AI in Education: A UDST STEM education researcher says AI should act as a “smart assistant” for teachers—helping with lesson prep, feedback, and personalization—without replacing teachers or students’ own thinking. Applied Learning Expansion: UDST welcomed 2,000 students for 2026-27 and added new specialized programs across health, computing, engineering, and animal/veterinary science. Encrypted AI: Google unveiled HEIR, an open-source toolchain to run AI models on encrypted data, aiming for “one-click” homomorphic-encrypted inference. Climate & Materials: A Phoenix road trial found reflective coatings can cut pavement temperatures, but pedestrian comfort can worsen—highlighting trade-offs for heat-mitigation tech. Heat Transfer Breakthrough: KAIST researchers report a polymer surface coating that boosts condensation heat transfer up to 5.5x, targeting power, desalination, and electronics cooling. Health Tech: FDA approved Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50+, with phase 3 results showing improved protection vs standard shots. Research Funding: Canada’s RDP received $1.6M to build rural health care and energy innovation projects using AI, VR, robotics, and diagnostics. Policy & Trade: Canada called off US trade talks after limited tariff relief, warning India to seek binding, durable concessions. Science Governance: RUET launched automated journal submission-review and DOI systems to modernize research publishing.