EurekAlert! News by Subject: Tech & Engineering - News by Subject: Tech & Engineering

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Mar-2026 22:15 ET (1-Apr-2026 02:15 GMT/UTC)

A stiff defense: Rethinking gum disease

University of Pennsylvania
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dentists Kyle H. Vining and Hardik Makkar from the University of Pennsylvania are taking a new approach to treating severe gum disease by focusing on the physical properties of gum tissue. Using a Jell-O-like hydrogel, their team discovered that physically stiffening model tissues dramatically reduced inflammation, paving the way to strengthen the gums and halt the destructive cycle of periodontal disease.

Journal: Advanced Materials
Funder: Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Two's company: ISTA scientists identify new class of star remnants

Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the vastness of the Universe, any new object with interesting properties can spur the search for similar objects, potentially establishing a new class of stars. In a paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and an arXiv preprint, researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) describe two stellar remnants that share five properties, including X-ray emission, despite being isolated objects. According to the team, these two remnants are sufficient to define a new class of stars.

Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Funder: Space Telescope Science Institute, Space Telescope Science Institute, Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA Hubble Fellowship, European Research Council, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Researchers uncover key players in tissue regeneration

Baylor College of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions took a closer look at how the gastrointestinal tissue repairs itself. They reveal key players and their connections in the repair process and suggest the possibility that they also may contribute to the repair of other types of tissues.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Why satellite positioning can suddenly go wrong

Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Satellite navigation can fail not only during dramatic space weather events, but also when the ionosphere develops sharp regional structures that standard correction models fail to resolve.

Journal: Satellite Navigation

German-Chilean initiative for environmentally friendly resource extraction

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Business Announcement

It may be possible to extract critical raw materials like lithium from brines (mineral-rich solutions) in salt lakes and geothermal systems without causing large-scale environmental damage. In the BRIDGE initiative, researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources are investigating relevant deposits in the Atacama Desert with Chilean partners. The initiative’s objective is to analyze the resource potential of the deposits and develop strategies for environmentally friendly extraction.

New AI model can detect multiple cognitive brain diseases from a single blood sample

Lund University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The symptom profiles of different neurodegenerative diseases often overlap, and diagnosing age-related cognitive symptoms is complex. A patient may have multiple overlapping disease processes in the brain at the same time. Now, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed an AI model showing that it is possible to detect several neurodegenerative diseases from a single blood sample. The study is published in Nature Medicine.

Journal: Nature Medicine
Funder: SciLifeLab, Wallenberg Data Driven Life Science Program, The Crafoord Foundation, The Swedish Research Council,, US National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association

Genetically modified marmosets as a model for human deafness

Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ)/German Primate Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Why are some people unable to hear from birth, even though their inner ear appears intact? One possible cause lies in the so-called OTOF gene. It plays a central role in transmitting sound signals from the hair cells to the auditory nerve. Without this function, acoustic information does not reach the brain. Researchers from the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, the University Medical Center Göttingen, and the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences have now, for the first time, generated marmosets in which this gene has been knocked out precisely. The animals are healthy and develop normally, but are deaf from birth. This provides the first primate model that realistically replicates key characteristics of human deafness.

Journal: Nature Communications

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