A new federally funded research project at the University of California, Davis, endeavors to extract valuable components for magnets, lasers and other modern technologies from an unlikely source: acidic wastewater from mines and industrial processes.

The Bezos Earth Fund has announced a $2 million grant to the University California, Davis, the American Heart Association and other partners to advance “Swap it Smart” as part of its AI for Climate & Nature Grand Challenge. The funding will support research that could help redesign foods, for example optimizing for flavor profile, nutritional properties and lower costs and environmental impact.

Two projects at the University of California, Davis, that use artificial intelligence to design and engineer proteins for industrial and health applications have been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The grants are part of a $32 million investment in AI and protein engineering by the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

Design2Data, or D2D, provides undergraduate students with early laboratory experiences learning about enzymes and related protein structures with findings that contribute to a national network of data.

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, in partnership with the Mars Advanced Research Institute, have announced a significant breakthrough in the production of low-calorie sugar substitutes, such as allulose. This discovery could help address one of the primary obstacles to the widespread adoption of these alternatives: production costs.