University of Victoria. This town found clean energy deep inside old coal mines. ScienceDaily, May 2026.

The town of Cumberland in British Columbia was known for coal mining for decades. Now, beneath the community lies a vast network of abandoned tunnels that may help power a cleaner future.

Researchers are studying whether water trapped inside the old mines can be used as a geothermal energy source. Deep underground, temperatures remain relatively stable throughout the year. The mine water stays warmer than outside air in the winter, while it remains cooler in the summer. Using heat pumps, this underground water can help heat and cool buildings above ground.

Cumberland hopes to transform these mines into a shared community resource. The project could reduce carbon emissions, lower heating costs, and support future development.

Scientists describe the underground mine system as a giant natural heat exchanger. Because the tunnels stretch beneath much of the town, the system could eventually support municipal buildings, affordable housing projects, and even local industries that require stable temperatures, such as greenhouses and food processing facilities.

Coal once powered industries around the world, yet it also contributed to pollution and climate change. Now, the same underground structures left behind by coal extraction may help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Around the world, researchers are increasingly exploring ways to reuse abandoned industrial spaces for sustainable technologies.

Turning Algae into Smart Microrobots

Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal et al. Light-switchable swarming of biohybrid microrobots. Sci. Adv., May 2026.

A new type of “biohybrid microrobot” made from living algae can organize themselves into controllable swarms using light. Instead of building tiny robots entirely from synthetic materials, researchers used the natural swimming abilities of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and combined them with engineered light-control systems. These microorganisms naturally swim and respond to light, a behavior known as phototaxis. They discovered that different colors of light could make the algae either gather together into organized swarms or spread apart again.

Under blue light, the algae move upward and begin sticking to one another, forming dense clusters and swarm-like structures. Under red light, the algae return to a free-swimming state and disperse. By shining light through custom masks, the researchers could create swarms in almost any pattern they wanted, including stars, arrows, geometric shapes, and even maps of Earth. The scientists demonstrated that they could repeatedly assemble and disperse swarms, move them across surfaces, split one swarm into multiple smaller swarms, merge separate swarms together, and continuously morph the swarm into new shapes without fully dispersing it first.

The team also made use of AI by having it analyze images of wounds and generated custom light patterns matching the wound shape. The algae microrobots, loaded with biodegradable drug-carrying nanoparticles, could then gather onto medical tape and later be released onto the wound using light. This new research is a step toward future smart drug delivery and wound-healing systems.

Can Virtual Reality Help Fight Frailty?

Tian, X., Zhou, Y., Zhang, R. et al. The application potential of virtual reality technology in managing elderly frailty: a meta-analysis. Sci Rep, May 2026.

Frailty is described as a common aging-related medical syndrome marked by weakness, reduced resilience, balance problems, slower movement, and increased vulnerability to falls and hospitalization. Since traditional exercise programs can become repetitive and discouraging for older adults, researchers explored whether VR could provide a more engaging alternative.  

The researchers reviewed 9 randomized controlled trials involving 634 elderly participants with frailty or pre-frailty. The study used VR-based exercise systems such as Nintendo Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect, and other interactive “exergaming” programs designed to combine movement with immersive visual feedback. The findings showed that VR-based training significantly improved overall frailty status in older adults compared to standard exercise or usual care. Older adults using VR programs performed better on tests such as standing on one leg and lower-body strength exercises compared to those receiving standard care alone.

Unlike repetitive exercise routines, VR provide interactive environments that encourage movement through games, challenges, and real-time feedback. This may increase motivation and participation, two factors that are especially important in long-term rehabilitation.

However, the studies found little clear improvement in walking, speed, grip strength, fear of falling, or cognitive performance. Most of these trials were relatively small and lasted only a few weeks. Still, the technology points toward an important shift in elderly care. Rather than viewing rehabilitation as a passive medical routine, VR transforms it into an active and immersive experience.  

