Scientists empower an AI foundation model to accelerate plant research
Reports and Proceedings
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Apr-2026 04:17 ET (3-Apr-2026 08:17 GMT/UTC)
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a new method that more than doubles computer processing speeds while using 75 percent less memory to analyze plant imaging data. The advance removes a major computational bottleneck and accelerates AI-guided discoveries for the development of high-performing crops.
They don’t march in the streets or storm the polls, but a new breed of AI-controlled personas could be the next big threat to democracy.
According to a new policy forum paper in Science, Swarms of AI personas mimic humans so well they can infiltrate online communities, shape conversations, and tilt elections—all at machine speed. Unlike old-school botnets, these agents coordinate in real time, adapt to feedback, and sustain coherent narratives across thousands of accounts.
ORNL and Kyoto Fusioneering are partnering to develop critical fusion technologies that will accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion energy. The collaboration will leverage ORNL's expertise in supercomputing, advanced manufacturing, materials science, and fusion research, and complement KF's UNITY test facilities. The partnership will focus on developing a fusion blanket test facility, fulfilling a critical need identified in DOE's Fusion Science & Technology Roadmap.
Researchers in Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Department of Chemical Engineering and at The University of Akron have published research in Chemical Engineering Journal about a new technology that seeks to solve long-standing challenges in plastic recycling that limit the overwhelming majority of plastics to a single use and contribute to the accumulation of plastic waste.