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Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Apr-2026 08:15 ET (3-Apr-2026 12:15 GMT/UTC)

New study finds generative AI can brainstorm objectives but needs human expertise for decision quality

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While generative AI (GenAI) can help define viable objectives for organizational and policy decision-making, the overall quality of those objectives falls short unless humans intervene.

Journal: Decision Analysis

UTIA soil scientist receives Women in Science National Mentoring Award

University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
Grant and Award Announcement

As a mentor, Sindhu Jagadamma, associate professor of soil science at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, helps her students increase their self-confidence and push themselves to persevere through adversity, traits she learned to improve in herself as a young girl from a small town in India.

Former mentees who worked with Jagadamma in the Sustainable Soil Management Lab nominated her for the Women in Science Mentoring Award, given by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. She received the award at the three societies’ annual conference (CANVAS 2025), held November 9-12 in Salt Lake City.

How can people hand over packages comfortably to delivery robots?

Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team from the Cognitive Neurotechnology Unit and the Visual Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology, investigated human behavior and comfort when handing over a package to an autonomous mobile delivery robot while walking—an interaction envisioned for logistics in future smart cities. The results showed that people tend to feel more comfortable when the robot approaches them more closely, whereas they tend to feel discomfort when the robot stays farther away. This tendency was particularly pronounced when the package being carried was heavy. On the other hand, when the robot came close, participants often slowed down their walking speed and sometimes stopped momentarily, exhibiting brief hesitation. These findings suggest that humans may perceive robots as “helpful partners” rather than mere machines, and that appropriate approach distances and motion designs are essential for achieving comfortable human–robot collaboration. The study was published online in the International Journal of Social Robotics on October 20, 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-025-01329-z

Journal: International Journal of Social Robotics

Automated high-throughput system developed to generate structural materials databases

National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A NIMS research team has developed an automated high-throughput system capable of generating datasets from a single sample of a superalloy used in aircraft engines. The system successfully produced an experimental dataset containing several thousand records—each consisting of interconnected processing conditions, microstructural features and resulting yield strengths (referred to as “Process–Structure–Property datasets” below)—in just 13 days. Datasets are generated over 200 times faster than when using conventional methods. The system’s ability to rapidly produce large-scale, comprehensive datasets has the potential to significantly accelerate data-driven materials design. This research was published in Materials & Design, an international scientific journal, on June 20, 2025.

Journal: Materials & Design
Funder: Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA)

Montreal’s electric buses use more energy in winter but are still more cost-effective than diesel

Concordia University

A Concordia study found that Montreal’s electric buses consume 26% more energy in winter due to colder temperatures, road friction, and the need for interior heating. Despite this seasonal drop in efficiency, they remain 40–60% cheaper to operate than diesel buses and continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Journal: Transportation Research
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec

Discussion approach improves comprehension for 4th, 5th graders, study finds

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Small-group discussions designed to help elementary students engage in conversations that promote critical analytic thinking, reasoning and deeper understanding of the content they read increased critical thinking over time for fourth- and fifth-grade students, according to a new study by a team that includes researchers from the Penn State College of Education. It’s the latest evidence in support of Quality Talk, the “deliberate approach to discussion that transforms student engagement” developed by P. Karen Murphy, associate dean for research and outreach in the Penn State College of Education.

Journal: Learning and Instruction

Innovation turns building vents into carbon-capture devices

University of Chicago
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a paper recently published in Science Advances, researchers from the lab of University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Asst. Prof. Po-Chun Hsu developed a distributed carbon nanofiber direct air capture (DAC) filter that could potentially turn every home, office, school or other building into a small carbon-capture system working toward the global problem of airborne CO2. A life-cycle analysis shows that – even after factoring extra CO2 released by everything from manufacture and transportation to maintenance and disposal – the new filter is 92.1% efficient in removing carbon dioxide from the air.

Journal: Science Advances