Professor Dame Angela McLean, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, will lead the launch of the University of Bath’s new Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour (IDSB), on Wednesday 29 January, at Bath’s Guildhall, in a keynote speech on Securing the Future.

UCF helped debelop an open-source AI model analyzes medical images, generates detailed reports, answers clinical questions and integrates multimodal data to streamline diagnostics and improve accuracy.

A team of stem cell scientists have successfully used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bi-paternal mouse—a mouse with two male parents—that lived until adulthood. Their results, publishing on January 28, 2025, in the Cell Press journal Cell Stem Cell, describe how targeting a particular set of genes involved in reproduction allowed the researchers to overcome previously insurmountable challenges in unisexual reproduction in mammals.

A new study published today in JAMA Network Open explores the effects of both recent and lifetime cannabis use on brain function during cognitive tasks.

The study, the largest of its kind ever to be completed, examined the effects of cannabis use on over 1,000 young adults aged 22 to 36 using brain imaging technology. The researchers found that 63% of heavy lifetime cannabis users exhibited reduced brain activity during a working memory task, while 68% of recent users also demonstrated a similar impact.

This decline in brain activity was associated with worse performance on working memory - the ability to retain and use information to perform tasks. For example, working memory allows a person to follow instructions they’ve just been given or to mentally visualize and manipulate information, like solving a math problem.

In Physics of Fluids, researchers propose a novel system that uses standing surface acoustic waves to separate circulating tumor cells from red blood cells with unprecedented precision and efficiency. The platform integrates advanced computational modeling, experimental analysis, and artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze complex acoustofluidic phenomena. The researchers included an innovative use of dualized pressure acoustic fields and strategically located them at critical channel geometry positions on a lithium niobate substrate. By means of acoustic pressure applied within the microchannel, the system design provides for the generation of reliable datasets.

Neuromorphic computing (NMC) models computational systems on biological brains, offering flexibility, energy efficiency, and low latency. However, high costs limit access. UT's Catherine Schuman and colleagues recommend democratizing NMC technology. They secured a $4 million NSF grant to create THOR, a community-level NMC system, enhancing research accessibility and training future scientists.