Science

- Five DGIST teams among 10 award-winning teams, securing a total of KRW 420 million in prize money - Student startup teams demonstrate achievements across diverse fields, including AI, robotics, and quantum dots - DGIST strengthens full-cycle support for students’ deep-tech entrepreneurship through its Innovation Startup Center

Lingnan University has achieved outstanding results in the newly released 2026 ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), with eight subjects on the list, nearly three times as many as last year. Five subjects, including Computer Science and Engineering, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering, made the list for the first time, and Artificial Intelligence, which made its debut on the list last year, saw a significant leap in its ranking, breaking into the global top 100 for the first time in the 76th to 100th band. This achievement underscores Lingnan’s dedication to advancing interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence and data science, and demonstrates widespread recognition from the international academic community.

Advancing the Future of Renewable Energy: Decoding the Secret Dynamics of Organic Photovoltaics

AI-powered cyborg cockroaches, Undiagnosed kidney disease, Plants as genetic engineers, AI and mental workload, Carnivorous plants confirm Darwin prediction, Moisture conveyor belt and Forever chemicals in furry friends. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

Lingnan University recently hosted the Research and Knowledge Transfer Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2026. At the “Excellence Beyond Achievement Where Technology Meets Humanity” ceremony, 53 Lingnan scholars were presented with the Outstanding Researcher Award, the Early Career Researcher Award, and the Research & Knowledge Transfer Fund Award for their exceptional contributions to academic research and knowledge transfer that advance societal development. The University’s overall innovation and technology performance reached new heights in the 2025/26 academic year, with the number of granted patents for research projects increasing sixfold year-on-year to set a new record.

A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), in collaboration with researchers from several other universities, has successfully developed a novel functionalised membrane that significantly improves the efficiency of collecting and detecting marine organisms’ eDNA, providing a more sensitive and reliable technical tool for monitoring marine biodiversity.

Prof Sam Kwong Tak-wu, Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research), Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and J.K. Lee Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence at Lingnan University, was recently elected to the Class of 2026 Fellows of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements and remarkable contributions in the field of science. Fellowship of the RSC is one of the highest honours Canada bestows upon scholars and scientists. This year, 105 people worldwide were elected as new Fellows, and Prof Kwong is one of the three scholars in Hong Kong SAR to receive this prestigious recognition. He will attend the induction ceremony in Ottawa in November.

Kyocera Corporation and Tohoku University have developed a new technology that integrates optical isolators directly onto silicon photonics chips using laser annealing. Building on their previous collaboration, the two organizations will continue working toward commercialization and more efficient, sustainable information technologies.

For decades, scientists have understood proteins primarily through two defining features: their amino acid sequence and their three-dimensional structure. This framework has driven major advances in biology, biotechnology, and medicine, culminating in recent artificial intelligence tools capable of predicting protein structures with remarkable accuracy. Yet a fundamental challenge remains: even when a protein's sequence and structure are known, predicting its function, interactions, and behavior often remains difficult. An international team of researchers from Japan, Finland, Italy, and the United States now reports evidence that part of this missing information may lie in an often-overlooked component of proteins: the highly organized water surrounding them. In a study accepted for publication in Nature Communications, the team provides the first direct three-dimensional visualization of sequence-dependent hydration architectures surrounding peptide assemblies at sub-nanometer resolution using advanced three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (3D-AFM) (Fig.1).

In addition to shrinking and regrowing, shrew skulls change shape with the seasons.

When tiny devices called MEMS (used in microphones, biosensors) undergo physical stress, their performance is compromised. Researchers found a new way to track this stress using a sensor that is part of the device.

Two new papers published in Nature offer new insights into how this group of ancient humans looked, evolved, and behaved.

Many cutting-edge technologies rely on molecules that can be switched on and off with light, but making them respond efficiently to visible light without losing stability has long been a challenge. Researchers at Tohoku University, working with Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, solved this by attaching a "molecular antenna" that captures visible light and funnels the energy directly into the photoswitch, achieving some of the highest visible-light sensitivities ever reported.

