ITHACA, N.Y. – Taking carbon out of the atmosphere is essential for slowing global warming – and a team of Cornell University researchers has estimated “huge” potential for carbon capture using a method that is low-tech, sustainable and relatively simple: burying wood, especially the debris from managed forests.

When artificial intelligence (AI) analyses images, it can be difficult for humans to understand how the AI classifies the individual image elements. To understand, for example, why the AI diagnoses a discrepancy as a certain disease in medical images, it is helpful if the AI explains how it reached its conclusion. The computer scientist Zeynep Akata conducts research in the area of explainable AI and develops AI that combines visual, linguistic, and conceptual elements, and thus makes its decisions comprehensible to humans. In recognition of her achievements, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Commerzbank Foundation honour Akata with the “ZukunftsWissen” Award. The award, endowed with 50,000 euros, will be presented to her on Thursday, 25 September 2025 in Halle (Saale)/Germany at the Leopoldina Annual Assembly, which this year focuses on the topic of AI.

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has released its 2023–2024 Research and Knowledge Transfer Report, highlighting significant progress in talent recruitment, competitive funding and the creation of technology-based companies. The report presents key figures on the University’s R&D+i activity and its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reflecting UC3M’s strong commitment to scientific excellence, innovation, and the transfer of knowledge to society.