Study shows that most of the country’s underground reservoirs will lose their capacity for renewal, increasing the risk of water shortages in several regions, especially the Southeast and South. One strategy to address the problem is “managed recharge,” which includes techniques that promote the infiltration of rainwater or even treated sewage.

A team of researchers at Rice University has developed a faster and cleaner method for recovering aluminum and removing toxic metals from bauxite residue, or red mud, which is a hazardous by-product of aluminum production. This new technique, published in American Chemical Society Applied Materials and Interfaces Sept. 15, involves a brief electrical pulse lasting under one minute along with a small amount of chlorine gas. If implemented on a larger scale, it could revolutionize global waste management and materials recovery.

A future where all homes and vehicles in the U.S. are fully electrified could overwhelm power supply and risk outages unless key upgrades are made, says a new study conducted by Purdue University engineers. But a few strategies could cut two-thirds of the potential costs of reinforcing the nation’s distribution grid to handle this demand.

As modern communication and sensing systems demand ever higher speeds and efficiencies, integrated photonics has emerged as a critical enabling technology.