A recent policy forum paper published in Science describes how large groups of AI-generated personas can convincingly imitate human behavior online. These systems can enter digital communities, participate in discussions, and influence viewpoints at extraordinary speed. Unlike earlier bot networks, these AI agents can coordinate instantly, respond to feedback, and maintain consistent narratives across thousands of accounts.

How AI personas mimic real people online

Rapid progress in large language models and multi-agent systems has made it possible for a single operator to manage vast networks of AI “voices.” These personas can appear authentic, adopt local language and tone, and interact in ways that feel natural to other users.

They are also capable of running millions of small-scale experiments to determine which messages are most persuasive. This allows them to refine their communication strategies in real time and generate what appears to be widespread public agreement. In reality, that consensus is artificially created and designed to influence political discussions.

Deepfakes and fake news signal early risks

Although fully developed AI swarms are still largely theoretical, researchers say there are already warning signs. These include AI-generated deepfakes and fake news outlets that have influenced recent election conversations in countries such as the United States, Taiwan, Indonesia, and India, according to UBC computer scientist Dr. Kevin Leyton-Brown.

At the same time, monitoring organizations have identified pro-Kremlin networks spreading large volumes of online content. This activity is believed to be aimed at shaping the data used to train future AI systems, potentially influencing how those systems behave and what information they prioritize.

Experts warn of growing impact on democracy

Looking ahead, experts believe AI swarms could significantly affect the balance of power in democratic societies. Dr. Leyton-Brown cautioned that these systems are likely to change how people trust information online. “We shouldn’t imagine that society will remain unchanged as these systems emerge. A likely result is decreased trust of unknown voices on social media, which could empower celebrities and make it harder for grassroots messages to break through.”

Researchers suggest that upcoming elections may serve as a critical test for this technology. The key challenge will be recognizing and responding to these AI-driven influence campaigns before they become too widespread to control.

The primary drivers behind this trend include intensive groundwater extraction, a decline in sediment carried by rivers, and rapid urban development.

Global Mapping Reveals Widespread Delta Sinking

This research offers the first detailed, high-resolution analysis of elevation loss across 40 river deltas around the world. The project was led by Leonard Ohenhen, a former Virginia Tech graduate student who is now an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine. The work was overseen by Virginia Tech geoscientists Manoochehr Shirzaei and Susanna Werth.

Results show that almost every delta studied contains areas where the land is dropping faster than nearby sea levels are rising. In 18 of the 40 deltas, this downward movement, known as subsidence, already exceeds local sea-level rise. That trend is increasing near-term flood risk for more than 236 million people.

Satellite Data Tracks Elevation Loss Across Continents

Researchers used advanced satellite radar systems to measure changes in surface elevation across deltas on five continents. The resulting high-resolution maps capture changes at a scale of 75 square meters per pixel, allowing scientists to detect localized patterns of sinking.

Several major deltas are experiencing especially rapid elevation loss, including those of the Mekong, Nile, Chao Phraya, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Mississippi, and Yellow rivers.

“In many places, groundwater extraction, sediment starvation, and rapid urbanization are causing land to sink much faster than previously recognized,” Ohenhen said.

In some areas, the rate of sinking is more than double the current global pace of sea-level rise.

Human Activity Driving Accelerated Subsidence

“Our results show that subsidence isn’t a distant future problem — it is happening now, at scales that exceed climate-driven sea-level rise in many deltas,” said Shirzaei, co-author and director of Virginia Tech’s Earth Observation and Innovation Lab.

The study identifies groundwater depletion as the strongest overall factor linked to delta subsidence, although the main cause varies by region.

“When groundwater is over-pumped or sediments fail to reach the coast, the land surface drops,” said Werth, who co-led the groundwater analysis. “These processes are directly linked to human decisions, which means the solutions also lie within our control.”

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and NASA.

Their work solves a long-standing geological puzzle known as the “Dolomite Problem.” Dolomite is a widespread mineral found in iconic locations such as the Dolomite mountains in Italy, Niagara Falls and Utah’s Hoodoos. It is abundant in rocks older than 100 million years, yet it is rarely seen forming in more recent environments.

“If we understand how dolomite grows in nature, we might learn new strategies to promote the crystal growth of modern technological materials,” said Wenhao Sun, the Dow Early Career Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at U-M and the corresponding author of the paper published in Science.

Why Dolomite Growth Is So Slow

The key breakthrough came from understanding what disrupts dolomite as it forms. In water, minerals typically grow as atoms attach in an orderly way to the surface of a crystal. Dolomite behaves differently because its structure is made of alternating layers of calcium and magnesium.

