Yes! We are always working on figuring out the best ways to learn a new language through science. We have a team of PhDs dedicated to this. According to an independent study conducted by the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina, an average of 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to a full university semester of language education. You can see a full report of the study here.
You can access research papers on our official research page and interesting insights about artificial intelligence and usage on our Making Duolingo blog!