A team of physicists from the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Physics has 3D-printed a Christmas tree made entirely of ice. Researchers Menno Demmenie, Stefan Kooij and Daniel Bonn used no freezing technology or refrigeration equipment—just water and a vacuum. In time-lapse videos, you can see how the Christmas tree is printed and how it melts again when the vacuum pump is turned off.

We’ve all been there, protecting our ears. The school play in the gym or community hall, where sound is distorted due to glitches in equipment.  

“And listening to live performances on the internet introduces even more glitches. Yikes,” says UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Miles Thorogood.   

But now, Dr. Thorogood and his team at UBCO’s Sonic Production, Intelligence, Research, and Applications Lab (SPIRAL) are exploring how advanced machine learning can make glitch-free network music performances possible, supporting creative collaboration and public art experiences.  

Many women assume pelvic floor health issues are simply their fate—part of having vaginal deliveries, getting older, gaining weight or entering menopause. Perhaps they have watched their mothers and grandmothers live with symptoms, such as urinary incontinence and pain. Though pelvic floor disorders happen when the muscles and tissues that support the bladder, bowel and uterus weaken or don’t work properly, they are not a normal part of aging.

A partnership between the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Knoxville, Roane State Community College, and the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology offers hands-on training through 15- and 30-hour programs, creating seamless pathways from technical credentials to advanced degrees, addressing workforce gaps in the nuclear industry.

 The SETI Institute awarded its 2025 Cosmic Chronicles Literary Award to Cal Hunter. The Cosmic Chronicles Literary Award is a new contest for emerging authors from the SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence (AIR) program. This summer, we launched an Open Call inviting writers and poets working in literature, speculative fiction/sci-fi, experimental poetry, and philosophy to submit original, unpublished creative work reflecting on the themes of intelligence, consciousness, and communication. We received a remarkable number of submissions from 33 countries across six continents, including Peru, New Zealand, Ghana, India, Japan, throughout Europe, Canada, and the USA.

Boon is the project development manager at Bangkok Genomics Innovation (BKGI), a joint venture between BGI Genomics and local partners in Thailand. His role is at the intersection of global science and local healthcare.

BKGI itself is a good example of the Belt and Road Initiative, a bridge of technology and knowledge flowing between China and Thailand. For Boon, that bridge is the reason ideas once out of reach in Thai hospitals are now being shaped into real projects.

University of Missouri researchers are developing a process to transform abandoned mining waste into an untapped treasure chest of rare earth elements.