EurekAlert! News by Subject: Tech & Engineering - News by Subject: Tech & Engineering

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 7-Apr-2026 10:16 ET (7-Apr-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

Collaboration between academic research and business to better grasp environmental issues relating to the uranium mining cycle

CNRS
Business Announcement

The CNRS, the University of Poitiers, and Orano inaugurated the M-Cube (Environments and Materials in a Mining Context) associated research laboratory on 7 October 2025 to explore solutions for more responsible operation of uranium mines across the entire cycle, from exploration to remediation. The LabCom will bolster the strong collaboration initiated over thirty years ago between academic research teams and those from Orano.

Making regular GPS ultra-precise

Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Self-driving cars need to know exactly where on the road they are located at all times. A new invention could revolutionize the development of driverless vehicles – and give us more accurate GPS on our mobile phones and fitness watches too.

Journal: Journal of Spatial Science

Hardware vulnerability allows attackers to hack AI training data

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have identified the first hardware vulnerability that allows attackers to compromise the data privacy of artificial intelligence (AI) users by exploiting the physical hardware on which AI is run.

Meeting: IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO)

The UJI contributes to increasing the performance of a new generation of LEDs

Universitat Jaume I
Grant and Award Announcement

The project “Chiral Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Photonic Architectures” (RADIANT) received €3.6 million in funding from the European Union’s EIC Pathfinder Horizon programme in 2024. Its goal is to develop cost-effective, high-performance chiral LEDs that exploit the optical properties of scalable chiral metasurfaces, operating optimally in the visible to near-infrared spectrum. The results could be applied to fields such as display technology, optical communication, remote sensing, and advanced lighting systems.

By leveraging the unique chiral response of chiral metasurfaces, RADIANT precisely modulates high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) quantum emitters such as perovskite nanocrystals, quantum dots, and organic semiconductors through advanced nanophotonic architectures that interact with light via optical resonances, enhancing and tuning light emission.

RADIANT harnesses the potential of nanophotonics for optoelectronic technologies through cost-effective, scalable chiral metasurfaces produced by soft nanolithography, while reducing dependence on critical raw materials currently used in advanced LEDs. This will revolutionize the multi-billion-euro LED display market by combining technological innovation, economic feasibility and environmental sustainability.

Funder: European Union

The UJI is leading an innovative project on next-generation batteries that could promote diversification in the ceramics industry and benefit companies involved in energy storage

Universitat Jaume I
Grant and Award Announcement

The Universitat Jaume I of Castelló launched in September a leading project on advanced solid electrolytes for lithium and sodium metal batteries based on the innovative “Polymer-in-Ceramic” concept, a hybrid of both materials with high rigidity and strength, either compact or porous and machinable. This will allow the ceramics industry to explore new avenues for diversification with added-value products and will promote the transfer of knowledge to the emerging regional energy storage industry.

The study,“Future advanced 3D printing of polymer-in-ceramic solid electrolytes for all-solid-state metal batteries (PICASSO)”, which will be developed over four years and has received over half a million euros from the Prometeo 2025 call for excellence research groups–CIPROM 2024, will be coordinated by full professors Antonio Barba Juan (Research Unit “Innovative Ceramic Materials for Energetic Applications”, Department of Chemical Engineering) and Germà García Belmonte (Electrocatalysis and Energy Group, Institute of Advanced Materials –INAM), in collaboration with the Electricity, Electronics and Automation Group (EEA).

Funder: Generalitat Valenciana

New 3D printing method ‘grows’ ultra-strong materials

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Peer-Reviewed Publication

EPFL researchers have pioneered a 3D printing method that grows metals and ceramics inside a water-based gel, resulting in exceptionally dense, yet intricate constructions for next-generation energy, biomedical, and sensing technologies.

Journal: Advanced Materials

Current and recommended diets in the USA have embedded forced labor risk

Tufts University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab and School of Geography have measured the risk of forced labor behind ingredients in recommended U.S. diets. By showing when healthy eating may come at the expense of exploited workers, the findings could inform how governments and institutions buy food at scale.

Journal: Nature Food