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

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 5-Apr-2026 09:15 ET (5-Apr-2026 13:15 GMT/UTC)

Cancer treatment: Understanding risks and side effects

University of Göttingen
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Multiple myeloma is a cancer in which plasma cells, which normally produce antibodies, multiply uncontrollably in the bone marrow. There is currently no cure. However, various therapies can stabilise the disease and alleviate symptoms. One such therapy is to treat the patient with their own stem cells. This often involves weeks in hospital. Using machine learning methods, a research team has now assessed the conditions in which some of the therapy can be safely carried out as an outpatient. The study was conducted by researchers from the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN) at the University of Göttingen, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), and the University Medical Center Bielefeld (OWL). It was published in the journal npj digital medicine.

Journal: npj Digital Medicine

Rethinking Europe’s nature reserves

University of Göttingen
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Natura 2000 is regarded as a milestone in nature conservation: this network of around 27,000 protected areas across the EU is designed to preserve wild plant and animal species and their habitats. It is the world’s largest network of protected areas across countries. However, experts say that many of the species and habitats protected there are not in a favourable conservation status. And in some areas, there is a lack of public support. Researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel are now demonstrating how a “biocultural approach” can open up new opportunities by incorporating aspects such as the traditions, values and knowledge of the local population into nature conservation. The EU’s aim to make at least 30 per cent of land and sea areas protected areas by 2030 could contribute to the continuing development of the Natura 2000 Network. The researchers detail measures that take into account natural and cultural landscapes together and involve local people. The perspective article was published in the journal Conservation Letters.

Journal: Conservation Letters

A smarter way to move in tight spaces using ‘flexible’ robots

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
Peer-Reviewed Publication

IITGN researchers have proposed the concept of virtual actuation space (VAS) for Tendon-driven Continuum Robots (TDCRs). This framework can handle multiple sections of a robot with ease, significantly reduce computational demands and improve tracking precision. The scalability of this method can unlock potential in applications, such as minimally invasive surgical procedures, industrial automation, and confined-space inspections, like in aircraft engines.

Journal: Robotica

From cells to smart gels: momentum in motion

University of Göttingen
Grant and Award Announcement

Professor Timo Betz at Göttingen University’s Faculty of Physics has been awarded Momentum funding by the Volkswagen Foundation for his project “From Cells to Smart Gels: Momentum in Motion”. The award is worth just under 950,000 Euros over 4 years with a possible extension of 2 years. It will enable the translation of biological processes to synthetic materials that mimic key behaviours of living cells. At last, researchers will be able to make use of our current understanding of life to copy key features, like self-organization and physical adaptation, which have developed through evolution over billions of years. The hope is to generate smart materials that can react and adapt to external stimuli just like living entities.

Placing fruit and veg near store entrances can improve sales and diet quality

City St George’s, University of London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Placing fruit and vegetable sections near supermarket entrances increases the amount purchased and may improve the quality of women’s diets, according to a new study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Journal: PLOS Medicine
Funder: National Institute for Health Research

USC scientists build a memory chip that survives temperatures hotter than lava

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, that thermal ceiling has been one of the hardest walls in engineering.A team at the University of Southern California may have just found a way around it. In a study in Science, researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC School of Advanced Computing report a new type of electronic memory device that kept working reliably at 700 degrees Celsius, hotter than molten lava and far beyond anything previously achieved in its class. The device showed no signs of reaching its limit. Seven hundred degrees was simply as hot as their testing equipment could go.

Journal: Science
Funder: Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Research Laboratory, US Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory

From weeks to hours: NRL’s ISIS360 reduces inspection time shipboard tank inspections

Naval Research Laboratory
Business Announcement

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed and fielded the next generation of its Insertable Stalk Inspection System (ISIS360), a non-human entry inspection technology designed to improve the safety, speed, and accuracy of shipboard tank inspections across the U.S. Navy’s Surface Fleet. The technology is collapsing inspection timelines from days or weeks to hours and enabling pre-assessment of tank condition, so only tanks requiring maintenance are opened during availability periods.

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