As the crystal grows, these two elements often attach randomly instead of lining up correctly. This creates structural defects that block further growth. The result is an extremely slow process. At that rate, forming a single well-ordered layer of dolomite could take up to 10 million years.

Nature’s Built-In Reset Mechanism

The researchers realized that these defects are not permanent. Atoms that are out of place are less stable and more likely to dissolve when exposed to water. In natural environments, cycles such as rainfall or tidal changes repeatedly wash away these flawed areas.

Over time, this process clears the surface so new, properly arranged layers can form. Instead of taking millions of years for a single layer, dolomite can gradually build up in far shorter intervals. Over long geological periods, this leads to the large deposits seen in ancient rock formations.

Simulating Crystal Growth at the Atomic Level

To test their idea, the team needed to model how atoms interact as dolomite forms. This requires calculating the energy involved in countless interactions between electrons and atoms, which is usually extremely demanding in terms of computing power.

Researchers at U-M’s Predictive Structure Materials Science (PRISMS) Center developed software that simplifies this challenge. It calculates the energy for certain atomic arrangements and then predicts others based on the symmetry of the crystal structure.

“Our software calculates the energy for some atomic arrangements, then extrapolates to predict the energies for other arrangements based on the symmetry of the crystal structure,” said Brian Puchala, one of the software’s lead developers and an associate research scientist in U-M’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

This approach made it possible to simulate dolomite growth over timescales that reflect real geological processes.

“Each atomic step would normally take over 5,000 CPU hours on a supercomputer. Now, we can do the same calculation in 2 milliseconds on a desktop,” said Joonsoo Kim, a doctoral student of materials science and engineering and the study’s first author.

Lab Experiment Confirms the Theory

Natural settings where dolomite still forms today often experience cycles of flooding followed by drying, which supports the team’s theory. However, direct experimental evidence was still needed.

That evidence came from Yuki Kimura, a professor of materials science at Hokkaido University, and Tomoya Yamazaki, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab. They used an unusual property of transmission electron microscopes to recreate the process.

“Electron microscopes usually use electron beams just to image samples,” Kimura said. “However, the beam can also split water, which makes acid that can cause crystals to dissolve. Usually this is bad for imaging, but in this case, dissolution is exactly what we wanted.”

The team placed a small dolomite crystal in a solution containing calcium and magnesium. They then pulsed the electron beam 4,000 times over two hours, repeatedly dissolving the defects as they formed.

After this process, the crystal grew to about 100 nanometers, or roughly 250,000 times smaller than an inch. That growth represented around 300 layers of dolomite. Previous experiments had never produced more than five layers.

Implications for Modern Technology

Solving the Dolomite Problem does more than explain a geological mystery. It also offers insight into how to control crystal growth in advanced materials used in modern technology.

“In the past, crystal growers who wanted to make materials without defects would try to grow them really slowly,” Sun said. “Our theory shows that you can grow defect-free materials quickly, if you periodically dissolve the defects away during growth.”

This concept could help improve the production of semiconductors, solar panels, batteries and other high-performance technologies.

The research was funded by the American Chemical Society PRF New Doctoral Investigator grant, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

From early uses of fire to cook food and shape landscapes to modern systems like industrial agriculture, global trade, and rapidly growing cities, societies have developed powerful tools and institutions. These social and cultural advances have allowed humans to reshape the planet on a massive scale while improving their ability to survive and thrive.

Understanding the Anthropocene and Human Impact

Ellis is a leading researcher studying the Anthropocene, the current geological age defined by the large-scale impact of human activity on Earth. He leads the Anthroecology Lab, which examines how human societies interact with ecosystems at every level, from local environments to the entire planet. His work focuses on how these relationships can be guided toward more sustainable outcomes.

In recent years, the concept of the Anthropocene has gained even broader attention across science and policy discussions. Ongoing research continues to reinforce the idea that human activity is now one of the dominant forces shaping Earth’s systems, from climate patterns to biodiversity.

Progress for People, Costs for the Planet

Human innovation has brought major gains in health, longevity, and quality of life. At the same time, these advances have come with serious environmental costs. Climate change, species extinctions, and widespread pollution are all linked to the ways human societies have expanded and intensified their use of natural resources.

These challenges highlight the need for action. A better future depends on addressing environmental damage while maintaining the benefits that human progress has made possible.

Beyond Crisis Thinking Toward Collective Action

Ellis argues that focusing only on environmental crisis can miss a key point. The same collective abilities that allowed societies to transform the planet can also be used to improve it. History shows that when people cooperate, they can solve complex problems and reshape their surroundings in positive ways.

