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Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 12-Jun-2026 10:15 ET (12-Jun-2026 14:15 GMT/UTC)

To get lifelike movement from synthetic materials, researchers can embrace chaos

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Chemical reactions that are sensitive to force could help power engineered materials that beat, twitch and shiver like living tissue for new applications in robotics and other technologies

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research

Membrane magic: FAMU-FSU researchers repurpose fuel cells membranes for new applications

Florida State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers examined how boiling PFSA polymer membranes — a common treatment applied to the material — affects their performance and helps them work as specialized tools for different applications.

Journal: Frontiers in Membrane Science and Technology
Funder: Florida State University

New crystallization and microgel technology advances biohybrid brain research

University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Hyunjoon Kong and chemistry professor Hee Sun Han, and performed by Ryan Miller, currently a post-doctoral fellow at Georgia Tech, have unveiled a breakthrough technology that could transform the way scientists build and study lab-grown brain tissue models.

Journal: Advanced Functional Materials

Bias in data may be blocking AI’s potential to combat antibiotic resistance

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Machine learning methods have emerged as promising tools to predict antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and uncover resistance determinants from genomic data. This study shows that sampling biases driven by population structure severely undermine the accuracy of AMR prediction models even with large datasets, providing recommendations for evaluating the accuracy of future methods.

Journal: PLOS Biology

The perfect plastic? Plant-based, fully saltwater degradable, zero microplastics

RIKEN
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have one-upped themselves in their quest to solve our microplastic problem. They report a new plant-based plastic made from cellulose, the world’s most abundant organic compound. The new plastic is strong, flexible, and capable of rapid decomposition in natural environments, setting it apart from other plastics marketed as biodegradable.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society

Engineers develop real-time membrane imaging for sustainable water filtration

University of Colorado at Boulder
Peer-Reviewed Publication

CU Boulder engineers have developed a way to see, in real time, exactly how and when buildup forms on desalination filters, an advance that could help water treatment plants run more efficiently, cut energy costs and deliver clean drinking water to communities around the world.

Journal: Environmental Science & Technology

Demonstration of altermagnetism in RuO₂ thin films -- A new magnetic material for the AI era

National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A joint research team from NIMS, The University of Tokyo, Kyoto Institute of Technology and Tohoku University has demonstrated that thin films of ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂) exhibit altermagnetism—the defining property of what is now recognized as the third fundamental class of magnetic materials. Altermagnets have the potential to overcome limitations associated with current magnetic random access memory using conventional ferromagnets and are attracting attention as promising materials for next-generation high-speed, high-density memory devices. In addition to identifying RuO₂ as a strong candidate for such applications, the study also highlights the possibility of enhancing its functionality through control of crystallographic orientation. The research findings were published in Nature Communications on September 24, 2025.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the GIMRT Program of the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, the Cooperative Research Projects of the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University

Biodegradable dishes could transfer gluten to foods

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Some biodegradable tableware is made with wheat straw or bran, ingredients that may contain gluten. Researchers tested commercially available biodegradable items, reporting the initial results in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. One plate contained gluten and transferred the allergen into some foods and drinks at levels above gluten-free thresholds. The researchers say that because these products don’t require allergen labels, they could pose a health risk for people who need to avoid gluten.

Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

A stormy ocean voyage yields insights on the global carbon cycle

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the midst of the COVID pandemic, scientists embarked on an ambitious research expedition to the North Atlantic to investigate the inner workings of the ocean’s carbon cycle. A series of storms hammered the three vessels, among the most advanced research ships in the world, while bureaucratic mayhem threatened to scrub the voyage entirely.

Journal: Global Biogeochemical Cycles