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BrainBody-LLM algorithm helps robots mimic human-like planning and movement

Large language models (LLMs), such as the model underpinning the functioning of OpenAI’s platform ChatGPT, are now widely used to tackle a wide range of tasks, ranging from sourcing information to the generation of texts in different languages and even code. Many scientists and engineers also started using these models to conduct research or advance other technologies.

In the context of robotics, LLMs have been found to be promising for the creation of robot policies derived from a user’s instructions. Policies are essentially “rules” that a robot needs to follow to correctly perform desired actions.

Researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering recently introduced a new algorithm called BrainBody-LLM, which leverages LLMs to plan and refine the execution of a robot’s actions. The new algorithm, presented in a paper published in Advanced Robotics Research, draws inspiration from how the human brain plans actions and fine-tunes the body’s movements over time.

Researchers pioneer pathway to mechanical intelligence by breaking symmetry in soft composite materials

A research team has developed soft composite systems with highly programmable, asymmetric mechanical responses. By integrating “shear-jamming transitions” into compliant polymeric solids, this innovative work enhances key material functionalities essential for engineering mechano-intelligent systems—a major step toward the development of next-generation smart materials and devices.

The work is published in the journal Nature Materials.

In engineering fields such as soft robotics, synthetic tissues, and flexible electronics, materials that exhibit direction-dependent responses to external stimuli are crucial for realizing intelligent functions.

Intelligent photodetectors ‘sniff and seek’ like retriever dogs to recognize materials directly from light spectra

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in collaboration with UC Berkeley, have developed a new type of intelligent image sensor that can perform machine-learning inference during the act of photodetection itself.

Reported in Science, the breakthrough redefines how spectral imaging, machine vision and AI can be integrated within a single semiconductor device.

Traditionally, spectral cameras capture a dense stack of images, each image corresponding to a different wavelength, and then transfer this large dataset to digital processors for computation and scene analysis. This workflow, while powerful, creates a severe bottleneck: the hardware must move and process massive amounts of data, which limits speed, power efficiency, and the achievable spatial–spectral resolution.

Scientists Uncover Hidden Blood Pattern in Long COVID

Researchers found persistent microclot and NET structures in Long COVID blood that may explain long-lasting symptoms.

Researchers examining Long COVID have identified a structural connection between circulating microclots and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). The discovery indicates that the two may interact in the body in ways that could lead to harmful effects when these processes become unregulated.

Understanding Microclots

Mexico Reveals 314-Petaflop Supercomputer Named After Aztec Goddess

The Mexican government will build a supercomputer with a processing capacity seven times greater than the current most powerful computer in Latin America, officials responsible for the project said Wednesday.

Named Coatlicue, after a goddess in Aztec mythology representing the source of power and life, the computer will have a processing capacity of 314 petaflops.

“We want it to be a public supercomputer, a supercomputer for the people,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters.

Newly Discovered Organism Could Represent a Whole New Branch in The Tree of Life

It’s not every day that biologists announce an entirely new branch of life, and this one has been hiding under their noses for years.

It was discovered hiding in a lab sample of marine ciliates scientists had been tending to since collecting them from Croatian waters in 2011. But it wasn’t until the ciliates suddenly died that this new, tiny creature, which scientists have named Solarion arienae, came into view.

“This organism allows us to look into a very ancient chapter of cellular evolution that we previously could reconstruct only indirectly,” say protistologists Ivan Čepička and Marek Valt, from Charles University in the Czech Republic, lead authors of the study.

MS Teams Guest Access Can Remove Defender Protection When Users Join External Tenants

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a cross-tenant blind spot that allows attackers to bypass Microsoft Defender for Office 365 protections via the guest access feature in Teams.

“When users operate as guests in another tenant, their protections are determined entirely by that hosting environment, not by their home organization,” Ontinue security researcher Rhys Downing said in a report.

“These advancements increase collaboration opportunities, but they also widen the responsibility for ensuring those external environments are trustworthy and properly secured.”

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