Loneliness can be seen in a physical workplace, but remote work often hides the signs. To visualize communication and identify employees at risk in increasingly diverse work environments, researchers at Kyushu University analyzed workplace chat logs from platforms like Slack, and developed two new indicators—contribution to communication and strength of relationships between users. The team is now partnering with companies to explore wider practical applications.

AnalySwift LLC, a composite simulation software provider, has launched a new artificial intelligence platform to help users more quickly develop composite materials and structures without requiring in-depth technical jargon or knowledge. CEO Allan Wood said one application of the free platform is for the air mobility industry to design composite rotor blades and propellers. AnalySwift partnered with Wenbin Yu, the Milton Clauser Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, to create CompositesAI.

What gives shark skin its toughness and sleek glide? Tiny, tooth-like scales called dermal denticles. Made of the same material as teeth, these structures protect sharks and reduce drag—especially crucial during mating. To uncover how denticles change with age and between sexes, researchers used high-powered electron microscopy on bonnethead sharks. The ultra-detailed images revealed striking variations in denticle shape and size across life stages and body regions. The findings offer a rare glimpse into how shark skin evolves as both armor and adaptation.

Researchers demonstrated highly dispersed NaVO₃ nanoparticles, as a ^•CH₂Cl radical surface-confined coupling center, demonstrating its superior performance in the selective coupling of methyl chloride to synthesize vinyl chloride. By incorporating NaVO₃ onto the surface of CeO₂, the catalyst enables effective capture of ^•CH₂Cl radicals during the CH₃Cl oxidative pyrolysis and its subsequent conversion into C₂H₃Cl, achieving a C₂H₃Cl selectivity of 56.7% and a CH₃Cl conversion of 56.6% at 750 °C.

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory will provide critical measurement technology for the world’s largest fusion machine, JT-60SA. It is among the first contributions to the fusion system from an institution outside of Japan and Europe.

For children and young adults diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a common type of bone cancer for that age group, the odds of survival can be devastatingly low (20-30%) when the disease spreads to the lungs. In an effort to improve the outcomes for these young patients, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) recently awarded a two-year, $198,822 grant to Balakrishna Koneru, Ph.D., from TTUHSC’s School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.