While biofuels may be part of the solution to replace fossil fuels and reduce climate-warming carbon emissions, bioenergy needs a new “climate-smart” policy to ensure that it produces both low-carbon products and promotes carbon sequestration, according to Madhu Khanna and colleagues. In this Policy Forum, Khanna et al. note that current policies to promote bioenergy in the United States, such as the Renewable Fuel Standard and Low Carbon Fuel Standard, do not distinguish between carbon intensities (CI) of the different farming practices (from tillage to fertilizer use) used to produce biofuels. They also do not account for the carbon sequestration produced by biofuel feedstocks. They suggest that new biofuel policies should include accounting of farming and production practices that reduce direct emissions and increase soil carbon sequestration. “Such a policy could lower the barriers for farmers to obtain credit for their carbon sequestration by bundling the market value of the crop with its CI and being sold into a single market for a carbon-differentiated biofuel feedstock rather than in two separate markets (a feedstock market and a carbon market),” Khanna et al. write.

University of Oregon bioengineer Calin Plesa has developed technology that creates massive, high-quality biological datasets at unprecedented speed and scale, solving a critical bottleneck that has prevented AI from tackling biology's biggest challenges—from studying cancer-associated genes to designing new proteins to accelerating drug development.

What happens when the world’s most advanced cars become the world’s biggest cyber targets?

Modern vehicles are “computers on wheels,” packed with sensors, smart devices, and AI systems. That means the automotive industry now faces a critical shortage of engineers and technicians trained to protect these systems from cyber threats.  Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a lead partner delivering tuition-free, hands-on training nationwide. It’s a growing field of expertise emerging almost overnight, and the workforce needs to catch up fast.

The critical role that telomeres play in aging and age-related disease has long made them a target of research. Recent work at Boston Children's Hospital to engineer synthetic telomerase RNA to increase telomere length and develop polygenic scores to unravel the genetic underpinnings of telomere biology disorders is expanding our understanding.