Over the last 36 years, North Carolina's coastal forests have seen a dramatic decrease in forest cover. The decline sped up after 2010 due to rising sea levels and increased salinity. The research revealed a troubling shift, with once green areas transforming into marshes, shrubs, or ghost forests. Moreover, extreme weather events have intensified the threat of saltwater intrusion, making these forests increasingly vulnerable.

Filip Lajciak has developed an innovative and cost-effective microscope capable of producing non-invasive 3D models of minute samples. By employing a stereo camera within the microscope, the device captures images from various angles and processes them into intricate point clouds and disparity maps. This cutting-edge technology holds great promise for the analysis of micro-particle structures and biological specimens. Lajciak's outstanding work was acknowledged at ISEF 2026, earning several prestigious awards.

A team of researchers from Florida Atlantic University discovered that wild blacktip sharks possess the ability to detect low-frequency sounds from considerable distances. This groundbreaking study sheds light on how these sharks navigate their aquatic environments, as they exhibited keen directional hearing by making sharp turns in response to sound sources.