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered that changing the number of layers in a crystal can systematically tune both the magnetic and topological properties of a material. By synthesizing a brand-new compound, the team showed how adding spacer layers shifts magnetic order from antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic - while also producing a highly tilted "type-II" Dirac electron state that can't exist for particles in a vacuum.

A team led by the University of Osaka researchers discovered that cells producing IgG1 antibodies multiply more, are less prone to cell death in the spleen, and migrate more efficiently to the bone marrow, where long-lived antibody-producing cells can become established. Understanding how these cells gain these advantages could help researchers design vaccines that provide longer-lasting protection against infection.

Ageing muscle shows gene changes in its supporting matrix, offering new insight into the biology of sarcopenia.

Researchers at the University of Osaka discovered FoeAB, a previously unknown bacterial pump that exports the antibiotic fosfomycin. By combining transport experiments with cryo-electron microscopy, the team revealed how the protein recognizes and moves the drug across the cell membrane. The findings expand understanding of antibiotic efflux in Gram-positive bacteria and could support new strategies to counter drug resistance and improve treatment of bacterial infections.

- Recognizing long-serving and outstanding members of the DGIST community and reaffirming DGIST’s vision for the next 22 years

- “Entrepreneurship and Technology: How Do They Create Value for the World?” — A campus-wide celebration of entrepreneurship will take place from September 8 to 18 - Seven venture investors and entrepreneurs from Korea and abroad will deliver a series of special lectures on “turning achievements from the laboratory into real-world value”

- Specialized AI training for IT professionals with approximately 10 years of industry experience, with 96 applicants for 20 spots - Cultivating key talent for AX through practice-oriented education ranging from AI mathematics to computer vision, AI optimization, and reinforcement learning

- Bringing together capabilities in AI and supercomputing, global drug development, drug candidate discovery and development, and clinical research - Establishing a foundation for leadership in bio AX by linking joint project identification with AX technology development, validation, and commercialization

Researchers at the University of Osaka discovered a simple, rigid aromatic hydrocarbon that breaks the usual rule. Under pressure, its crystals grow 1.7 times brighter and shift color from light blue to yellow, with a record-high sensitivity of 37.4 nm/GPa, nearly double the previous best. An elongated, uniformly slender molecular shape was the key, offering a new design principle for pressure-responsive materials without complex flexible frameworks.

Researchers at Tohoku University have combined multiple tools to create an automated, self-improving AI workflow that may improve our search for polymer material candidates so that it is less expensive, less costly, and more environmentally friendly.

Mapping interacting galaxies reveals how turbulence can suppress star formation

Prof Jean-Michel Morel, Chair Professor of the Division of Industrial Data Science at Lingnan University, has been elected a Foreign Member of the Luxembourg Academy of Sciences and Arts (LASA). The honour recognises his pioneering research extending from mathematical foundations to image analysis and industrial data science, and demonstrating the profound contribution of fundamental mathematics to artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and image analysis, aligning with LASA's mission to foster interdisciplinary exchange.

Researchers led by the University of Osaka developed a reusable light-responsive adhesive that switches adhesion at the interface instead of weakening the whole material. UV-A light reduces interfacial adhesion, enabling selective peeling without observable residue, while UV-C light restores adhesion. The response was retained through repeated cycles without solvent processing. The approach could simplify disassembly, repair, and recycling of electronics, vehicles, and semiconductor components, supporting more circular manufacturing across industries.

A team led by researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo shows that controlling the spin of hydrogen atoms can regulate chemical reactions

Isotopes of atmospheric water leave fingerprints that can improve weather modelling

Targeting the spleen with engineered mycobacterial nanocomplexes turns tumor-supporting cells into active cancer fighters through trained immunity.

Simulating how heat moves through rods when they are heated simultaneously and influence each other is a difficult task, but researchers at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Information Sciences found a mathematical solution.