Rather than relying solely on narratives of limits or collapse, long-term solutions may depend on tapping into shared goals and collective ambition. Recent research continues to support this perspective, emphasizing that social cooperation and cultural change are essential for addressing global environmental challenges.

The Power of Social and Cultural Systems

Ellis also highlights the limits of relying only on natural sciences to predict and manage the rapid changes seen in the Anthropocene. While scientific data is critical, it is social and cultural systems that have consistently enabled societies to adapt and succeed.

Institutions, shared values, and collective decision-making play a central role in shaping outcomes. These same systems will be crucial in building more sustainable relationships with the natural world.

If a better future is to be achieved, these capabilities must extend beyond human societies to include the broader web of life.

Reconnecting People and Nature

“Re-emphasizing the kinship relationships among all living beings — our common evolutionary ancestry — is a start, combined with new ways to connect people and nature, from remote sensing to webcams, to nature apps, to community conservation reserves, corridor networks, and ecotourism,” shares Ellis. “Aspirations for a better future must also make peace with the past through restoration of Indigenous and traditional sovereignty over lands and waters.”

This perspective aligns with growing global efforts to restore ecosystems, support Indigenous stewardship, and use technology to strengthen connections between people and nature.

A Future Shaped by Human Potential

Ellis stresses that the ability to create a more sustainable and equitable future is not new. The tools, knowledge, and social systems needed to drive change have existed for decades. What is often missing is widespread recognition and motivation to act.

The challenge now is to turn awareness into action. By recognizing the scale of human influence and embracing shared aspirations for a better world, societies can begin to use their collective power to shape a more positive future for both people and the planet.

This soil-powered system is designed to run underground sensors used in precision agriculture and environmental monitoring. It offers a potential alternative to traditional batteries, which contain toxic and flammable materials, rely on complex global supply chains, and contribute to growing electronic waste.

Powering Sensors Without Batteries

To demonstrate its capabilities, the team used the fuel cell to operate sensors that measure soil moisture and detect touch. This touch-sensing ability could help monitor wildlife movement, such as animals passing through a field. The system also includes a small antenna that sends data wirelessly by reflecting existing radio frequency signals, which keeps energy use extremely low.

The device proved reliable across a wide range of conditions. It functioned in both dry soil and flooded environments, and it produced more sustained power than similar systems, lasting about 120% longer.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. The researchers also released their designs, tutorials and simulation tools publicly so others can build on the work.

Why Soil Microbes Matter for the Internet of Things

“The number of devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) is constantly growing,” said Northwestern alumnus Bill Yen, who led the work. “If we imagine a future with trillions of these devices, we cannot build every one of them out of lithium, heavy metals and toxins that are dangerous to the environment. We need to find alternatives that can provide low amounts of energy to power a decentralized network of devices. In a search for solutions, we looked to soil microbial fuel cells, which use special microbes to break down soil and use that low amount of energy to power sensors. As long as there is organic carbon in the soil for the microbes to break down, the fuel cell can potentially last forever.”

Microbial fuel cells, often called MFCs, work somewhat like a battery. They include an anode, cathode and electrolyte, but instead of chemical reactions, they rely on bacteria that naturally release electrons. When these electrons move through the system, they create an electric current.

“These microbes are ubiquitous; they already live in soil everywhere,” said Northwestern’s George Wells, a senior author on the study. “We can use very simple engineered systems to capture their electricity. We’re not going to power entire cities with this energy. But we can capture minute amounts of energy to fuel practical, low-power applications.”

Challenges With Solar and Battery-Powered Sensors

Precision agriculture depends on large networks of sensors that continuously track soil conditions such as moisture, nutrients and contaminants. These data help farmers make more informed decisions and improve crop yields.

But powering those sensors is a major challenge. Batteries eventually run out and must be replaced, which is impractical across large farms. Solar panels can also be unreliable because they become dirty, require sunlight and take up space.

“If you want to put a sensor out in the wild, in a farm or in a wetland, you are constrained to putting a battery in it or harvesting solar energy,” Yen said. “Solar panels don’t work well in dirty environments because they get covered with dirt, do not work when the sun isn’t out and take up a lot of space. Batteries also are challenging because they run out of power. Farmers are not going to go around a 100-acre farm to regularly swap out batteries or dust off solar panels.”

The researchers instead focused on harvesting energy directly from the soil itself, turning the environment into the power source.

Why Earlier Microbial Fuel Cells Fell Short

Soil-based microbial fuel cells have existed since 1911, but they have struggled to deliver consistent performance. These systems need both moisture and oxygen to function properly, which can be difficult to maintain underground, especially in dry conditions.

