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.

A new optical device that can generate both electric and magnetic vortex-ring-like light patterns, which could enable more resilient approaches to terahertz wireless communication and light-based information processing.

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.

A team of researchers at Penn State including Joseph Najem, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Dor Tillinger, doctoral candidate of mechanical engineering and Wonbae Lee, doctoral candidate of engineering science and mechanics, used a state-of-the-art fabrication method to layer multiple types of hydrogels in a specific pattern that mimics the ionic processes electric eels use to generate electrical bursts. Their approach produces power sources with higher power densities than other hydrogel-based designs, while remaining flexible, support-free, environmentally stable and biologically compatible.

A LIST patented technology that is at the heart of a collaborative project has won what is known to be the “Oscars” of the composites world: the JEC Composites Innovation Awards 2026. 

 

The recognized project, the Highly Loaded Thermoplastic Wing Rib demonstrator, was initiated by Daher, an industry leader in composite manufacturing for aerospace and aeronautics, in close collaboration with partners including Victrex, CETIM and AniForm. Within the project, the Structural Composites Unit at LIST played a key technological role by developing and applying its patented infrared welding process, which enables the rapid and lightweight assembly of thick carbon-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) components. This welding solution makes it possible to assemble two elementary parts into a T-shaped wing rib without mechanical fasteners. This contributes to weight reduction, cost efficiency and recyclability.

Being recognized with a JEC Innovation Award, selected from a competitive global pool of roughly 154 submissions, with only 33 finalists chosen across all categories, not only highlights LIST’s technical and industrial impact, but also places Luxembourg firmly on the global composites innovation map. This prestigious international accolade reinforces that Luxembourg’s strategic investments in research, industrial partnerships, and advanced material technologies are producing globally competitive outcomes.

For quantum computers to function, they must be kept at extremely low temperatures. However, today’s cooling systems also generate noise that interferes with the fragile quantum information they are meant to protect. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed an entirely new type of minimal quantum "refrigerator", which is partly driven by the noise itself. This refrigerator enables very precise control over heat and energy flows and could play an important role in scaling up quantum technology.