A timeless pursuit of intelligence.

Long before life could ask questions, it could sense what mattered.

A chemical trace could guide an organism toward nourishment or away from harm. Before brains, perception was already shaping how life moved through the world.

As we build new forms of intelligence, we return to that ancient relationship between sensing and acting.

Our research brings together sensing platforms, foundation models, and data infrastructure. We want machines to learn from chemical observations in context: remembering what they encounter, questioning what they do not understand, and choosing what to investigate next.

We begin with chemical sensing for autonomous systems. Our longer-term goal is to connect instruments, robots, and laboratories in a continuous process of investigation: testing explanations and carrying what is learned into the next encounter.

This could help machines investigate hazardous environments before people enter them, buildings recognize changes that warrant further analysis, and industries understand how materials, food, and processes evolve.

Our ambition also reaches into the sensory worlds of other species: how plants and animals exchange chemical signals, whether our tools can help us communicate with them, and how life responds to its surroundings, on land and beneath the ocean.

Progress requires a commitment to evidence. Preserve the circumstances of an observation. Make uncertainty visible. Let discovery change what was previously believed.

The longer we live with the world, the more deeply we should understand it.