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

Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-May-2025 04:10 ET (18-May-2025 08:10 GMT/UTC)

7-Jan-2025

Arkansas Clean Plant Center leads global effort to wipe ‘phantom agents’ from pathogen regulatory lists

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Peer-Reviewed Publication

So-called "phantom agents" are suspected pathogens that have been reported in scientific literature going back to the early 1900s with no real evidence they exist. Most of these phantom agents were described before modern molecular techniques, and there are no samples or genome sequences available to study them. Despite the lack of evidence of their existence, the suspected pathogens made their way into international regulations that control the shipment of plant materials. The result is a confusing mix of real and phantom agents on regulatory lists that must be ruled out by the sender before plants can be shipped from country to country. In a Plant Disease article recently published by the American Phytopathological Society, Ioannis Tzanetakis at the Arkansas Clean Plant Center and co-authors from more than 40 countries identify phantom agents in eight crops that still appear on regulated pathogen lists even though there is no way to accurately test for them.

Journal: Plant Disease

7-Jan-2025

Beyond 5G, accelerating the world of ultra-high-speed optical data transmission

Kyushu University

Kyushu University researchers have successfully developed a new ferroelectric optical modulator that can exhibited modulation of up to 170 Gbps—an operating 10 times higher than existing devices—and a transmission rate of more than 300 Gbps. This modulator was made thanks to a new method the team developed that allowed them to grow thin films of ferroelectric crystals on silicon substrates.

Journal: Communications Materials
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology

7-Jan-2025

Korea University College of Medicine and Yale Univeristy co-host forum on Advancing Healthcare through Data and AI Innovations

Korea University College of Medicine
Business Announcement

On October 2nd (Wednesday), Korea University College of Medicine (Dean: Pyun Sung-Bom) hosted a forum titled “Advancing Healthcare through Innovations in Data and AI in Clinical Informatics and Natural Language Processing” in the 6th-floor lecture hall of the First Medical Building.

7-Jan-2025

Using virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

The technology enhances an already existing treatment that improves limb recovery in stroke survivors

Journal: Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation

7-Jan-2025

New research improves predictions for solid waste management

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new approach for predicting the contents of municipal solid waste can help improve the efficiency of recycling and landfill operations. The new method applies a conventional approach to forecasting how many total tons of solid waste will be generated at the county level and incorporates a separate, complimentary model that predicts the makeup of the waste with an unprecedented level of detail.

Journal: Waste Management

7-Jan-2025

Weaponized disinformation poses serious threat to urban transit systems

Stevens Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a study published this month in Reliability Engineering and System Safety, researchers from Stevens Institute of Technology and the University of Oklahoma warn that the complexity and fragility of urban transit networks could be exploited by terrorists or other bad actors. Using AI models, the team shows how low-cost attacks based on the spread of misinformation could significantly disrupt transit networks, causing widespread chaos and economic harm.

Journal: Reliability Engineering & System Safety

7-Jan-2025

Protection against viruses – the passive version

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study, published in Nature Microbiology by researchers from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, reveals a previously unknown mode of resistance. The study was led by Prof. Debbie Lindell, former Ph.D. student Dr. Sofia Zborovsky (currently a postdoctoral fellow in the UK), and Ph.D. student Ran Tahan. Prof. Lindell’s research group has been exploring this field for years and has already made dramatic discoveries about bacteriophage-bacteria interactions in marine environments. Their new study uncovers a passive defense mechanism based on an exceptionally low level of molecules involved in translation of genetic material, the process that leads to protein formation.

Journal: Nature Microbiology