained leadership in advancing the global climate agenda.