Findings show that radiation-induced chemistry may mitigate metal alloy corrosion in nuclear reactors cooled by molten salts High temperatures and ionizing radiation create extremely corrosive environments inside a nuclear reactor. To design long-lasting reactors, scientists must understand how radiation-induced chemical reactions impact structural materials. Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory recently performed experiments showing that radiation-induced reactions may help mitigate the corrosion of reactor metals in a new type of reactor…
Nitrate, pesticides, metals, plastic – agricultural soils often contain pollutants. But are there sustainable and climate-friendly ways to restore and promote soil health in agricultural land? Yes, says a research team from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). Specific plant species could be used as cover plants for phytoremediation, i.e. to relief agricultural land from adverse pollutant impacts. In their article published in Trends in Plant Sciences, the researchers summarise the results of more than 100 scientific studies and…
About 100 cells divide every second in our body. A key protein in cell division is a protein kinase termed Plk1, because it activates other proteins involved in this process. Plk1 is also overexpressed in many types of cancer. This makes it a promising target for cancer therapies. However, drugs that inhibit Plk1 have often proven ineffective. New findings by researchers led by Peter Lenart and Monica Gobran may help to improve therapeutic approaches. They discovered a previously unknown function…
The research team now believes that Aguas Zarcas is strong because it avoided collisions in space and did not have the cracks that weaken many meteorites. In the Pinball World of Asteroids, a Mudball Meteorite Avoided Collisions March 31, 2025, Mountain View, CA — In April 2019, rare primitive meteorites fell near the town of Aguas Zarcas in northern Costa Rica. In an article published online in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, an international team of researchers describe the…
A pan-Canadian team has developed a new way to quickly find personalized treatments for young cancer patients, by growing their tumours in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins. The team, led by researchers from the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is the first in Canada to combine these two techniques to identify and test a drug for a young patient’s tumour in time for their treatment. Their success in finding a new drug for the…
As part of its commitment to unraveling the universe’s mysteries through sustained support of the astrophysics community, the Flatiron Institute is securing the future of MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics), an open-source software suite that has transformed how researchers model the evolution of stars. As MESA’s creator, Bill Paxton, steps down, the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) is stepping up to support MESA’s need for ongoing maintenance and continued development. CCA has hired Philip Mocz as…
Brian Brown, PhD, Director of the Icahn Genomics Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He was honored for his seminal work in gene therapy and functional genomics, which has helped transform the fields and contributed to key advancements in medicine and biotechnology. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is one of the highest professional distinctions in the…
Timely follow-up colonoscopies can reduce the mortality rate from colorectal cancer, and patient navigators can play an important role in facilitating screening, according to researchers at the U of A Cancer Center A University of Arizona Health Sciences-led study found that patients are more likely to get colonoscopies following abnormal stool test results if patient navigators assist them through the process. The paper, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that 55% of patients who were assigned to a…
Mpox has the potential to become a significant global health threat if taken too lightly, according to scientists at the University of Surrey. In a letter published in Nature Medicine, researchers highlight how mpox – traditionally spread from animals to humans – is now showing clear signs of sustained human-to-human transmission. Mpox is a viral infection caused by a virus that belongs to the same family as smallpox. The virus can cause a painful rash, fever, and swollen glands and,…
Direct splitting: electrochemical process uses carbon dioxide to produce oxygen To mitigate global climate change, emissions of the primary culprit, carbon dioxide, must be drastically reduced. A newly developed process helps solve this problem: CO2 is directly split electrochemically into carbon and oxygen. As a Chinese research team reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie, oxygen could also be produced in this way under water or in space—without requiring stringent conditions such as pressure and temperature. Leafy plants are masters of…
Dr. William Murphy, a researcher at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been named the 2025 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Professor of the Year. Murphy is a National Academy of Sciences member and the James E. Womack University Professor of Genetics in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. He is also a Texas A&M University System Regents Professor and was recently appointed to lead a new Center for Comparative Genomics in animal genetics at Texas A&M….
Norah Saarman receives American Mosquito Control Association Research Fund grant to develop improved species identification method Morphology is the study of the form and structure of organisms, including their physical characteristics such as shape, size and arrangement of parts. Morphology is key to taxonomy, the science of classifying organisms, as scientists use morphology to identify and study species, as well as to explore evolutionary processes. Identifying species is challenging — even with large animals and plants, says Utah State University…
A new Intermountain Health study finds that peripheral artery disease, a condition that affects more than 10 million Americans over the age of 40, is often underdiagnosed and undertreated, with fewer women getting guideline-directed medical therapy than men. As a result, combined with this highly debilitating disease, patients with peripheral artery disease have a more than 50 percent chance of dying from the condition. Peripheral artery disease affects nearly 10 percent of the US population. It occurs when the arteries…
Plate temperature and water release can explain the occurrence of different types of earthquakes in Guerrera, Mexico. The Kobe University simulation study also showed that the shape of the Cocos Plate is responsible for a gap where earthquakes haven’t occurred for more than a century. The results are important for accurate earthquake prediction models in the region. Where one tectonic plate is pushed down by another, the resulting stress is released in various tectonic events. There are catastrophic megathrust earthquakes,…
Researchers have discovered an unexpected superconducting transition in extremely thin films of niobium diselenide (NbSe₂). Published in Nature Communications, they found that when these films become thinner than six atomic layers, superconductivity no longer spreads evenly throughout the material, but instead becomes confined to its surface. This discovery challenges previous assumptions and could have important implications for understanding superconductivity and developing advanced quantum technologies. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have made a surprising discovery about how superconductivity behaves…
A nearly complete specimen of Plesiopterys wildi from Germany provides fresh insights into plesiosaur diversity and regional specialization A newly described plesiosaur fossil from southern Germany is providing crucial evidence about the diversification of these ancient marine reptiles during the Early Jurassic. Published in PeerJ Life and Environment, the study details the discovery and analysis of an exceptionally well-preserved Plesiopterys wildi specimen, which offers new clues about the evolution and geographic distribution of plesiosaurs in Europe nearly 180 million years…
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