Andrew G. Barto, University of Massachusetts Amherst Manning College for Information and Computer Sciences professor emeritus, has been awarded the 2024 ACM A.M.Turing Award for developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of a branch of artificial intelligence known as reinforcement learning (RL).

Researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and at the Tandon School of Engineering of New York University have made a breakthrough in understanding how water transports charged ions across a critical component in clean energy technologies like fuel cells and redox flow batteries. While scientists previously thought this component, called an anion exchange membrane (AEM), required high levels of free-flowing water, which can weaken the structure of the membranes over time. The new study, however, suggests that fast ion transport does not require high levels of free water.

In a recent study, Dr. Maria Koliou and other Texas A&M University researchers investigated the potential benefits of retrofitting older buildings to increase their resilience against earthquakes and other disasters, creating shorter recovery times for affected communities.

Cement manufacturing and repair could be significantly improved by using biocement-producing bacteria, but growing the microbes at construction sites remains a challenge. Now, researchers report a freeze-drying approach in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that preserves the bacteria, potentially allowing construction workers to ultimately use powder out of a packet to quickly make tiles, repair oil wells or strengthen the ground for makeshift roads or camps.

Bone tool production 1.5 million years ago was patterned and systematic. This is the main conclusion of the discovery made by a team led by CSIC- Spanish National Research Council at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), renowned as the Cradle of Humankind. The study, published in Nature, is a milestone in the archaeology of human origins, for prior to the discovery of this bone tool assemblage it was thought that bone technology was barely known among our earlier ancestors.