DEEP STATE

Digital Science’s Dimensions data underpins Select Committee report into U.S.-funded research and foreign influence

Digital Science

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Digital Science, a global technology company advancing research integrity, security, and impact, today affirmed its support for U.S. government efforts to safeguard taxpayer-funded research, following the release of a new investigative report by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

The Committee’s report, Containment Breach: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Failures in Research Security and Protecting Taxpayer-Funded Research from Foreign Exploitation, released last week, investigates U.S. government-funded research collaborations with entities linked to the Chinese military and other foreign entities that represent a national security threat.

The report contains numerous examples of U.S-funded research links with China’s defense research and industrial base—including entities that appear on U.S. government national security entity lists—from June 2023 to June 2025, obtained by using Digital Science’s Dimensions.

Dimensions is the world’s largest interconnected global research database. The platform, which includes Dimensions Research Security, leverages AI to offer unmatched visibility for verifying researcher credentials in critical sectors like defense and high-tech research.

“Safeguarding U.S.-funded research starts with a fundamental understanding of the affiliations, funding, and collaborations of the researchers themselves. Dimensions provides trusted, comprehensive data to quickly identify hidden connections and potential risks,” said Mark Franco, Vice President, Research Security & Intelligence, Digital Science.

“We are proud to support government agencies and oversight bodies with transparent, evidence-based insights that help protect U.S. Federal research investments while preserving the openness that drives scientific progress.”

Foreign influence and the exploitation of open research systems are growing concerns for the U.S.; the committee’s report highlights the importance of balancing “academic freedom and open science with national security interests”. According to a recent congressional hearing of the Committee of Science, Space, and Technology, intellectual property theft and espionage cost the country $600 billion annually. This hearing also highlighted the need for government funding agencies to work together, the expansion of the American-born STEM talent pipeline, and the strengthening of analytic vetting and continuous monitoring.

“As a partner to several federal and defense agencies, Digital Science remains committed to supporting U.S. government stakeholders as they work to protect national interests, uphold research security, and ensure that taxpayer-funded research advances innovation without unintended risk. Together we will strengthen research security, integrity, and compliance,” Franco said.

See more about Dimensions Research Security

About Dimensions

Part of Digital Science, Dimensions hosts the largest collection of interconnected global research data, re-imagining research discovery with access to grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents all in one place. Follow Dimensions on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, government, funders, industry, and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

For computational devices, talk isn't cheap

Santa Fe Institute

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Every task we perform on our computer — whether number crunching, watching a video, or typing out an article — requires different components of the machine to interact with one another. "Communication is massively crucial for any computation," says former SFI Graduate Fellow Abhishek Yadav, a Ph.D. scholar at the University of New Mexico. But scientists don't fully grasp how much energy computational devices spend on communication.

Over the last decade, SFI Professor David Wolpert has spearheaded research to unravel the principles underlying the thermodynamic costs of computation. Wolpert notes that determining the "thermodynamic bounds on the cost of communication" is an overlooked but critical issue in the field, as it applies not only to computers but also to communication systems across the board. "They are everything that holds up modern society," he says.

Now, a new study in Physical Review Research, co-authored by Yadav and Wolpert, sheds light on the unavoidable heat dissipation that occurs when information is transmitted across a system, challenging an earlier view that, in principle, communication incurs no energetic cost. For the study, the researchers drew on and combined principles from computer science, communication theory, and stochastic thermodynamics, a branch of statistical physics that deals with real-world out-of-equilibrium systems that includes smartphones and laptops.

Using a logical abstraction of generic communication channels, the researchers determined the minimum amount of heat a system must dissipate to transmit one unit of information. This abstraction could apply to any communication channel — artificial (e.g., optical cable) or biological (e.g., a neuron firing a signal in the brain). Real-world communication channels always have some noise that can interfere with the information transmission, and the framework developed by Yadav and Wolpert shows that the minimum heat dissipation is at least equal to the amount of useful information — technically called mutual information — that filters through the channel's noise.

​Then, they used another broadly applicable abstraction of how modern-day computers perform computations to derive the minimum thermodynamic costs associated with encoding and decoding. Encoding and decoding steps ensure reliable transmission of messages by mitigating channel noise. Here, the researchers gained a significant insight: improving the accuracy of data transmission through better encoding and decoding algorithms comes at the cost of increased heat dissipation within the system.

​Uncovering the unavoidable energy costs of sending information through communication channels could help build energy-efficient systems. Yadav reckons that the von Neumann architecture used in current computers presents significant energetic costs associated with communication between the CPU and memory. "The principles that we are outlining can be used to draw inspiration for future computer architecture," he says.

