Perched in a tower atop a hill, Matthew Douglas climbs a staircase and emerges from a hatch on the roof, where a heavy glass ball in a metal cradle has burned a thin streak into a strip of paper, recording the previous day's sunlight.
A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 13, 2026.
Diving is physiologically challenging for marine animals. Long and deep dives can trigger "anaerobic" (oxygen-less) metabolism in organs other than the heart and brain that causes lactic acid to accumulate. Even though diving animals typically have evolved tricks to avoid "the bends," nitrogen bubbles may nevertheless build up in their blood. They tend to recover from these stresses while swimming at the surface for prolonged periods.
There is a troubling contradiction at the heart of the global transition to a cleaner, greener, tech-driven future: Modern technologies—everything from AI to wind turbines, as well as cellphones, electric vehicles and defense systems—depend on critical minerals. But many of the communities where those minerals are mined end up with polluted water and poorer health because of the mining.
Artificial intelligence is steadily becoming more embedded in journalism; part of how journalists write, edit, research and more. But little is known about how future journalists are learning about the technology. New research from the University of Kansas has found that journalism classes across the country are taking varying approaches, from considering its use in academic dishonesty to encouraging its use or discussing the matter philosophically. That scattershot approach can both shortchange and confuse students, while more consistency could better serve education and practice, according to the authors.
Efficient and durable catalysts for the chlorine evolution reaction (CER) are critical for chlor-alkali and related brine electrolysis processes, but conventional anodic materials often struggle to balance catalytic activity, selectivity, cost, and stability under harsh operating conditions. Now, a research team led by Prof. Yin Huajie from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a high-performance chlor-alkali electrode catalyst that combines outstanding activity with long-term stability. The study is published in Nature Communications.
With the involvement of scientists from the Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics in Berlin and the Universities of Augsburg and Münster, international researchers have presented a new roadmap for surface acoustic waves. The study outlines how this technology will evolve over the next 10 years, spanning applications from signal processing to quantum technologies and the life sciences.
A research team led by Prof. Zhang Jian at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Xiao Chong from the University of Science and Technology of China and Prof. Zhang Yongsheng from Qufu Normal University, achieved a peak ZT value of 2.03 at 873 K in chalcopyrite-based thermoelectric materials using a novel dual antisite defect strategy.
Most of the microlitter present in the South Atlantic Ocean originates from the West African coast and is particularly concentrated in areas near the equator and off the coast of Brazil, according to a study appearing in Environmental Pollution.
Malignant tumor treatment remains a major challenge due to the limited precision and significant side effects. Copper-based single-atom nanozymes have shown promise for tumor microenvironment-responsive precision therapy, but their practical application is limited by weak substrate adsorption, difficulty in synthesizing low-coordination unsaturated structures, and limitations of conventional preparation methods. A research team has now successfully developed a coordination-unsaturated copper single-atom nanozyme. Their work is published in Advanced Functional Materials.
