Time magazine named a low-cost, BU-developed device that speeds up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans among its best inventions of 2025. The wearable metamaterial—precisely engineered structures made from everyday materials like copper and plastic—can also make scans cheaper and more accurate. The BU team behind the device, led by Xin Zhang, a College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering, was also honored by Fast Company in its 2025 World Changing Ideas Awards list.

Taking a simple fiber supplement with meals could help remove PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—from our bodies, according to Jennifer Schlezinger, a BU School of Public Health professor of environmental health. She found oat beta-glucan supplements had a statistically significant effect on PFAS levels. The forever chemicals have been associated with a reduced ability to have an immune response to a vaccine, high cholesterol liver toxicity, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and low birth weights in infants.

BU physical therapy researchers are trialing a robotic exosuit’s ability to reduce lower back pain, giving patients relief without the need for opioids. Low back pain, which will impact around 80 percent of Americans in their lifetimes, is a major contributor to the nation’s opioid crisis. The exosuit looks like a hydration backpack, and is being tested and refined at the BU Physical Therapy Center.

What does our shifting climate mean for trees and the amount of carbon they can store? BU biology researchers discovered that while warmer summers might increase a tree’s growth by speeding up decomposition in the soil, less snow in winter slowed it down by about half. “Many Earth system models, which predict how much carbon forests can store, aren’t incorporating the complexities of winter climate change that we’re highlighting here,” said one of the researchers, BU PhD student Emerson Conrad-Rooney (GRS’26).

A BU CTE Center study of young former athletes found repetitive head impacts from contact sports can have a range of negative effects on the brain, including neuron loss, inflammation, and vascular damage. The changes were visible even among those who didn’t have the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. This year, the CTE Center also won a $15 million National Institutes of Health grant to look for ways to diagnose CTE in life; former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was among the first to join the study.

Wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset can change how hot or cold you feel while working out, according to Dustin Allen, a BU Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences clinical assistant professor of human physiology. He has study participants watch warm or chilly scenes on a VR headset while exercising in a temperature controlled room: preliminary data suggests people sweat more when watching something hot. The findings could help athletes or military personnel adapt to different environments.

In a study of workplace snooping, BU organizational psychologist Richard A. Currie found one-third of people reported seeing someone being nosy at work at least weekly; a similar proportion said they spotted it every month. He also discovered that in companies and offices with higher levels of reported nosiness, stress levels were higher and task performance was lower. Currie hopes his work can help managers foster more collaborative—rather than intrusive—work environments and improve employee well-being.

For many people with hearing loss, it can be tough to focus on one conversation in crowded, noisy places. A new BU-developed algorithm, designed to be incorporated into hearing aids, helps tune out the interference. In testing, it improved word recognition accuracy by 40 percentage points relative to current hearing aid algorithms.

In April, BU researchers and collaborators at Boston Children’s Hospital launched an artificial intelligence–powered surveillance platform to monitor and analyze infectious diseases threats around the world. The Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network (BEACON) pulls data from a variety of disease tracking sites, then uses AI and human experts to assess potential outbreaks and arm public health officials with the information they need.

In a special series on BU’s cancer research, “How Boston University Is Fighting Cancer—Stories of Determination, Innovation, Hope,” The Brink highlighted 10 big ideas for revolutionizing the future of cancer prevention, treatment, and care. Among them: a liquid biopsy blood test that can track disease progression, engineered immune cells that fight cancer with fewer side effects, soft robots that make surgery safer, and artificial intelligence tools that help predict the best treatments.