As these energy costs apply to all communicaxtion channels, the work presents a potential avenue for researchers to deepen the understanding of various energy-hungry complex systems where communication is crucial, from biological neurons to artificial logical circuits. Despite burning 20% of the body's calorie budget, the brain uses energy far more efficiently than artificial computers do, says Yadav. "So it would be interesting to see how natural computational systems like the brain are coping with the cost associated with communication."

Read the paper "Minimal thermodynamic cost of communication" in Physical Review Research (December 22, 2025). DOI: 10.1103/qvc2-32xr

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Journal

Physical Review Research

DOI

10.1103/qvc2-32xr 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Minimal thermodynamic cost of communication

Article Publication Date

22-Dec-2025

AI/EV

Interactive cognition of self-driving: A multi-dimensional analysis model and implementation

Research

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image: 

Figure 1. Multi-dimensional analysis model of self-driving interactive cognition

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Credit: Copyright © 2025 Nan Ma et al.

Background

Self-driving vehicles rely closely on interactions with humans, vehicles, and the surrounding environment. However, the interactive analysis of self-driving is impacted by multiple perception sources, heterogeneous data, and complex environments in actual scenes. Due to the above issues, we are often unclear about the behavior of self-driving vehicles, do not understand their decisions, and it is also difficult to achieve synergy with our human intentions. 

Professor Nan Ma of Beijing University of Technology and her research team published a paper titled “Interactive Cognition of Self-driving: A Multi-dimensional Analysis Model and Implementation” in the 2025 issue of Research. We introduce the significance of research in the field of self-driving interactive cognition, detailing its components and underlying infrastructure. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the self-driving interactive cognition, inspired by the Wiener model, embodies intelligence in complex environments with the purpose of stressing the importance of interactive cognition in complex environments and scientifically evaluating the analysis of machine interactive cognition. Then, a multi-dimensional analysis model of self-driving interactive cognition is established based on perceptual information acquisition, multi-channel and cross-modal data registration, attention mechanism, visual recognition and understanding, as well as embodied dynamic control. Supported by the above, we build a multi-view spatio-temporal graph convolutional network (MV-STGCN) model for action recognition to realize vehicle-to-human body language interactive cognition. Most importantly, we innovatively propose a Nonlinear-CRITIC-TOPSIS-based method to analyze the interactive cognition analyses of different action recognition algorithms efficiently, such as MV-STGCN. Future self-driving vehicles are bound to demonstrate multi-channel and cross-modal intelligence perception and human-vehicle-friendly interaction, and we are committed to how to better realize the humanoid driving analysis and the embodied intelligence of self-driving vehicles. “Self-driving + Interactive cognition” could make the future vehicles become interactive wheeled robots that can be trusted and better serve human society.

Research Progress

Considering vehicle's embodied intelligence as an essential basis, we first establish an analysis matrix of interactive cognition to achieve humanoid driving analysis. From the perspective of perceptual intelligence, including the following dimensions: The analysis of self-driving vehicle sensors such as cameras, radar and navigation to obtain perceptual data {Di}; The analysis of multi-channel and cross-modal data registration {Si}; The analysis of attention mechanism for perceived information {Ai}; The analysis of visual recognition and understanding {Li}. Behavioral intelligence incorporates the following dimensions: the analysis of steering, braking and acceleration of their own vehicle with embodied control {Ci}; The analysis of body language interaction between vehicles and humans {Pi}; The analysis of vehicle language interactive cognition {Vi}; The analysis of synergistic interactive cognition between vehicles and environments {Ii}, thus forming the analysis matrix of self-driving interactive cognition. According to the analysis matrix of self-driving interactive cognition, a multi-dimensional analysis model of self-driving interactive cognition is further constructed, as shown in Figure 1.

Future Prospects

In the foreseeable evolution of automotive systems, human-driven and autonomous vehicles are expected to coexist for decades. Autonomous vehicles, as mobile intelligent agents, increasingly exhibit learning capacities that extend beyond conventional computational intelligence to encompass interactive and memory intelligence, including trial-and-error learning from near-misses and accidents. We develop a multi-dimensional analysis model of self-driving interactive cognition that enables rigorous evaluation of perceptual and behavioural intelligence, with particular emphasis on learning competence. We further introduce a CRITIC–TOPSIS method based on Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to quantify multi-dimensional interactive cognitive abilities. Since 2016, our team has collaborated with several industrial and academic partners—including BAIC Research Institute, Dongfeng Yuexiang Technology, China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co., Ltd—to advance the theory of interactive cognition for autonomous driving and to develop a suite of intelligent interaction systems. These systems support robust interaction and coordination between vehicles and humans, as well as inter-vehicle cooperation, across diverse scenes, environments, sensor modalities, and vehicle platforms, which will be essential for fostering public trust and accelerating the societal adoption of autonomous vehicles.

