Research announcements from universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Explore the stories, people and discoveries behind the headlines.
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Researchers found that biochar modified with phosphorus and magnesium reduced ammonia loss by 28% during composting and promoted the microbial activity needed to convert organic matter into stable humic substances. The approach could transform waste management into a more efficient source of soil amendments.
Read the releaseA 1,497-meter drill core from northeastern China has pinned the end of a key geomagnetic reversal to 121.26 million years ago, revealing that terrestrial ecosystems responded to a major oceanic anoxia event more than a million years after the oceans did.
Read the releaseA 3-centimeter fish from the Early Silurian of Chongqing is the oldest complete bony fish ever found, predating all previous fossils by millions of years. It and a second giant species are rewriting how we understand the shared ancestor of every bony vertebrate alive today.
Read the releaseAdding climate change to the national curriculum is the easy part. A new report from more than 40 professional bodies identifies ten specific systemic gaps - from exam design to teacher training to Ofsted inspections - standing between policy intent and classroom reality.
Read the releasePhotovoltaic cells work best cool. Thermophotovoltaic systems need intense heat. Combining them in a single solar device has always meant compromising one to serve the other. A new design from Zhejiang University resolves that conflict by literally splitting the incoming light.
Read the releasePaleontologists working near the Amazon have identified a new species of ancient tetrapod with a distinctively contorted lower jaw and sideways-pointing teeth built for grinding plants. At 275 million years old, Tanyka amnicola was already an evolutionary anachronism - the last survivor of a lineage considered extinct.
Read the releaseScripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego has received a $15 million grant from the Fund for Science and Technology (FFST). This support will expand observational capabilities into parts of the ocean where data has historically been sparse or nonexistent. The resulting insights will help scientists understand how the ocean is changing and what those changes mean for the planet. “Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is pushing boundaries for exploration and discovery across the global ...
Read the releaseA University of Leeds engineering study details a practical farm-scale biochar system that could reduce manure management emissions by 75% and sequester 350 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year - but at a carbon abatement cost of 226 pounds per tonne, the economics are currently unfavorable without policy support.
Read the releasePaleontologist Stephen Chester and colleagues have found Purgatorius fossils in Colorado's Denver Basin - the farthest south this early primate relative has ever been recorded. The discovery helps trace how primate ancestors spread across North America in the chaotic aftermath of the mass extinction event that ended the dinosaurs.
Read the releaseDuring the summer 2023 Canadian wildfires, ozone levels in New Jersey hit nearly four times their normal median. A new study finds that on those high-pollution days, stroke cases were more frequent, more severe, and more likely to involve bleeding in the brain.
Read the releaseA study spanning 2006 to 2019 found that a five-year drought in southeastern Connecticut caused ammonia-oxidizing archaea in a salt marsh to swing by 30,000-fold in abundance, with stability returning only after rainfall resumed.
Read the releaseA Michigan State University team found that Bornean fanged frogs, classified as a single species since 1838, actually consist of six or seven distinct genetic clusters. The finding illustrates a conservation dilemma: too few species classifications leave some populations unprotected, while too many can misallocate limited resources.
Read the releaseCarbon capture and storage sites expose subsurface safety valves to temperatures far colder than oil and gas wells produce. Southwest Research Institute retooled its testing facility with a liquid nitrogen cooling system and plug-and-play design, then helped write new API standards for the conditions.
Read the releaseA study across 25 UK salons by researchers from Bath, Cardiff, Oxford, and Southampton finds that hairdressers' long-term client relationships generate measurable influence on sustainability behavior, with 73% of clients saying they would alter haircare routines after eco-tips placed on salon mirrors prompted conversations.
Read the releaseA 10-year field study in Beijing's Tonghui and Qing Rivers, published in Water & Ecology, documents how upgrading a wastewater plant shifted nitrogen-cycling bacteria toward enhanced denitrification and triggered a 70% drop in nitrifier-to-denitrifier ratios, while viral communities maintained stable structure but altered their functional gene expression by up to 40%.
Read the releaseA DRI-led study of 71,000 atmospheric river storms in the Western U.S. and central Chile found that incorporating a 90-day antecedent precipitation proxy doubled the correlation between storm rank and flood outcome and raised hazardous storm detection by over 25%.
Read the releaseA 30-year circumpolar satellite study led by UC Irvine documents 12,820 sq km of Antarctic grounded ice loss, with Smith Glacier retreating 42 km, Thwaites 26 km, and a puzzling retreat on the Peninsula where warm ocean water is absent.
Read the releaseA PNAS study by University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers reveals that 88.5% of North America's known insect and arachnid species have no conservation status, with arachnids almost entirely absent from state protection lists and data skewed toward aquatic species.
Read the releaseA University of Illinois study using 15-year climate simulations across the Midwest finds agrivoltaic systems increase soybean yields by 6% in semi-arid regions but cut maize yields 24% in humid areas - with economic viability hinging on location, crop, and policy support.
Read the releaseA Jeonbuk National University study using the RICE-2010 economic-climate model projects 2.48C warming by 2300 under current national pledges - missing the 2C Paris target and leaving global climate damages at nearly US$19 trillion by 2200, versus US$15 trillion under a 1.5C-aligned pathway.
Read the releaseField measurements across 2,500 meters of elevation in China's Tianshan Mountains found grassland soils emit more nitrous oxide at higher, wetter elevations while forest soils emit less as temperatures drop. Different microbial communities drive the opposite patterns, with croplands producing by far the highest emissions.
Read the releaseResearchers reconstructed CO2 emissions from 324 Swedish wildfires using detailed field measurements and forest data, then compared results to six global fire models. One low-intensity fire region showed model underestimates by a factor of 14, suggesting global boreal wildfire carbon budgets are systematically undercounted.
Read the releaseA study of 20,115 fossil-fuel power plants across 92 democracies finds that countries with higher partisan hostility emit significantly more CO2 per unit of electricity, even after controlling for economic and regulatory differences.
Read the releaseA crystal-solvate pre-seeding method that controls nucleation at the buried interface of inverted perovskite solar cells achieved 23.15% efficiency in 49.91 cm2 mini-modules, with less than 3% efficiency loss versus small-area cells - addressing the scale-up challenge that has held back perovskite photovoltaics.
Read the releaseWhen Salmonella enterica encounters polystyrene nanoplastics from food packaging, it initially ramps up virulence genes and forms thicker biofilms. Prolonged exposure shifts the bacteria toward persistence mode - and early data suggest nanoplastics may promote antibiotic resistance.
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