Scientists win chemistry Nobel for discoveries about mirrored molecules that led to many drugs
Scientists Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop…
Nobel winner Halzen says years of October 'misery' finally over
Physicist Francis Halzen has an impressively long list of academic accolades—but every October, as the Nobel Prize rolled around, his failure to bag the biggest award of them all …
Nearly 10,000 mapped reactions reveal overlooked steps in CO₂-to-fuel conversion
Scientists are increasingly exploring carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrogenation—where CO₂ reacts with hydrogen over a catalyst to produce products like methanol—to convert CO₂ into usefu…
Crystal alignment explains why magnesium alloy plates resist ballistic impacts better in one direction
Magnesium (Mg) alloys offer a pathway to lighter, more efficient aerospace and defense structures because of their low density, high specific strength and excellent damping capaci…
Chernobyl particles reveal unexpectedly stable nuclear fuel after 40 years
Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive …
Tetrahedral iron can help clays exchange electrons about ten times faster
Smectites are clay minerals that can contain large amounts of structural iron. Unlike iron oxides, they do not dissolve when their iron is reduced, so they can be reduced and reox…
X-ray technique reveals how quantum materials respond to laser pulses in real time
Creating a quantum device often begins by intentionally damaging a crystal. Scientists fire an ultrafast laser pulse into a material, knocking atoms out of place and leaving behin…
New chip-based frequency combs demonstrate potential for portable atomic clocks
The world would look radically different without rulers and measuring tapes that fit into a pocket. Carpenters, fashion designers and engineers rely on these trusty tools to check…
Blue-light labeling uncovers unexpected protein partners of folded DNA structures
DNA can be more than just a double helix. When four strands are folded into a compact bundle, they form a G-quadruplex (G4). These bundles form in guanine-rich regions across the …
A 2-in-1 approach captures toxic metals and recovers rare earth elements from wastewater
We generally throw away a broken camera lens, earphones or an old phone that has stopped working and is beyond repair because they seem useless when they no longer function. Howev…
What happens when food-safety chemicals react with food?
Following the major Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce, consumers might assume that produce labeled "triple-washed" offers greater protection from foodborne illness. Bu…
Heavy fermions emerge at an atomic-layer interface, unlocking new ways to design quantum materials
A research team led by the University of Osaka has directly observed, for the first time, an unusual heavy-fermion state forming at the boundary between a one-atom-thick material …
Can a passing black hole disturbance leave a trace in Hawking radiation?
Black holes, despite their extreme nature, are described by surprisingly few basic parameters: their mass, charge and spin. Two black holes may have formed for completely differen…
Molecular complexity as a signature of life
An abundance of complex molecules has been proposed as a universal signature of life.
Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in physics for work on high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin
Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and his discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical orig…
Atomic motion could help push solar cells beyond conventional limits
The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p–n junction, can persist even when a material's average crystal structure remain…
Quantum systems never quite forget where they came from
Even the most chaotic quantum systems keep a permanent mark of their own past—a "quantum birthmark"—that never fades. Researchers from Tampere University, Harvard University and T…
A novel path to fusion ignition: Heat first, then add fuel
For more than 70 years, fusion energy researchers have used a particular equation to judge whether a plasma would stay hot and dense enough—for long enough—to reach a point where …
Lightsaber-like plasma antenna uses laser-ionized air to transmit radio waves
Researchers have demonstrated a technique that uses a laser to produce a plasma beam antenna capable of transmitting radio waves. The article, "Laser-Induced-Plasma-Filament Anten…
Scientists uncover recurrent patterns within chaotic quantum behavior
Many complex quantum systems rapidly lose the recognizable patterns of their initial states as their components interact. To describe patterns of regular and chaotic motion in spe…
Giant fluctuations of focused light reveal hidden correlations in opaque materials
When light travels through a strongly scattering material, such as biological tissue or other disordered opaque media, it follows many different paths and produces a seemingly ran…
New reactor design improves plastic feedstock synthesis using oxygen and electricity
A "hidden variable" that can determine the success or failure of a chemical reaction has been found in the immediate vicinity of electrodes.
Reading hidden topology in light, even when energy leaks away
When I explain topology to students, I start with a knot in a rope. You can stretch it, twist it or shake it, but the knot stays until you cut the rope. Physicists have found that…
Visible light does not speed up water evaporation, rigorous experiments suggest
In recent experiments involving hydrogels and water droplets, researchers have proposed that exposure to visible light could make water evaporate faster without heating it. Howeve…