In two Perspectives, authors highlight the strengths and limitations of “self-driving” laboratories, spaces that combine robotics, high-throughput experiments, artificial intelligence (AI), and automated analysis to transform scientific discovery. They were envisioned to help discovery go from a slow process of trial and error into a continuous, adaptive learning cycle. These systems are already being used to discover molecules and optimize materials, sometimes exploring enormous experimental spaces while using far less material and time than conventional approaches.

 

In one Perspective, Milad Abolhasani highlights a major challenge in using AI tools in laboratories. These tools can generate hypotheses far faster than physical laboratories can test them. Linking instruments, robots, software, and shared datasets could allow laboratories to learn from one another, uncover patterns hidden in complex systems, and reduce redundant experiments. At the same time, greater autonomy will require rigorous safety measures, transparent decision-making, standardized data, and broader access to prevent these technologies from becoming concentrated among a small number of institutions. Ultimately, Abolhasani envisions autonomous laboratories augmenting scientists rather than replacing them, with human researchers setting goals and interpreting evidence while intelligent systems handle much of the experimental exploration.

 

In another Perspective, Martin Burke and colleagues highlight “blocc” chemistry. Blocc chemistry is a modular approach to building small molecules from standardized chemical building blocks that could make organic synthesis faster, more automated, and accessible to nonspecialists. By enabling robots to repeatedly assemble carbon-carbon bonds, Burke suggests that the method could be used to generate large, standardized datasets that AI systems could use to predict and optimize the properties of new molecules, creating a feedback loop between automated synthesis, testing, and machine learning. According to the author, the approach has already produced promising materials for applications including organic electronics and solar cells. What’s more, blocc chemistry could also democratize molecular discovery and transform chemistry education. However, broader access will require standardized methods as well as safeguards to ensure that automated chemical innovation is used safely and responsibly.

Thinkers from Plato to Maria Montessori have championed play as one of the most powerful ways that young children learn and grow. American preschool teachers overwhelmingly agree — but a new study finds that teachers in urban settings feel less family support for play-based learning than their suburban counterparts.

As the government prepares to introduce updated school food standards, an investigation by The BMJ finds that more than a third of the firms exhibiting at the UK’s biggest school food show sell products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS).

As school districts continue searching for ways to recruit and retain teachers, new research from UNC-Chapel Hill suggests one promising pipeline may already be in classrooms: teaching assistants. 

Ocean University of China (Qingdao, China) announced that a research team led by Professor Guoqiang Li and Dr. Xiao Han of the Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, has discovered fourteen previously unknown diterpenoid derivatives — named clavukellines A–N — from the soft coral *Clavularia koellikeri* collected from the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea. Preliminary pharmacological evaluation revealed that all fourteen compounds exhibit antithrombotic activity, and two additionally show anti-inflammatory effects, opening a promising new avenue for marine-derived drug development.