A More Human Way to Train AI

Xiang, A., Andrews, J.T.A., Bourke, R.L. et al. Fair human-centric image dataset for ethical AI benchmarking. Nature, November 2025

A new study introduces FHIBE, the Fair Human-Centric Image Benchmark, the first large-scale, publicly available image dataset designed with ethical AI development in mind. Unlike most existing computer-vision datasets, which are often scraped from the internet without consent, FHIBE contains more than 10,000 images from nearly 2,000 volunteers across 81 countries, all collected with informed consent, privacy protection, and fair compensation.

FHIBE stands out for its global diversity and its exceptionally rich, self-reported demographic details, including age, pronouns, ancestry, and skin tone. Each image is also paired with detailed pixel-level annotations, environmental conditions, and camera metadata. This makes FHIBE the most comprehensive tool to date for evaluating bias in human-focused AI systems—from face detection and pose estimation to visual question answering.

When researchers tested popular computer-vision models on FHIBE, they uncovered both well-known and newly identified biases. For example, models tended to perform better on younger, lighter-skinned individuals and struggled with older adults, darker skin tones, baldness, and even hairstyle variability. These insights show why ethically sourced, diverse datasets are essential: they allow scientists to detect subtle biases that would otherwise remain hidden. FHIBE not only raises the bar for fairness benchmarks but also offers a practical roadmap for how to responsibly build the next generation of AI datasets.

A New Way to Sense Smell—Without Smelling at All

Halina B. Stanley et al. Substitution of human olfaction by the trigeminal system. Sci. Adv., November 2025

Scientists have developed a first-of-its-kind device that helps people who have lost their sense of smell “sense” odors again, without actually restoring real smell. The device works by pairing an electronic nose (a sensor that detects odor molecules in the air) with a tiny electrical stimulator placed inside the nose.

Instead of activating the damaged olfactory system, the device stimulates the trigeminal nerve, another nerve inside the nose that normally senses tingling, irritation, or temperature from things like menthol or chili peppers. The question was: Can the brain learn to use these trigeminal signals as a substitute for smell?

Across four experiments with over 60 volunteers (including people with complete and partial smell loss), the researchers found that participants could reliably detect when an odor was present based on the electrical stimulation pattern. Some could also tell the difference between different stimulation patterns, though this was harder and improved when participants were trained first. The ability to detect the signal did not depend on having a working sense of smell, meaning even anosmic individuals could use the system.

The device does not recreate real smells. But it shows, for the first time, that it may be possible to give patients a practical way to recognize odor categories, like food vs. danger odors, through another nerve pathway. This could be an early step toward a future “smell prosthesis” for people living with permanent smell loss.

Can Positive Memories Help Heal the Brain?

Steve Ramirez. Memories change. But can we change them on purpose? Science Friday, November 2025.

Neuroscientist Dr. Steve Ramirez explains that memories are not fixed snapshots of the past; they are dynamic reconstructions that change slightly each time we recall them. Instead of functioning like recordings, memories behave more like malleable building blocks, which the brain continually updates. This flexibility may even help us imagine the future by combining elements of past experiences.

New research shows that scientists can activate specific memories in mice by stimulating the exact brain cells involved in those experiences. In mice that show depression-like behavior, artificially turning on their positive memories can lift their mood and reduce symptoms, sometimes even long-term. This suggests that memory manipulation could one day support new treatments for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Humans already experience a natural form of this effect. Simply recalling a joyful or painful memory can change our biology within seconds, altering mood, heart rate, stress hormones, and attention. This natural responsiveness points to the possibility of developing therapies that intentionally harness positive memories.

Future treatments could also target traumatic memories. Instead of erasing them, scientists may be able to reduce their emotional weight, offering new hope for people living with PTSD while preserving the factual memory.

Looking ahead, the field is moving toward a deeper map of memory in the brain, identifying the specific cells involved in certain memories and finding ways to support or restore them. Such work could eventually help treat memory loss in disorders like Alzheimer’s.