Diagnosing dementia early is challenging due to variability in symptoms and limited access to advanced imaging tools. In a pilot study, researchers tested broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (bNIRS), a portable and noninvasive neuromonitoring technology that measures both blood oxygenation and concentration of oxidized cytochrome c oxidase (oxCCO), a metabolic mitochondrial enzyme linked to Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, participants with mild cognitive impairment, early Alzheimer’s dementia, and healthy controls observed a visual stimulus while bNIRS recorded brain responses. Statistical analysis showed a strong correlation between derivatives of bNIRS signals and cognitive test scores, which weakened significantly when oxCCO metrics were excluded. These results suggest that bNIRS, particularly with its ability to measure oxCCO, could provide an accessible portable technique for diagnosing and monitoring dementia.

A research team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), led by Professors Gan Jianping (Department of Ocean Science) and Professor Yang Can (Department of Mathematics), has developed a novel AI-powered tool named STIMP for diagnosing coastal ocean productivity and ecosystem health. STIMP introduces a novel paradigm that imputes missing data and then predicts Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations across large spatiotemporal scales. In tests across four representative global coastal regions, STIMP significantly outperformed existing geoscience tools, reducing the mean absolute error (MAE) for imputation by up to 81.39% and for prediction by 58.99%. Accurate Chl-a prediction aids in early detection of harmful algal blooms, ecosystem protection, and provides data-driven insights for evidence-based policy-making. 

Molecular Sustainable Solutions, a spin-off from the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló (UJI), secures €186,000 investment from BeAble Capital, a leading Science Equity fund specializing in disruptive scientific technologies. The disinfection and sterilization methods developed by Molecular Sustainable Solutions —more powerful and sustainable than current ones— are capable of tackling particularly resistant and dangerous microorganisms, such as the fungus Candida auris, popularly known as “the killer fungus.”

With this investment, Molecular Sustainable Solutions will be able to accelerate the maturation of its technology and move towards rapid market entry, strengthening its position as a benchmark in innovative solutions for public health and sustainability. The company, based at Espaitec, the UJI Science and Technology Park, thus becomes the first spin-off from the public university in Castelló to receive funding from a venture capital firm.

A European consortium, which includes the Space Robotics Laboratory at the University of Malaga, has designed an innovative lava tunnel exploration mission concept. It comprises a team of three heterogeneous robots that collaborate autonomously to explore and map these extreme environments efficiently, and they are being tested in caves of Lanzarote (Spain) with a view to the Moon.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are carcinogenic compounds introduced in food due to cooking methods such as smoking, grilling, and frying. Recently, researchers from Seoul National University of Science and Technology have leveraged a new method called QuEChERS-GC-MS to extract and detect PAHs in common food items, finding the highest levels in soybean oil, followed by duck meat and canola oil.