“Although MFCs have existed as a concept for more than a century, their unreliable performance and low output power have stymied efforts to make practical use of them, especially in low-moisture conditions,” Yen said.

A New Design Improves Performance

To address these issues, the team spent two years developing and testing different designs. They compared four versions and collected nine months of performance data before selecting a final prototype, which they tested outdoors.

The breakthrough came from a change in geometry. Instead of placing the anode and cathode parallel to each other, the new design positions them perpendicular.

The anode, made of carbon felt (an inexpensive, abundant conductor to capture the microbes’ electrons), lies horizontally beneath the soil. The cathode, made of a conductive metal, extends vertically to the surface.

This structure helps solve several problems at once. The top of the device remains exposed to air, ensuring a steady oxygen supply. At the same time, the lower portion stays buried in moist soil, maintaining hydration even during dry conditions. A protective cap prevents debris from entering, while a small air chamber allows airflow.

The design also improves resilience during flooding. A waterproof coating allows the cathode to keep functioning, and the vertical layout helps it dry gradually after water recedes.

Strong Results in Real-World Conditions

The final prototype performed well across a wide range of soil conditions, from moderately dry soil (41% water by volume) to fully submerged environments. On average, it generated 68 times more power than required to run its sensors.

These results suggest the system is robust enough for real-world deployment in agricultural fields or natural environments.

Ongoing Research and Future Potential

Since the study was first published, interest in microbial fuel cells has continued to grow. Researchers are working to improve efficiency, stability and materials, including exploring biodegradable designs that could further reduce environmental impact.

The Northwestern team notes that all parts of their system can be sourced from common hardware materials. They are now aiming to create fully biodegradable versions that avoid complex supply chains and conflict minerals.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, we all became familiar with how a crisis can disrupt the global supply chain for electronics,” said study co-author Josiah Hester, a former Northwestern faculty member who is now at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “We want to build devices that use local supply chains and low-cost materials so that computing is accessible for all communities.”

While the technology is not intended to power large systems, it could play an important role in supporting low-energy devices across agriculture, environmental monitoring and the expanding Internet of Things.

Key Points

• Scientists have created a new fuel cell that uses naturally occurring soil microbes to generate electricity
• The system can power underground sensors that track soil moisture and even detect movement or touch
• It continues working in a wide range of conditions, from dry soil to fully flooded environments
• This technology could offer a cleaner alternative to batteries for sensors used in precision agriculture

The study, “Soil-powered computing: The engineer’s guide to practical soil microbial fuel cell design,” was supported by the National Science Foundation (award number CNS-2038853), the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (award number 2023-67021-40628) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, VMware Research and 3M.

A study led by researchers from the Human Nutrition Unit at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) and CIBERobn points to a meaningful link between extra virgin olive oil, gut bacteria, and brain health.

Study explores olive oil, gut microbiome, and brain health

“This is the first prospective study in humans to specifically analyze the role of olive oil in the interaction between gut microbiota and cognitive function,” explains Jiaqi Ni, first author of the article and researcher at the URV’s Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

The research followed 656 adults between the ages of 55 and 75 who were overweight or obese and had metabolic syndrome — a set of risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. Over a two-year period, as part of the PREDIMED-Plus project, scientists tracked participants’ diets, including their intake of virgin and refined olive oil, along with detailed analyses of their gut microbiota. They also monitored changes in cognitive performance over time.

Virgin olive oil linked to better cognition and gut diversity

The findings showed clear differences depending on the type of olive oil consumed. Participants who regularly used virgin olive oil experienced improvements in cognitive function and had a more diverse gut microbiota, which is widely considered a sign of better intestinal and metabolic health. In contrast, those who consumed refined olive oil tended to show a decline in microbiota diversity over time.

Researchers also identified a specific group of gut bacteria, known as Adlercreutzia, that may be tied to these benefits. Its presence could serve as an indicator of the positive relationship between virgin olive oil consumption and preserved cognitive function. These results suggest that part of the oil’s brain-supporting effect may come from how it reshapes the gut microbiome.

Why extra virgin olive oil stands out

The difference between extra virgin and refined olive oil largely comes down to how they are produced. Extra virgin olive oil is obtained using mechanical methods, which help preserve its natural compounds. Refined olive oil, on the other hand, undergoes industrial processing to remove impurities.

While this refining process improves shelf life and taste consistency, it also reduces beneficial components such as antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins and other bioactive substances. According to Jiaqi Ni, “not all olive oils have benefits for cognitive function,” highlighting the importance of choosing extra virgin varieties.

