What if we told you that the secret to healthier soil, cleaner ecosystems, and smarter farming isn’t buried in a high-tech lab—but hidden in the data behind crop residues, wood chips, and food waste?

Meet the future of sustainable agriculture: a powerful new machine learning tool that can predict exactly how much biochar—a carbon-rich, soil-boosting material—can be made from any type of biomass, and how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium it will contain. No crystal ball needed. Just smart science, powered by data.

In a time of tariffs and political trade disputes, new UBC Okanagan research shows that it’s not what you know but who you know.

And how well you treat them.

The research demonstrates that strong and strategic international alliances—not just diversification—are key to protecting supply chains from political trade disruptions.

WPI Assistant Professor Nitin Sanket has received a $704,908 National Science Foundation (NSF) Foundational Research in Robotics grant to develop sound-based navigation systems that enable tiny aerial robots to operate in environments where cameras and light sensors fail, such as smoke, dust, or darkness. Drawing inspiration from how bats use echolocation, Sanket’s project combines bio-inspired design, deep learning, and sensor fusion to create lightweight, energy-efficient drones capable of autonomous navigation in challenging conditions—advancing robotics for applications in disaster response, environmental monitoring, and search and rescue.