Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1099952 "aids in monitor plant health in real time... zero-waste, low-environmental-impact solution for agriculture, especially in drought/ pollution environment... porous polymer network retains water/ nutrients... produced hydrogels from carrageenan biopolymers extracted from red algae, enriched with whole-algae biostimulant extracts... more vigorous plant growth process compared to using traditional hydroponic substrates” Related: Could a fungus provide a blueprint for next-gen hydrogels? https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100471 Seeing inside smart gels: Scientists capture dynamic behavior under stress https://phys.org/news/2025-12-smart-gels-scientists-capture-dynamic.html

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-electronic-soil-crop-growth.html "eSoil hydroponic electrically conductive cultivation substrate... barley seedlings grew up to 50% more in 15 days when roots stimulated electrically... seedlings process nitrogen more effectively, but it's not clear yet how the electrical stimulation impacts this process,... substrate made of cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer, mixed with a conductive polymer called PEDOT... very low energy consumption and no high voltage danger"

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-nitrogen-oxide-emissions-industrial-vehicles.html "more effective catalysts abate NOx emissions from hard-to-electrify farm machinery and offroad vehicles... acid sites are an important component to drive this reaction at low temperatures and a key consideration for designing superior catalysts that will be more active at lower temperatures," Rappe said. "It is a major development. This field has been so intensely studied. This is a significant advancement because it gives us another tool to actually improve these catalysts"

https://www.zmescience.com/science/agriculture-science/cheap-sensor-based-agriculture-could-slash-water-use-by-up-to-70/ "antennas that make transmission of data easier and are able to broadcast information to irrigation systems up to 650 feet (200 meters) away... between 20% to 72% of water usage can be reduced... estimating soil nutrient levels and identifying pests" Related: Sensing water for smarter agriculture https://phys.org/news/2023-02-smarter-agriculture.html Researchers use calcium materials to reduce arsenic availability in agricultural soil https://phys.org/news/2023-03-calcium-materials-arsenic-availability-agricultural.html

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/21/semi-transparent-organic-photovoltaic-filters-for-agrivoltaic-greenhouses/ "physiology of the plants was altered by the differences in light quality under the OSC filters, on a molecular and transcriptomic level. According to them, the boxes are not only able to produce different crop species at an affordable cost but also to enable growers to fine-tune plant characteristics by selecting from the wide range of OSC transmission spectra" Related: Harvesting light to grow food and clean energy together https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-harvesting-food-energy.html Light-altering paint for greenhouses could help lengthen the fruit growing season in the UK https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1065559 Semi-transparent solar cells achieve record efficiency to advance building-integrated photovoltaics https://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-semi-transparent-solar-cells-efficiency.html

https://discovery.kaust.edu.sa/en/article/1192/bacteria-engage-sulfur-for-plant-salt-tolerance "salt stress triggers sulfur metabolism in SA187 bacteria living inside Arabidopsis roots. This in turn leads to the release of sulfur metabolites that feed sulfur metabolism in the Arabidopsis plant, generating a key antioxidant called glutathione that detoxifies the plant from salt-induced reactive oxygen species, enabling it to grow and thrive despite the stress... we can replace the protective function of SA187 against salt stress damage of the plant by directly adding sulfur metabolites"