Meet three Northwestern University scientists who are reshaping how we think about the ovary — not simply as a reproductive organ, but one of the body’s earliest-aging tissues — and identifying molecular targets that could one day slow its aging.

Quick snapshots of the scientists:

Francesca Duncan focuses on the tissue environment of the ovaries and how this affects egg quantity and quality in both mouse models and humans. 

Dr. Elnur Babayev combines fertility care with basic science research and spearheads the recruitment of patients for Northwestern’s clinical studies on ovarian aging. 

Dr. Kara Goldman, director of Northwestern Medicine’s Fertility Preservation program, studies accelerated ovarian aging to uncover new strategies for preserving ovarian function and improving women’s long-term health.

A story about honour, war and death – and a cornerstone of Western literature. A new Norwegian adaptation of the famous epic The Iliad is about to be published.

Journal of Advanced Ceramics (JAC), the peer-reviewed open-access journal published by Tsinghua University Press, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year with a special series of five invited review articles by distinguished experts in the field. The collection captures the most exciting frontiers in ceramic science and technology, from ultra-high-temperature materials to data-driven discovery.

Known as Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science, the project is bringing researchers from DRI, UNR, and UNLV together to tackle dozens of questions about wildfires — from the impacts on air quality and hydrology to the way that plants and soils recover from burns.  

The Western U.S. is experiencing periods of increasingly intense drought, and higher temperatures are exacerbating the issue by drawing even more moisture from plants and soils into the atmosphere. We see the results in the ever-expanding wildfire footprint, with many of the region’s largest recorded wildfires occurring over the last decade. One DRI scientist is innovating a new way to monitor water stress in trees – one that may help monitor wildfire risk across the region.  

Newly patented AI technology helps get bruise detection tools into the hands of clinicians, law enforcement, and researchers

A global forum will be held to discuss the future of “Physical AI,” a technology that enables artificial intelligence to perceive, understand, and act in the real world through the physical embodiment of robots and machines. Experts from industry, academia, and research institutions in Korea and abroad will gather to share the latest technological developments in humanoid robotics and Physical AI and explore future directions for the industrial ecosystem.

Darren Lipomi, the Arthur Gould Yates Professor of Engineering and chair of the University of Rochester’s Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering, argues that one of the most misunderstood parts of academia is the life of a doctoral student in science and engineering. While he could not imagine his life without that formative time as a graduate student, he hopes to give more prospective PhD students a clear-eyed look at what the commitment entails.