ORNL and Kyoto Fusioneering are developing UNITY-3, a first-of-its-kind, world-class fusion breeding blanket test facility capable of generating high-energy neutrons typical of those produced by a burning plasma. The strong neutron source will enable researchers to evaluate candidate commercial blanket designs and train AI-powered digital twins of next-generation fusion devices.

In a first for the field, a Pitt-led reseasrch team has grown heart valves on  organoids, miniature, simplified versions of a human heart.

BUFFALO, NY — August 11, 2026 — A new review was published in Volume 13 of Oncoscience on July 29, 2026, titled “Engineering CAR-T cells for solid tumors: Overcoming the microenvironment through integrated design and clinical translation.”

Researchers have developed a full-color near-eye display using a novel, prism-free process to stack three independent red, green, and blue holographic gratings. By eliminating complex alignment steps and boosting diffraction efficiency, this multilayer waveguide approach produces brighter virtual images with lower power consumption. The technology offers a scalable path toward lightweight, battery-powered AR glasses and vehicle head-up displays (HUDs).

SAN ANTONIO — August 11, 2026 — A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) project is developing techniques to improve inhalers for young children and other people who can’t inhale deeply. The multidisciplinary team of researchers is creating a more effective inhaler for people who can’t manage the strong, deep breath crucial for maximum benefit from standard inhalers. This work combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD), particle science, and pharmaceutical science to achieve improved designs. The internally funded project is a collaboration between three SwRI divisions: Mechanical Engineering, Powertrain Engineering, and Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

A research team led by Professor Keisuke Goda of the SiRIUS Institute of Medical Research and Graduate School of Medicine at Tohoku University, together with the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo, has been named a Milestone 2 Awardee of the XPRIZE Healthspan competition - one of the world’s largest health research competitions. Chosen from among more than 600 teams worldwide, the team received the competition’s Milestone 2 award, US$1 million award, in recognition of its groundbreaking research and to be used toward further testing and research.

A nationally representative survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that Americans’ opposition to data centers in their communities has risen sharply since the spring.