/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Managing radioactive waste is one of the core challenges in the use of nuclear energy. In particular, radioactive iodine poses serious environmental and health risks due to its long half-life (15.7 million years in the case of I-129), high mobility, and toxicity to living organisms. /news/2025-07-ai-optimal-material-radioactive-iodine.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:47:04 EDT news670772822 New results published in the journal Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters detail how a specially designed metamaterial was able to tip the normally equal balance between thermal absorption and emission, enabling the material to better emit infrared light than absorb it. /news/2025-07-material-emits-infrared-absorbs-violating.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Condensed Matter Thu, 03 Jul 2025 11:20:01 EDT news670759222 An international study has revealed how continental collisions may have supercharged the Earth's richest deposits of copper, a metal critical for clean energy technologies and global infrastructure. /news/2025-07-geological-mystery-unearths-copper-deposits.html Earth Sciences Thu, 03 Jul 2025 08:42:03 EDT news670750921 Researchers from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology (APM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found that water can activate previously "NMR-invisible" aluminum in ultra-stable Y (USY) zeolite, a critical material in catalysis. /news/2025-07-hidden-aluminum-sites-zeolite-catalysis.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 03 Jul 2025 08:37:03 EDT news670750621 Terahertz radiation (THz), electromagnetic radiation with frequencies ranging between 0.1 and 10 THz, could be leveraged to develop various new technologies, including imaging and communication systems. So far, however, a lack of fast and sensitive detectors that can detect radiation across a wide range of frequencies has limited the development of these THz-sensing technologies. /news/2025-07-tairte-photodetectors-highly-sensitive-room.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Thu, 03 Jul 2025 07:50:07 EDT news670648980 For the first time, an international team of scientists has experimentally simulated spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) at zero temperature using a superconducting quantum processor. This achievement, which was accomplished with over 80% fidelity, represents a milestone for quantum computing and condensed matter physics. /news/2025-07-quantum-simulates-spontaneous-symmetry-temperature.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 16:17:04 EDT news670691821 Enzymatic recycling has gained traction in recent years as a greener alternative to traditional plastic recycling techniques, which often rely on energy-intensive mechanical or chemical processes. Enzymes can selectively break down polymers like PET—commonly found in bottles and food packaging—into their basic building blocks. /news/2025-07-protein-based-enzyme-reuse-plastic.html Biochemistry Polymers Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:12:36 EDT news670687950 If humans are ever going to live beyond Earth, they'll need to construct habitats. But transporting enough industrial material to create livable spaces would be incredibly challenging and expensive. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) think there's a better way, through biology. /news/2025-07-bioplastic-algae-growth-mars-conditions.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:00:16 EDT news670655882 In a review just published in Nature Materials, researchers take aim at the oldest principle in electronics: Ohm's law. /news/2025-07-ohm-law-nonlinear-currents-emerge.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:09:03 EDT news670676942 Proteins are the infinitely varied chemicals that make cells work, and science has a pretty good idea how they are made. But a critical aspect underlying the machinery of protein manufacture has long been hidden inside the nucleolus. /news/2025-07-artificial-nucleolus-reveals-ribosome.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:00:27 EDT news670656302 A new study led by Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Eugene Chen outlines a path to creating advanced, recyclable plastics. Published in Nature, the study describes a breakthrough method for upconverting a natural polymer that is usually made by microorganisms into a wide range of new and more sustainable high-performance materials as well as valuable chiral small molecules for organic and polymer synthesis. /news/2025-07-catalytic-natural-polymer-customizable-biodegradable.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:00:12 EDT news670600082 Angular momentum is a fundamental quantity in physics that describes the rotational motion of objects. In quantum physics, it encompasses both the intrinsic spin of particles and their orbital motion around a point. These properties are essential for understanding a wide range of systems, from atoms and molecules to complex materials and high-energy particle interactions. /news/2025-07-strong-magnetic-fields-flip-angular.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:08:03 EDT news670669681 Analytical chemistry researchers at the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) have developed a novel algorithm that significantly improves the analysis of copolymers. It allows the determination of their block structure, which has until now been impossible using common analytical approaches. The researchers present their achievement in two recent papers in Macromolecules and Analytica Chimica Acta. /news/2025-07-algorithm-unprecedented-insight-copolymer-block.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:00:03 EDT news670669201 EPFL scientists have developed a new technique that lets researchers watch, with unprecedented sensitivity, how materials emit polarized light over time. /news/2025-07-imaging-technique-captures-polarized.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 09:13:10 EDT news670666387 If you've ever consumed food made with olive oil, there's a good chance you've unknowingly ingested materials capable of producing lasers. Researchers have recently demonstrated edible microlasers—tiny lasers made entirely from food-safe materials—that can be used for food monitoring, product authentication and tagging. These edible microlasers are composed of droplets of oil or water–glycerol mixtures doped with natural optical gain substances, such as chlorophyll (the green pigment in leaves) or riboflavin (vitamin B2). /news/2025-07-edible-microlasers-food-safe-materials.