Bloomberg
Foreign student enrollment at U.S. universities fell by 1.4% this fall, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, even as the overall number of students in attendance grew by 1%. Headcount in computer and information science studies, popular programs with international students, fell for the first time since 2020. Enrollment shrank by 14% at the graduate level and 3.6% in undergraduate programs.
From "Foreign Enrollment at U.S. Colleges Sinks"
Bloomberg (01/15/26) Elizabeth Rembert; Francesca Maglione
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CBS News
The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are calling on technology companies to pay for new power plants needed to support the rapid expansion of AI datacenters. Federal and state officials signed onto a "Statement of Principles" focused on regional electrical transmission firm PJM Interconnection. The pact calls on tech companies to pay for new power plants in PJM's region, while pushing PJM to provide more capacity to serve datacenter demand without incurring additional costs for consumers.
From "White House, Governors Call on Tech Companies to Pay for AI Power Plants"
CBS News (01/16/26) Kathryn Watson; Aaron Navarro
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The New York Times
As generative AI spreads across higher education, some professors are shifting from outright bans to cautious experimentation. At Barnard College, most first-year writing classes prohibit tools like ChatGPT, citing concerns about accuracy, bias, and shortcuts to learning. However, Professor Benjamin Breyer has been allowed to pilot custom chatbot Althea, designed to act as a writing tutor rather than an essay writer. Similar efforts at other universities aim to teach AI literacy in controlled ways.
From "These Professors Want to Ease AI Worries"
The New York Times (01/17/26) Sharon Otterman
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Financial Times
Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a detachable robotic hand that can crawl independently and grasp objects. The hand can undock from a host arm, move through tight spaces, and carry multiple objects using flexible finger combinations, outperforming many limits of human hands.
From "Crawling Robot Hand Can Grasp Multiple Objects"
Financial Times (01/20/26) Michael Peel
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The Independent (U.K.)
A wearable device developed by researchers at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge allows patients who have suffered strokes or have other neurological conditions to recover their voices without invasive brain implants. The Revoice device can decode speech signals, emotional cues, and environmental data using sensors and AI. Worn around the neck, Revoice translates signals like heart rate and throat muscle vibrations into words, even predicting and delivering complete sentences.
From "Wearable Device Restores Voice to Stroke Patients"
The Independent (U.K.) (01/19/26) Jane Kirby
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IEEE Spectrum
Researchers at the University of Chicago and China's Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology found scientists leveraging AI tools publish three times as many papers, receive almost five times as many citations, and achieve leadership roles one to two years earlier than those who do not. The study also found AI mainly automates easier parts of research instead of expanding scientific discovery.
From "AI Boosts Research Careers, Flattens Scientific Discovery"
IEEE Spectrum (01/19/26) Elie Dolgin
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