KANAZAWA, Japan — Spatial transcriptomics can reveal where thousands of genes are active across a tissue, creating molecular maps at single-cell resolution. But comparing two such maps is difficult: thin slices of tissue may be rotated, stretched, or otherwise distorted, so equivalent regions do not automatically line up.

Researchers at Kanazawa University and Sapienza University of Rome have developed a computational method that aligns these maps directly from the individual measurement locations and their gene-activity values. Called Domain Elastic Transform (DET), it smoothly reshapes one digital map to match another without first converting the measurements into a regular grid of pixels.

The research, led by Osamu Hirose of Kanazawa University in collaboration with Emanuele Rodolà of Sapienza University of Rome, was published online in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence on September 15, 2026.

New research has found that the rate of hip fractures in astronauts back on Earth was greater in the time period after an astronaut has been in space for more than 90 days than in the time period following shorter spaceflights or in non-astronauts. The findings of the study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, published by Elsevier, underscore the need for expanded assessment of long-term skeletal health in astronauts.

Two faculty members from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Tickle College of Engineering are part of a nearly $1 million National Science Foundationinterdisciplinary project aimed at optimizing and expanding the production and distribution of locally grown food. Jon Hathaway, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Catherine Schuman, an assistant professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are collaborating with a local nonprofit, Three3, and other University of Tennessee researchers and community partners to develop DFARM, a smart, connected community food production and distribution system.

Researchers at Tohoku University and collaborators have demonstrated key technologies for controlling and measuring electrons in zinc oxide quantum dots, an important step toward developing spin-based quantum devices. Their results provide a new platform for exploring how electron spins behave in this promising material.

SAN ANTONIO — September 29, 2026 —Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and Australia-based Adelaide University are exploring quantum radio frequency (RF) sensing, sensemaking, which is quantum signal interpretation and analytics, and related technologies through a new three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by both organizations. A joint research team launched first-phase, hands-on evaluations of superconducting quantum RF sensors for signals intelligence applications at the Jesper Munch Quantum Laboratories at Adelaide University in South Australia. Signals intelligence is the field of collecting, intercepting and analyzing electronic signals to support defense, communications and emergency response.