/ 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. Manufacturing better batteries, faster electronics, and more effective pharmaceuticals depends on the discovery of new materials and the verification of their quality. Artificial intelligence is helping with the former, with tools that comb through catalogs of materials to quickly tag promising candidates. /news/2025-10-quality-materials-easier-ai-tool.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:57:04 EDT news679672621 New research has found that amino acids, the building blocks of life, may have traveled to Earth on interstellar dust grains, potentially helping kickstart biology as we know it. /news/2025-10-cosmic-life-earth.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:15:04 EDT news679576502 Superconductors (materials that conduct electricity without resistance) have fascinated physicists for more than a century. While conventional superconductors are well understood, a new class of materials known as topological superconductors has attracted intense interest in recent years. /news/2025-10-superconductivity-distorts-crystal-lattice-topological.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Thu, 09 Oct 2025 11:32:03 EDT news679228321 A new metal-organic framework (MOF), APF-80, enables the crystalline sponge method to capture and analyze nucleophilic compounds. Alkaloids, a diverse group of biologically active compounds, usually damage MOF crystals and resist study. By incorporating multiple structural motifs, these guests are encapsulated inside APF-80, which allows high-quality crystallographic data collection. This development opens new possibilities for structural analysis, advancing drug development and biochemistry. /news/2025-10-analysis-alkaloids-metal-framework.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:42:04 EDT news678969721 The future of computing lies in the surprising world of quantum physics, where the rules are much different from the ones that power today's devices. Quantum computers promise to tackle problems too complex for even the fastest supercomputers running on silicon chips. To make this vision real, scientists around the world are searching for new quantum materials with unusual, almost otherworldly properties. /news/2025-10-extreme-pressure-honeycomb-crystal-quantum.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:33:04 EDT news678533581 You probably learned in high school chemistry class that core electrons don't participate in chemical bonding. /news/2025-09-core-electron-bonding-require-extreme.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:52:36 EDT news678462753 Machine-learning models can speed up the discovery of new materials by making predictions and suggesting experiments. But most models today only consider a few specific types of data or variables. Compare that with human scientists who work in a collaborative environment and consider experimental results, the broader scientific literature, imaging and structural analysis, personal experience or intuition, and input from colleagues and peer reviewers. /news/2025-09-ai-driven-blends-literature-robotics.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:34:05 EDT news678029641 Despite being one of the most familiar substances on Earth, water holds many secrets that scientists are still working to understand. When confined to extremely small spaces—such as within certain proteins, minerals, or artificial nanomaterials—water behaves in ways that are drastically different from its bulk liquid form. /news/2025-09-deep-unique-behavior-confined.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 22 Sep 2025 08:45:04 EDT news677749502 Smoke-drying mummification of human remains was practiced by hunter-gatherers across southern China, southeast Asia and beyond as far back as 12,000 years ago, my colleagues and I report in new research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. /news/2025-09-year-mummies-reveal-world-earliest.html Archaeology Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:43:04 EDT news677238182 A study led by University of Oxford and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers has uncovered how exposure to hydrogen atoms dynamically alters the internal structure of stainless steel. The findings reveal that hydrogen allows internal defects in steel to move in ways not normally possible—which can lead to unexpected failure. /news/2025-09-3d-real-imaging-hydrogen-effect.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:00:02 EDT news676571101 Researchers at National Taiwan University designed a graphene oxide biochar TiO2 nanocomposite that combines adsorption capacity with superior photocatalytic activity. With strong material characterization and optoelectronic properties, it offers a novel and sustainable solution for antibiotic removal from livestock wastewater. /news/2025-09-reusable-nanocomposite-adsorption-photocatalysis-advanced.html Nanomaterials Mon, 08 Sep 2025 12:16:03 EDT news676552561 Researchers Shinjiro Takano, Yuya Hamasaki, and Tatsuya Tsukuda of the University of Tokyo have successfully visualized the geometric structure of growing gold nanoclusters in their earliest stages. During this process, they also successfully grew a novel structure of elongated nanoclusters, which they named gold quantum needles. /news/2025-09-gold-quantum-needles-sharpen-imaging.html Nanomaterials Fri, 05 Sep 2025 00:00:02 EDT news676196521 Just one year after NREL materials science researchers Matthew Hautzinger and Sage Bauers met to exchange notes on underexplored materials in nanotechnology, their synthesis of promising Zintl-phase quantum dots is attracting attention with its bright photoluminescent glow, chemical stability, and Earth-abundant ingredients. /news/2025-09-built-brilliance-zintl-phase-quantum.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 04 Sep 2025 09:14:04 EDT news676196041 A team of Johns Hopkins researchers is using an innovative X-ray imaging approach to reveal how compression reshapes the tiny spaces and stresses within sandstone—findings that could predict how this common rock used for fuel reservoirs behaves under deep subterranean pressure. The results appear in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. /news/2025-08-3d-ray-reveals-grains-stress.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 Aug 2025 17:13:04 EDT news675015181 Our remarkable ability to perform complex tasks—such as thinking, observing, and touch—stems from proteins, the tiny nanometer-sized molecules in the body. Despite decades of research, our understanding of the structure and function of such molecular machines within the cellular environment remains limited. /news/2025-08-ngstrm-scale-optical-microscopy-deciphers.