It's a small number of research labs inside tech giants that are driving the rapid rise of AI today. But this is not the first time such labs have taken center stage, a new study shows: The United States' rise as a technological superpower was fueled not just by inventions, but by the emergence of industrial research labs in the 1920s – which reshaped who invented, where innovation happened, and how breakthroughs were made.  

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumours from the inside out. Bacteria spores enter the tumour, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size.

Scientists are proposing a new way to boost the climate benefits of biochar by pairing it with peatland restoration. A new study suggests that applying biochar to rewetted peatlands could dramatically improve long term carbon storage while making biochar production more efficient and scalable.

Never-before-seen 3D reconstructions of human liver tissue have been created at a cellular level. The details capture the spatial microstructure of multiple lobes of this multitasking organ. The reconstructions show how cirrhosis rearranges this intricate architecture and thereby alter the organ's biological activities. In addition, 3D liver maps with a high degree of cellular detail are critical to someday realizing the dream of bioprinting new organs for transplantation. 

Self-isolating when infected may be a natural survival strategy, says new University of Warwick led study - and policymakers can harness it for future epidemics

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Leipzig) have shown how natural ocean cycles and rainfall patterns prevent a synchronised, planet‑wide drought and global-scale agricultural collapse. Based on over 100 years of climate data, the study finds that though warming increases drought severity, synchronised droughts are rarer than expected, affecting only 1.8–6.5% of land at any time. By treating droughts as a connected global system, the research team has identified key “drought hubs” and early‑warning regions that can help stabilise food markets.