Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.
This month, we’re focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), a topic that continues to capture attention everywhere. Here, you’ll find the latest research news, insights, and discoveries shaping how AI is being developed and used across the world.
Latest News Releases
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Nov-2025 15:11 ET (21-Nov-2025 20:11 GMT/UTC)
Bridging the innovation gap: An AI and game-theoretic framework for optimizing angel investor-startup matching
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Journal CenterThis paper introduces a novel methodology for analysing and optimising the matching process between angel investors and startup companies by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and game-theoretic models. Leveraging the natural language processing capabilities of AI engines such as Gemini and ChatGPT 4, we extract and analyse historical investment patterns to identify critical qualitative and quantitative criteria influencing investment decisions. These criteria are further refined through R programming simulations, optimising cutoff values using the Youden index to balance sensitivity and specificity in predicting successful matches. Our findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a hybrid framework that combines qualitative preferences with quantitative metrics, offering a comprehensive tool for enhancing strategic investment decisions. This study represents the first attempt to apply AI technologies systematically to the investor-startup matching process, contributing practical insights for investors, entrepreneurs, and intermediaries in navigating the early-stage investment landscape. The proposed approach not only improves matching efficiency but also supports the creation of stronger, more aligned partnerships within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
- Journal
- China Finance Review International
Personal storytelling during medical training improves learning and the way doctors connect with their patients
Boston University School of MedicinePeer-Reviewed Publication
Most medical schools teach students about illness through lectures or clinical vignettes as taught by doctors, but Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine offers a novel teaching experience whereby medical students share their own personal experiences with illness.
Recently, the school created the Student Perspectives Initiative (SPI), a student-led program where medical students share their own personal stories with illness that match topics being taught in class. For example, a lecture on inflammatory bowel diseases in the gastroenterology module would include a presentation by a student speaking about their own experience with Crohn’s disease.
In a new study, students who participated in the SPI program said that it helped them learn, understand the emotions connected to the disease, and feel more connected to each other. This is the first study demonstrating that storytelling by students themselves can be a lasting and meaningful way to improve medical education.
- Journal
- Medical Science Educator
Recent advances in stabilization strategies for zinc anodes in aqueous zinc-ion batteries
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Journal CenterPeer-Reviewed Publication
Rechargeable aqueous metal-ion batteries are promising alternative energy storage devices in the post-lithium-ion era due to their inherent safety and environmental compatibility. Among them, aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) stand out as next-generation energy storage systems, offering low cost, high safety, and eco-friendliness. Nevertheless, the instability of Zn metal anodes, manifested as Zn dendrite growth, interfacial side reactions, and hydrogen (H2) evolution, remains a major obstacle to commercialization. To address these challenges, extensive research has been conducted to understand and mitigate these issues. This review comprehensively summarizes recent advances in Zn anode stabilization strategies, including artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers, structural optimization, electrolyte modification, and bioinspired designs. These approaches collectively aim to achieve uniform Zn deposition, suppress parasitic reactions, and enhance cycling stability. Furthermore, it critically evaluates the advantages and feasibility of different strategies, discuss potential synergistic effects of multi-strategy integration, and provide perspectives for future research directions.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Energy
Frasky, a new robot for vineyard applications
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IITBusiness Announcement
A team of researchers from the Soft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) in Genova has conceived and developed Frasky, a new robotic prototype able to navigate and perform operations autonomously within vineyards. Coordinated by IIT researcher Manuel G. Catalano, the project results from the collaboration with the partners involved in “JOiiNT LAB,” the joint lab aiming at creating a synergy between research and industry, thus comprising IIT and the industrial ecosystem in the Bergamo area, including Consorzio Intellimech, Confindustria Bergamo, the University of Bergamo, and Kilometro Rosso Innovation District. Frasky’s main goal is to address the challenges that the agricultural sector is facing nowadays, such as environmental sustainability and labor shortages, by combining robotics and artificial intelligence.
How to develop trans people-inclusive medical AI: the objective of a study by UPF, the BSC, the URV and PRISMA
Universitat Pompeu Fabra - BarcelonaPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
Landmark genetic study sheds new light on how the eye develops its sharpest vision
University of LeicesterPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
- Funder
- Wellcome Trust, Ulverscroft Foundation, NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre