
Today on R&D World
xAI releases Grok 4, claiming Ph.D.-level smarts across all fields
New flexible plastic without ‘forever’ chemicals for wearable electronics
New ICP-OES series designed for complex matrices
5 R&D developments to keep an eye on this week: Solar crash and Trump’s energy pivot meets Musk’s rebellion
Amazon’s robotics patent portfolio has grown 28x since its Kiva acquisition
SandboxAQ’s SAIR dataset turns 5.2 M protein‑ligand structures into ground‑truth fuel for AI
Beyond the lab bench: How smart, mobile platforms are changing fieldwork
Inside Meta’s latest $500M+ bet on AI talent suggests a sort of brute-force paradox
Google invests in fusion energy as the company’s energy use keeps climbing
First MCU combines gigahertz CPU, 35× faster AI engine and MRAM in single device
Non-invasive BCI enables robotic hand dexterity
Neuralink reaches 7 patients, enabling paralyzed users to control computers with their minds
Why Google AI’s Jeff Dean and Hugging Face’s CEO are backing a startup that’s working on making AI’s amnesia a thing of the past
New nanopore sensor paves the way for fast, accurate, low-cost DNA sequencing
Physics See More >

How IBM’s quantum architecture could design materials physics can’t yet explain
Big Blue is making a bold claim. “We feel at IBM, we’ve cracked the code to quantum error correction, and it’s our plan to build the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer, which we call IBM Quantum Starling, in 2029,” Jay Gambetta, vice president of IBM Quantum, announced at a recent press conference. From trial and…

White House fast-tracks nuclear R&D while mandating ‘gold standard science’

LLNL deposits quantum dots on corrugated IR chips in a single step

Aardvark AI forecasts rival supercomputer simulations while using over 99.9% less compute

Physicists create supersolid state of light, blending properties of liquids and solids
Sponsored Content See More >

Beyond the lab bench: How smart, mobile platforms are changing fieldwork
By Alan Marcus, Chief Growth Officer, LabVantage The way data flows through a lab environment impacts everything that organizations value, from safety and quality to compliance and the speed of innovation. That flow has improved with each wave of digital transformation, moving labs from paper-based systems to digitally driven LIMS to agentic AI implementations that…
Life Science See More >

5 R&D developments to keep an eye on this week: Solar crash and Trump’s energy pivot meets Musk’s rebellion
In this week of research and development (R&D) updates, we see early signs of demand for clean energy plummeting after emerging as one of the fastest growing sectors among industries, with jobs in wind and solar power benefiting from that upswing. The shift comes as new legislation threatens to reshape America’s energy landscape with far-reaching…

Mayo Clinic develops AI tool that can spot 9 dementia types with a single scan

Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome AI predicts how non-coding DNA can drive disease

Top 10 drugs by patent volume: How biologics build ‘platform empires’ while small molecule create ‘patent thickets’

For the first time, scientists grow beating human-pig hearts for 21 days
Nanotechnology See More >

New nanopore sensor paves the way for fast, accurate, low-cost DNA sequencing
Researchers from the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have created a new nanopore sensor for single-biomolecule detection. Their findings were published in the journal PNAS. Nanopore sensors detect and analyze individual molecules by measuring ionic changes as the molecules pass through openings in the device. Nanopore sensors can be made…

Floating solar mats clean polluted water — and generate power

Nanodots enable fine-tuned light emission for sharper displays and faster quantum devices

New photon-avalanching nanoparticles could enable next-generation optical computers

New “nose-computer interface” aims to upgrade Rover’s nose for better drug detection methods
Energy See More >

Google invests in fusion energy as the company’s energy use keeps climbing
Google’s recent sustainability report reveals that the company has more than doubled its electricity use in the past four years. In 2024, Google’s data centers used 30.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity, up from 14.4 million megawatt-hours in 2020. In 2024, data centers accounted for 95.8% of the entire company’s electricity use. While Google reported that…
Chemistry See More >

Plastic converted into clean energy
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a method to convert plastic waste into hydrogen, which can be used for clean energy. They published their findings in Engineering. Using a photocatalyst to oxidize plastic The researchers engineered a porous tungsten oxide (WO3) photoanode that interacts with polystyrene (PS) plastic. PS…
Material Science See More >

New flexible plastic without ‘forever’ chemicals for wearable electronics
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a new family of flexible, eco-friendly plastics that could be used in wearable electronics, sensors, and cooling devices. The materials are a new type of ferroelectric polymer made without fluorine, a component of environmentally persistent materials known as “forever chemicals.” The team published their findings in the…
Semiconductors See More >

First MCU combines gigahertz CPU, 35× faster AI engine and MRAM in single device
Japanese semiconductor firm Renesas Electronics has unveiled the RA8P1, positioning it as a breakthrough microcontroller that integrates gigahertz-class processing, dedicated AI acceleration hardware and magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) on a single 22-nanometer chip. The chip includes graphics capabilities, multiple connectivity interfaces and advanced security features typically associated with higher-end processors. In a press briefing, Renesas billed…

Stargate’s $500B bet could force data-center and 1.2 GW grid rethink

Compact AI model lets popular ESP32 microcontroller predict network failures and memory leaks in real time

TSMC’s N3P hits mass production, with N3X customer sampling slated for Q3–Q4 2025a

7 major R&D developments this week: Tariff uncertainty persists, Pfizer sells campus, Scania acquires Northvolt unit
Aerospace See More >

Pentagon places big bets on frontier AI, quantum sensing and next-gen avionics in nearly $3 billion in defense technology contracts
The U.S. Department of Defense has directed more than $700 million toward a suite of high-priority research and development initiatives on June 16, 2025. The announcement, posted on the DoD website, signals a push into frontier AI, quantum sensing and advanced battlespace simulation. Headlining the investments were a landmark prototype agreement with OpenAI and significant…

2025 R&D layoffs tracker hits 132,075 as Amazon CEO signals AI will cut more jobs

Trump lifts 50-year supersonic ban, paving way for 3.5-hour New York–London trips

Europa’s lost decade: What happens to $5 billion‑plus in planetary R&D when missions die?
