Welcome to our October issue of Research Outreach! This month, we are remembering the life’s work of Siegfried Streufert, the visionary founder of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. We’re also exploring how we can reduce energy use by making small changes to our dishwashing techniques, and discuss the role of nanoparticles in cancer treatment – like Trojan horses, these particles can deliver cancer-killing viruses straight to the tumour site.

The New York Academy of Sciences is one of the oldest scientific organisations in the United States and has been a place to exchange ideas since 1817. In the 21st century, the science may have changed, but its mission remains: to drive innovative solutions to society’s challenges by advancing scientific research, education, and policy. We were privileged to speak with CEO and President Nicholas Dirks about what it has been like to lead the Academy through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and how that crisis has affected science communication for us all.

There are many pitfalls to classical logic, as fixed binaries can often overlook the complexities of human experience. The age-old issue of how to account for human imprecision – and indeed how to capture this technologically – is at the core of the FMsquare Foundation. The organisation is dedicated to spreading the holistic values of ‘fuzzy logic’ – a varied and reflexive ‘natural’ logic that accounts for infinite values and human imprecision in data processing. In an exciting interview with Research Outreach, Andreas Meier (Founder), Edy Portmann (President), and Witold Pedrycz (Ambassador) discuss their respective roles within the Foundation, why fuzzy logic is so important, and its wider applications for the future.

We hope you are as excited, challenged, and inspired as we are by this issue. Take a look inside and discover the fascinating work of the researchers featured.