/ 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. For more than a century, the well-known 18-electron rule has guided the field of organometallic chemistry. Now, researchers at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), in collaboration with scientists from Germany, Russia, and Japan, have successfully synthesized a novel organometallic compound that challenges this longstanding principle. They have created a stable 20-electron derivative of ferrocene, an iron-based metal-organic complex, which could lead to exciting possibilities in chemical science. /news/2025-07-organometallic-compound-fundamental-principle-textbook.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 07 Jul 2025 09:22:04 EDT news671098922 By using a genetic technique developed at UT Southwestern Medical Center that forces cells to rid themselves of mitochondria, researchers are gaining new insights into the function of these critical organelles. Their findings, published in Cell, add to fundamental knowledge about the role of mitochondria in cells and evolution and could eventually lead to new treatments for patients with mitochondrial diseases such as Leigh syndrome and Kearns-Sayre syndrome, which can affect numerous organ systems. /news/2025-07-method-mysterious-organelles-stem-cells.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Jul 2025 09:47:55 EDT news670841263 Modern low-power solutions to computer memory rely heavily on the manipulation of the magnetic properties of materials. Understanding the influence of the chemical properties of these materials on their magnetization ability is of key importance in developing the field. /news/2025-07-magnetism-recharged-method-thin.html Condensed Matter Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:41:03 EDT news670772462 Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have reconciled two closely related but contentious mechanisms underlying transcription, the process of converting genetic information in DNA into messenger RNA. Phase separation has been proposed as a driving force in transcription due to its ability to selectively concentrate proteins and DNA in discrete droplets. /news/2025-07-transcription.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:44:03 EDT news670769041 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 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 Since July 2022, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been unwaveringly focused on our universe. With its unprecedented power to detect and analyze otherwise invisible infrared light, Webb is making observations that were once impossible, changing our view of the cosmos from the most distant galaxies to our own solar system. /news/2025-07-years-science-ten-cosmic-nasa.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:38:23 EDT news670678697 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 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 Influenza hemagglutinin subunit vaccines are more effective and offer better cross protection against various influenza virus challenges when combined with a mucosal adjuvant that enhances the body's immune response, according to a study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. /news/2025-07-vesicle-based-vaccine-adjuvant-influenza.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 02 Jul 2025 07:33:15 EDT news670660391 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 A new study details the development of a nanoparticle-based system that delivers concentrated chemotherapy specifically to cancer cells and not normal cells, potentially allowing clinicians to administer higher, more effective doses of anti-cancer drugs while avoiding some of the well-known toxic side effects. /news/2025-07-nanoparticle-based-delivery-unleashes-full.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:58:05 EDT news670582681 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 What was life like some 8,000–9,000 years ago for the people on the East Mound at Çatalhöyük, an important Neolithic settlement in central Anatolia? And what role did women hold in their society? /news/2025-06-dna-analysis-matriarchal-society-neolithic.html Archaeology Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:25:09 EDT news670253103 A new study, published in Nature Nanotechnology and featured on the journal's front cover this month, has uncovered insights into the tiny structures that could take solar energy to the next level. /news/2025-06-nanodomains-key-generation-solar-cells.html Nanomaterials Thu, 26 Jun 2025 16:20:02 EDT news670173330 When phones or computers are recycled, small amounts of important materials get discarded. Those minute amounts of cobalt, nickel and lithium add up quickly, and separating and recovering these "critical materials" for reuse is a dirty, energy intensive job. /news/2025-06-ferritin-protein-critical-metals-electronic.html Materials Science Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:23:54 EDT news670163028 A team of international scientists headed by Prof. Marco Salvalaglio from TUD–Dresden University of Technology has found out that internal stresses—not just interface energy—play a key role in shaping the microstructure of crystalline materials. These findings challenge classical theories and could improve how we design materials for engineering and technology. The results have recently been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. /news/2025-06-simulations-grains-metals-ceramics.html Materials Science Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:38:22 EDT news670160299 Chemists from The University of Manchester and The Australian National University (ANU) have engineered a new type of molecule that can store information at temperatures as cold as the dark side of the moon at night, with major implications for the future of data storage technologies. /news/2025-06-molecule-magnet-sized-hard-capable.