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 09:12:10 EDT news670666326 Operators have pumped water to cool the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) since the accident in 2011 and treated this cooling water with the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), which is a state-of-the-art purification system that removes radioactive materials, except tritium. /news/2025-07-ocean-simulations-term-tritium-fukushima.html Environment Wed, 02 Jul 2025 01:00:01 EDT news670601821 Traditional medical tests often require clinical samples to be sent off-site for analysis in a time-intensive and expensive process. Point-of-care diagnostics are instead low-cost, easy-to-use, and rapid tests performed at the site of patient care. Recently, researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology reported new and optimized techniques to develop better biosensors for the early detection of disease biomarkers. /news/2025-07-nanoscale-advance-biosensing.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Tue, 01 Jul 2025 17:52:04 EDT news670611122 An unexpectedly strong solar storm rocked our planet on April 23, 2023, sparking auroras as far south as southern Texas in the U.S. and taking the world by surprise. /news/2025-07-nasa-missions-severity-solar-storms.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 01 Jul 2025 17:07:04 EDT news670608421 Plant scientists have used a standard "gene gun" since 1988 to genetically modify crops for better yield, nutrition, pest resistance and other valuable traits. /news/2025-07-gene-gun-boosts-efficiency-genetic.html Plants & Animals Agriculture Tue, 01 Jul 2025 16:00:02 EDT news670604324 Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, Germany, together with international collaborators, have developed two complementary methods that could make quantum communication via fiber optics practical outside the lab. /news/2025-07-photon-bins-stability-quantum-communication.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:02:21 EDT news670593734 Sustainable materials—powered by sunlight and living microbes—that remove pollutants from water, release oxygen into a wound or heal themselves after damage could become simpler to create thanks to new research by a team of biologists and engineers at the University of California San Diego. /news/2025-07-materials-easier-larger-palette-ingredients.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:40:31 EDT news670585227 A research team from the University of Wollongong's (UOW) Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) has addressed a 40-year-old quantum puzzle, unlocking a new pathway to creating next-generation electronic devices that operate without losing energy or wasting electricity. /news/2025-06-entropy-avenue-robust-quantum-anomalous.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:50:02 EDT news670517319 A new study from SapienCE reveals that early modern humans at Blombos Cave in South Africa used ochre as a specialized tool for stone toolmaking during the Middle Stone Age, demonstrating advanced technical skills far earlier than previously believed. /news/2025-06-ochre-discovery-south-african-cave.html Archaeology Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:43:04 EDT news670516981 Researchers at the ICN2 and the UAB have developed a novel strategy to obtain different types of organic molecules by breaking down their molecular structures. This technique enables fast and precise production of these molecules without having to use traditional chemical synthesis. The results pave the way for simple and efficient production of complex molecules, with promising applications in areas such as the development of new materials. /news/2025-06-chemistry-enables-fast-precise-production.html Biochemistry Materials Science Mon, 30 Jun 2025 14:48:03 EDT news670513681 How does a cloud stay cool under direct sunlight—or seem to vanish in infrared? In nature, phenomena like white cumulus clouds, gray storm systems, and even the hollow hairs of polar bears offer remarkable lessons in balancing temperature, color and invisibility. Inspired by these atmospheric marvels, researchers have now created a nanoscale "cloud" metasurface capable of dynamically switching between white and gray states—cooling or heating on demand—all while evading thermal detection. /news/2025-06-nano-clouds-temperature-outwit-sensors.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:05:03 EDT news670507501 In order to help prevent the climate crisis, actively reducing already-emitted COâ‚‚ is essential. Accordingly, direct air capture (DAC)—a technology that directly extracts only COâ‚‚ from the air—is gaining attention. However, effectively capturing pure COâ‚‚ is not easy due to water vapor (Hâ‚‚O) present in the air. /news/2025-06-ai-materials-capture-air.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 30 Jun 2025 12:33:39 EDT news670505612 When the island of Santorini was rattled by thousands of small earthquakes earlier this year, many people were left mystified about the source of the tremors. /news/2025-06-santorini-earthquakes-sideways-magma-movement.html Earth Sciences Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:10:12 EDT news670493401 Hansen's Disease, more commonly known as leprosy, is a chronic disease that can lead to physical impairment. Today it exists in over 100 countries, and while the infection is treatable, access to treatment varies widely with socioeconomic conditions. /news/2025-06-ancient-dna-reveals-rare-leprosy.html Archaeology Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:03:32 EDT news670493006 Researchers at Northeastern University have discovered how to change the electronic state of matter on demand, a breakthrough that could make electronics 1,000 times faster and more efficient. /news/2025-06-discovery-quantum-materials-electronics-faster.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:03:17 EDT news670492993 Asteroid 2024 YR4 made headlines earlier this year when its probability of impacting Earth in 2032 rose as high as 3%. While an Earth impact has now been ruled out, the asteroid's story continues. /news/2025-06-asteroid-yr4-moon.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:30:02 EDT news670253091