International research alliance investigates environmental impacts of deep-sea mining
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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.
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Nov-2025 19:11 ET (22-Nov-2025 00:11 GMT/UTC)
11 September 2025/Ghent/Kiel. With a four-day meeting at Ghent University, the third phase of the European research project MiningImpact has officially begun. Researchers from nine countries are joining forces to study the ecological consequences of deep-sea mining – both in polymetallic nodule fields and at seafloor massive sulphide deposits along mid-ocean ridges.
A new study from Çukurova University published in ECNU Review of Education shows that hands-on science activities effectively increase preschool children's motivation for science learning. This quasi-experimental research, involving 25 children aged 60–72 months, found that children who participated in hands-on science experiments over five weeks showed significantly higher science motivation compared to those in traditional classroom settings, with no gender differences in the positive effects.
A zigzag stitch enables fabric to stretch until the thread is straight. University of Tartu researchers report in Advanced Materials that thread packing can encode fabric stretchability, leading the way to tailoring wearables at industrial scale.
Optical synapses have an ability to perceive and remember visual information, making them expected to provide more intelligent and efficient visual solutions for humans. As a new type of artificial visual sensory devices, photoelectric memristors can fully simulate synaptic performance and have great prospects in the development of biological vision. However, due to the urgent problems of nonlinear conductance and high-energy consumption, its further application in high-precision control scenarios and integration is hindered. In this work, we report an optoelectronic memristor with a structure of TiN/CeO2/ZnO/ITO/Mica, which can achieve minimal energy consumption (187 pJ) at a single pulse (0.5 V, 5 ms). Under the stimulation of continuous pulses, linearity can be achieved up to 99.6%. In addition, the device has a variety of synaptic functions under the combined action of photoelectric, which can be used for advanced vision. By utilizing its typical long-term memory characteristics, we achieved image recognition and long-term memory in a 3 × 3 synaptic array and further achieved female facial feature extraction behavior with an activation rate of over 92%. Moreover, we also use the linear response characteristic of the device to design and implement the night meeting behavior of autonomous vehicles based on the hardware platform. This work highlights the potential of photoelectric memristors for advancing neuromorphic vision systems, offering a new direction for bionic eyes and visual automation technology.