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 25 Jun 2025 11:00:04 EDT news670064521 A research team has synthesized three-dimensionally shaped molecules containing an internal twist and shown that they possess the properties of organic semiconductors. By introducing methyl groups into a planar molecule containing several thiophene units and forcing it into a twisted conformation, the team created a solid-state structure in which electricity can flow three-dimensionally. /news/2025-06-molecules-strategy-semiconductor-materials.html Nanomaterials Wed, 25 Jun 2025 08:49:03 EDT news670060141 As we witness the detrimental effects of climate change, the need for a rapid shift to renewable energy is only becoming more urgent. One of the most efficient forms of renewable energy, solar power, is generated by solar cells, which are the building blocks of solar panels. These electronic devices use semiconductors to convert the energy of light into electricity, a process called the photovoltaic effect. /news/2025-06-artificial-heterostructure-tunable-photovoltaic-effect.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Tue, 24 Jun 2025 16:00:02 EDT news669999536 In an elegant fusion of art and science, researchers at Rice University have achieved a major milestone in nanomaterials engineering by uncovering how boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)—touted for their strength, thermal stability and insulating properties—can be coaxed into forming ordered liquid crystalline phases in water. Their work, published in Langmuir, was so visually striking it graced the journal's cover. /news/2025-06-versatility-boron-nitride-nanotubes-displayed.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:34:03 EDT news669994441 Scientists from TU Delft (The Netherlands) have observed quantum spin currents in graphene for the first time without using magnetic fields. These currents are vital for spintronics, a faster and more energy-efficient alternative to electronics. This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, marks an important step towards technologies like quantum computing and advanced memory devices. /news/2025-06-quantum-currents-graphene-external-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:44:03 EDT news669984241 An international team of scientists led by Rice University's Pengcheng Dai has confirmed the existence of emergent photons and fractionalized spin excitations in a rare quantum spin liquid. Published in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics on June 19, their findings identify the crystalline compound cerium zirconium oxide (Ceâ‚‚Zrâ‚‚O₇) as a clear 3D realization of this exotic state of matter. /news/2025-06-physicists-elusive-quantum-liquid.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:49:03 EDT news669908942 The pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa2 mission on December 6, 2020, have been vital to improving the understanding of primitive asteroids and the formation of the solar system. The C-type asteroid Ryugu is composed of rocks similar to meteorites called CI chondrites, which contain relatively high amounts of carbon, and have undergone extensive aqueous alteration in their past. /news/2025-06-unexpected-mineral-ryugu-grain-paradigm.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Jun 2025 08:39:04 EDT news669886741 Gao Peng's research group at the International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Peking University, has developed a breakthrough method for visualizing interfacial phonon transport with sub-nanometer resolution. Leveraging fast electron inelastic scattering in electron microscopy, the team directly measured temperature fields and thermal resistance across interfaces, unveiling the microscopic mechanism of phonon-mediated heat transport at the nanoscale. /news/2025-06-phonon-materials-visualized-atomic.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 20 Jun 2025 10:46:49 EDT news669635206 A research team led by Professor Huang Xingjiu at the Hefei Institutes of Â鶹ÒùÔºical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a highly stable adaptive integrated interface for ion sensing. The study was published as an inside front cover article in Advanced Materials. /news/2025-06-mos-based-interface-boosts-ion.html Nanomaterials Thu, 19 Jun 2025 12:30:02 EDT news669554625 A collaborative team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that acts like the body's bouncer, "deciding" which foreign materials get degraded by immune cells and which are allowed entry. /news/2025-06-code-body-ancient-immune-defense.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:01:02 EDT news669466853 Lasers have widespread applications as a light source in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, medicine, high-speed communications, electronics, and scientific research. /news/2025-06-mode-lasers-tunable-pulse-duration.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 17 Jun 2025 14:57:04 EDT news669391022 Taking a cue from ocean-dwelling species, University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers are developing synthetic skins that will support the emergence of next-generation "soft" machines, robots and other devices. /news/2025-06-cephalopod-synthetic-skins-enable-soft.html Polymers Materials Science Tue, 17 Jun 2025 11:24:54 EDT news669378286 As NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in over 50 years, new research from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has found that lunar dust is less harmful to human lung cells than previously feared, and significantly less toxic than common Earth-based air pollution. /news/2025-06-abrasive-lunar-toxic-city-pollution.html Space Exploration Tue, 17 Jun 2025 10:15:31 EDT news669374127