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Thu, 21 Aug 2025 11:43:03 EDT news674995382 Most metals found in nature are actually in their oxide forms. To extract those metals for use in critical applications—ranging from infrastructure such as bridges and buildings to advanced technologies like airplanes, semiconductors or even quantum materials—those oxides must be reduced with gases. /news/2025-08-hydrogen-greener-faster-metal-production.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:55:06 EDT news674913302 Researchers at The University of Osaka have discovered a new type of chiral symmetry breaking (CSB) in an organic crystalline compound. /news/2025-08-scientists-phenomenon-chiral-symmetry.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:16:04 EDT news674828162 The ability to move electron-hole pairs—called excitons—in desired directions is important for generating electricity and creating fuels. This happens naturally in photosynthesis, making it a source of inspiration to researchers innovating optoelectronic devices. /news/2025-08-evidence-hyperbolic-exciton-polaritons.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:14:44 EDT news674392475 Researchers with the schools of science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) are exploring new ways to manipulate matter with light to unlock a new generation of computer chips, photovoltaic cells and other advanced materials. /news/2025-08-material-properties-reveals-atomic-nanocrystals.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:19:04 EDT news674230741 Large metal surfaces coated with precisely formed nanostructures have so far remained in the realm of fantasy. The obstacle standing in the way of their production seemed fundamental, as it resulted from the presence of crystal grains in metals: their boundaries disrupted the growth of the nanostructures. At the Institute of Nuclear Â鶹ÒùÔºics of the PAS, using titanium and its oxide by way of example, it has been proven that this obstacle can be overcome. /news/2025-08-titanium-oxide-nanostructuring-transcends-boundaries.html Nanomaterials Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:06:04 EDT news673787161 Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that the size of catalytic nanoparticles determines how their shape and structure transform during chemical reactions. With insights into the nanoparticles' atomic-scale behavior as they convert carbon dioxide into useful fuel—and a better understanding of how structural changes impact catalytic performance—researchers are newly positioned to design more effective catalysts for industrial applications. /news/2025-08-tiny-catalytic-particles-carbon-dioxide.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 07 Aug 2025 07:46:06 EDT news673771558 Ever wondered how a delicate plant root can push its way through hard ground? It's a feat of engineering happening beneath our feet. /news/2025-08-nature-underground-roots-harvests-drought.html Plants & Animals Agriculture Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:58:05 EDT news673700281 Researchers at Kumamoto University and Nagoya University have developed a new class of two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) using triptycene-based molecules, marking a breakthrough in the quest to understand and enhance the physical properties of these promising materials. The work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. /news/2025-08-high-quality-crystals-enable-insights.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Fri, 01 Aug 2025 09:41:04 EDT news673260062 Template-assisted synthesis dramatically improves the yield of functionalized oligophenylene cages, report researchers from Japan. /news/2025-07-template-chemistry-efficiently-functionalized-oligophenylene.html Materials Science Fri, 25 Jul 2025 06:47:24 EDT news672644839 Despite natural evidence indicating sulfur's importance and efficiency as a catalyst for critical redox reactions, including hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen to molecule) and dehydrogenation (its opposite), chemists have struggled to manage the enzyme's complexity and fragility at scale. /news/2025-07-sulfur-nanostructures-boosts-catalytic-efficiency.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:20:07 EDT news672585060 Every year, thousands of new materials are created, yet many never reach their full potential because their applications aren't immediately obvious—a challenge University of Toronto researchers aim to address using artificial intelligence. /news/2025-07-ai-applications-newly-materials.html Materials Science Thu, 24 Jul 2025 08:26:13 EDT news672564367 The secret to how steel hardens and shape-memory alloys snap into place lies in rapid, atomic-scale shifts that scientists have struggled to observe in materials. Now, Cornell researchers are revealing how these transformations unfold, particle by particle, through advanced modeling techniques. /news/2025-07-visualize-crystal-phase-particle-simulations.html Materials Science Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:11:58 EDT news672505912 When the first astronauts walked on the moon as part of the Apollo Program, the concept of lunar habitats ceased being the stuff of science fiction and became a matter of scientific study. With several space agencies planning on sending crewed missions to the moon in the coming decade, these plans have become the subject of scientific interest again. Structures that will enable a "sustained program of lunar science and development" is the long-term aim of NASA's Artemis Program. China and the ESA have similar plans with the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and the Moon Village. /news/2025-07-lunar-base-dome-crater-regolith.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:00:01 EDT news671793590 Imagine going through a surgery where the doctor proposes the use of a temporary implant that dissolves by itself with time in the human body, thereby avoiding a painful second surgery. As great as that would sound, the challenges are plenty when it comes to designing an implant that has mechanical properties close to that of the human bone, is biocompatible and degrades at an appreciable rate till the bone heals. /news/2025-07-retarding-corrosion-magnesium-alloy-polymer.html Polymers Materials Science Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:07:42 EDT news671443656 Canadians may think they're intimately familiar with ice in all its forms, but there is one kind that most have probably never heard of. Clathrate hydrates are tiny crystalline cages of ice that can trap other gases or liquids inside them. /news/2025-07-ice-compound-pipeline-safety-carbon.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:22:03 EDT news671124121