While often dismissed as simple waste, biodegradable plastics are actually high-value resources that are easier to process than traditional plastics. By converting waste into energy and fertilizers, researchers demonstrate how these materials can achieve both economic goals and carbon neutrality, moving beyond the focus on simple disposal.

A new study reviews how machine learning (ML) is being used to help communities recover critical infrastructure after natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. The research synthesizes global studies and shows that ML can support recovery by characterizing recovery trends, predicting recovery times, and optimizing recovery schedules. The authors also identify key challenges, such as limited data availability, and outline future directions for building more resilient infrastructure systems using ML.

A new study maps the rapidly evolving field of intelligent colonoscopy. 

PandaClaw is a transformative new feature of the PandaOmics engine that combines AI agents with biological and bioinformatics workflows. By automating complex real-time analyses, the tool enables researchers to seamlessly discover novel targets, identify new indications, and build disease hypotheses through an intuitive, intelligent natural language interface, thereby accelerating translational medical research.

Cryopreservation is not a new technology, but there is still much to explore and perfect in the field. Current methods use slow freezing, a method that is conducive to ice formation, cell dehydration and an increase in cryoprotective agents (CPAs). These are not ideal circumstances for achieving immaculately cryopreserved cells. Researchers from the University of Tokyo use vitrification, a process that transforms a substance into a noncrystalline solid by rapid cooling. This cooling yields favorable outcomes in biological samples, even those that are typically difficult to freeze and thaw successfully. Despite challenges within this method, the future of regenerative medicine research may be greatly, and positively, impacted by the use of vitrification for cell cryopreservation.