Quality of dietary fats matters for brain health

These findings add to growing evidence that diet plays a key role in both cardiovascular and cognitive health through its influence on the gut microbiota. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, principal investigator of the study, emphasizes the importance of choosing high-quality fats: “This research reinforces the idea that the quality of the fat we consume is as important as the quantity; extra virgin olive oil not only protects the heart, but can also help preserve the brain during aging.”

He also notes that identifying a specific microbial profile linked to these benefits “paves the way for new nutrition-based prevention strategies to preserve cognitive functions.”

A simple dietary change for an aging population

Co-directors Nancy Babio and Stephanie Nishi highlight the broader implications of the findings as populations continue to age. “At a time when cases of cognitive decline and dementia are on the rise, our findings drive home the importance of improving diet quality, and in particular prioritizing extra virgin olive oil over other refined versions as an effective, simple and accessible strategy for protecting brain health.”

The study was led by the Human Nutrition Unit at the URV’s Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, with contributions from the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV-CERCA) and the CIBER area on the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) of the Carlos III Health Institute. Researchers from the PREDIMED-Plus consortium also participated, along with collaborators from international institutions including Wageningen (Netherlands) and Harvard (United States).

“The idea with this project was to find some cognitive way of getting the ants to consume more of the poisonous baits we put in the field,” says the first author and doctoral researcher Henrique Galante, a computational biologist at the University of Regensburg. “We found that intermediate doses of caffeine actually boost learning — when you give them a bit of caffeine, it pushes them into having straighter paths and being able to reach the reward faster.”

Argentine ants are among the most damaging and expensive invasive species worldwide. Efforts to control them typically rely on poisoned bait, but these strategies often fall short. Colonies may ignore the bait or abandon it before it spreads widely. The research team explored whether caffeine, which is already known to enhance learning in bees, could help ants better remember bait locations and lead more nestmates to them.

“We’re trying to make them better at finding these baits, because the faster they go and come back to them, the more pheromone trails they lay, the more ants will come, and, therefore, the faster they will spread the poison in the colony before they realize it’s poison,” says Galante.

Testing Caffeine’s Effects in the Lab

To investigate this idea, the scientists designed a controlled experiment using different caffeine levels. Ants crossed a small Lego drawbridge onto a test surface, which consisted of an A4 sheet placed over acrylic. There, they encountered a drop of sugar solution containing 0, 25 ppm, 250 ppm, or 2,000 ppm of caffeine.

“The lowest dose we used is what you find in natural plants, the intermediate dose is similar to what you would find in some energy drinks, and the highest amount is set to be the LD50 of bees — where half the bees fed this dose die — so it’s likely to be quite toxic for them,” says Galante.

The team tracked each ant’s movement with an automated system, measuring both travel time and how direct their paths were. In total, 142 ants took part, and each one completed four trials. Between trials, the ants could unload their collected food, and the testing surface was replaced to prevent them from following their own pheromone trails.

Straighter Paths, Faster Learning

Ants that received only sugar showed little improvement over time, indicating they were not learning the reward’s location effectively. In contrast, ants given low or moderate amounts of caffeine quickly became more efficient.

For ants exposed to 25 ppm of caffeine, foraging time decreased by 28 percent with each visit. At 250 ppm, the improvement reached 38 percent. For example, an ant that initially took 300 seconds to reach the reward could cut that time to 113 seconds at the lower dose and just 54 seconds at the intermediate dose by the final trial. The highest caffeine level did not produce the same benefit.

Focus Over Speed

The improvement was not due to increased speed. Instead, caffeinated ants followed more direct routes, suggesting stronger focus and better spatial memory. Their pace remained unchanged across all doses, but their paths became less winding at the lower and intermediate levels of caffeine.

“What we see is that they’re not moving faster, they’re just being more focused on where they’re going,” says Galante. “This suggests that they know where they want to go, therefore, they have learned the locations of the reward.”

Caffeine did not affect how efficiently ants returned to their nest (how efficiently they traveled back to the nest), although all ants improved slightly over time regardless of caffeine.

A Potential New Tool for Pest Control

The findings suggest that caffeine could play a role in improving pest control strategies for Argentine ants. By helping ants learn bait locations more quickly and recruit more nestmates, caffeine could increase how effectively poison spreads through a colony before the ants detect it.

The researchers caution that more work is needed before applying this approach in real-world settings. Ongoing studies are testing caffeine-enhanced bait in outdoor environments in Spain and examining how caffeine interacts with the poison itself.

This research was supported by the European Research Council, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the University of Regensburg.