Sources: https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/research.0903

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Journal

Research

DOI

10.34133/research.0903 

Method of Research

News article

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Interactive Cognition of Self-driving: A Multidimensional Analysis Model and Implementation

Article Publication Date

23-Dec-2025

Forecasting the impact of fully automated vehicle adoption on US road traffic injuries

JAMA Surgery

About The Study: Commercial autonomous vehicle (AV) availability and adoption are underway and could impact national road traffic injuries. In this simulation study, potential injury reductions in the U.S. were forecasted using several scenarios based on real-world data. The results of this study suggest that AV adoption may reduce expected injuries; however, predicted confidence intervals remain broad for the baseline injury forecast, and none of the scenarios reduced expected injuries outside of these bounds. 

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Avery B. Nathens, MD, MPH, PhD, email avery.nathens@sunnybrook.ca.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2025.5711)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

#  #  #

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article 

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Journal

JAMA Surgery

Anode-free battery doubles electric vehicle driving range

Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)

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image: 

Schematic illustration and pouch cell of reversible host-designed electrolyte with its cycle performance

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Credit: POSTECH

Could an electric vehicle travel from Seoul to Busan and back on a single charge? Could drivers stop worrying about battery performance even in winter? A Korean research team has taken a major step toward answering these questions by developing an anode-free lithium metal battery that can deliver nearly double driving range using the same battery volume.

 

A joint research team led by Professor Soojin Park and Dr. Dong-Yeob Han of the Department of Chemistry at POSTECH, together with Professor Nam-Soon Choi and Dr. Saehun Kim of KAIST, and Professor Tae Kyung Lee and researcher Junsu Son of Gyeongsang National University, has successfully achieved a volumetric energy density of 1,270 Wh/L in an anode-free lithium metal battery. This value is nearly twice that of current lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, which typically deliver around 650 Wh/L. The achievement was published as a Front Cover article in Advanced Materials.

 

An anode-free lithium metal battery eliminates the conventional anode altogether. Instead, lithium ions stored in the cathode move during charging and deposit directly onto a copper current collector. By removing unnecessary components, more internal space can be devoted to energy storage, much like fitting more fuel into the same-sized tank. However, this design comes with serious challenges. If lithium deposits unevenly, sharp needle-like structures known as dendrites can form, increasing the risk of short circuits and potential safety hazards. Repeated charging and discharging can also damage the lithium surface, rapidly shortening battery life.

 

To address these issues, the research team adopted a dual strategy combining a Reversible Host (RH) and a Designed Electrolyte (DEL). The reversible host consists of a polymer framework embedded with uniformly distributed silver (Ag) nanoparticles, guiding lithium to deposit in designated locations rather than randomly. In simple terms, it acts like a dedicated parking lot for lithium, ensuring ordered and uniform deposition.

 

The designed electrolyte further enhances stability by forming a thin but robust protective layer composed of Li₂O and Li₃N on the lithium surface. This layer functions like a bandage on skin, preventing harmful dendrite growth while maintaining open pathways for lithium ions transport.

 

When combined, the RH–DEL system delivered outstanding performance. Under high areal capacity (4.6 mAh cm⁻²) and current density (2.3 mA cm⁻²), the battery retained 81.9% of its initial capacity after 100 cycles and achieved an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.6%. These results enabled the team to reach the record-breaking 1,270 Wh/L volumetric energy density in anode-free lithium metal batteries.

 

Importantly, this performance was validated not only in small laboratory cells but also in pouch-type batteries, which are closer to real-world electric vehicle applications. Even with a minimal amount of electrolyte (E/C = 2.5 g Ah⁻¹) and under low stack pressure (20 kPa), the batteries operated stably. This demonstrates strong potential for reducing battery weight and volume while lowering manufacturing burdens, significantly improving commercial viability.

 

Professor Soojin Park commented, “This work represents a meaningful breakthrough by simultaneously addressing efficiency and lifetime issues in anode-free lithium metal batteries.” Professor Tae Kyung Lee added, “Our study demonstrates that electrolyte design based on commercially available solvents can achieve both high lithium-ion mobility and interfacial stability.”

 

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of Korea.

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Journal

Advanced Materials

DOI

10.1002/adma.202515906 

Article Title

Synergistic Coupling of Host and Electrolyte Achieving 1270 Wh L−1 in Anode-Free Lithium Metal Batteries