A near-complete genomic framework of wild Oryza species now provides insights into the evolution of the genus and offers new avenues for crop improvement and conservation efforts[1]. The Oryza genus, containing related species of plants in the grass family, provides the world with one of the most important domesticated grain crops: rice. Oryza includes the Asian and African cultivated rice species (O. sativa and O. glaberrima), as well as 26 species of wild rice, which offer a rich, untapped source ...

Wastewater surveillance became a popular choice among public health officials looking to track rapid virus mutations and spread patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if there was a way to detect emerging viruses even faster — or to even sniff out new variants possibly before patients even realize they’re ill? A new UNLV-led study is moving that dream one step closer to reality by pairing wastewater sample surveillance with artificial intelligence. The results appear in the latest issue of the ...

The modulation of the surface structure of platinum-based single-atom alloys is crucial for improving the catalytic performance in propane dehydrogenation. The optimization of the surface structure of PtCu clusters was attained through regenerative treatment, which significantly improved the propylene yield and catalytic stability, thereby offering a viable strategy for the design of alloy catalysts applicable to various high-temperature dehydrogenation reactions.   A research team, directed by Prof. Guangxu Chen at South China University of Technology in Guangdong, China, recently published a study on the utilization of regenerative treatment ...

Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and the closest red supergiant to Earth. It has an enormous volume, spanning a radius around 700 times that of the Sun. Despite only being ten million years old, which is considered young by astronomy standards, it’s late in its life. Located in the shoulder of the constellation Orion, people have observed Betelgeuse with the naked eye for millennia, noticing that the star changes in brightness over time. Astronomers established that Betelgeuse has a main period of variability of around 400 days and a more extended secondary period of around six years. In 2019 and 2020, ...

Hollow, pumpkin-shaped molecules can efficiently separate valuable hydrocarbons from crude oil, KAUST researchers have shown[1]. These ‘molecular sieves’, known as cucurbiturils, could enable a more sustainable approach to producing raw materials for the chemicals industry. Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons vital for almost every aspect of life, from fuels to plastics. Cyclohexane, for example, is used in nylon production, but isolating it at sufficient purity typically involves multiple energy-intensive fractional distillation steps. The KAUST team has now developed an alternative separation strategy based on cucurbiturils, named for their ...

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique for probing molecular compositions and structures non-invasively. However, traditional NIR spectrometers are often bulky and expensive, limiting their applications in portable or resource-constrained settings. A team of researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) has addressed this challenge by developing a miniaturized NIR computational spectrometer using PbS quantum dots (QDs). Their work, published in Nano Research, demonstrates how finely-tuned QDs can achieve a spectral resolution of 1.5 nm, a significant improvement over previous works. Why is this study important? NIR ...

The efficacy of CAR-T cells in ablating solid tumors is significantly impeded by the densely packed tumor extracellular matrix (ECM). This physical barrier severely restricts CAR-T cell infiltration within the tumor, thereby inhibiting their immunogenicity and antitumor response. While combining CAR-T with hyaluronidase (HAase) to reduce ECM is apparent, the efficacy is limited because of low accumulation and penetration efficiency of HAase inside the tumor tissue.   A team of material scientists led by Xuesi Chen from Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials at Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry ...

With the rapid development of modern society and the increasing popularity of electronic equipment, electromagnetic wave pollution has become a serious problem. In order to solve this problem, the research and application of electromagnetic absorbing materials have been widely concerned. In recent years, the construction of heterogeneous absorbing materials with different components has become a major research focus. The heterogeneous structure formed by hard magnetic and soft magnetic materials can produce interfacial exchange coupling at the heterogeneous interface. However, there are few researches on soft and hard heterostructures ...

Alkaline water splitting has the advantages of low cost, long lifetime and ease of maintenance, and is widely applied commercially. However, the sluggish kinetics of HER inhibits the further development of alkaline water splitting. Though noble catalysts can greatly boost the process of HER, they are hard to meet the requirement of industrial production due to the high price and scarcity. Thus, it is urgent to develop low cost and highly efficient catalysts for alkaline water splitting.   A team of material scientists led by Qiang Wang and Shuang Yuan from Northeastern University in Shenyang, China recently ...

Key Point 1: advantages and applications of metal-free organic semiconductor photocatalytic H2O2 production This review comprehensively compares the advantages and limitations of methods for H2O2 production, such as the anthraquinone process, electrochemical, photoelectrochemical, piezoelectrochemical, and photochemical routes. It emphasizes the sustainability and safety of metal-free organic semiconductor photocatalytic H2O2 production, proposing from a unique perspective that developing novel surface reactions constitutes one of the most effective strategies for enhancing photocatalyst ...

Do These Two Cancer Drugs Have What It Takes to Beat Alzheimer’s?   A study comparing the gene expression signature of Alzheimer's disease with those elicited by 1,300 approved drugs found a combination of two cancer medications that could treat the most common form of dementia.  Scientists at UC San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes have identified cancer drugs that promise to reverse the changes that occur in the brain during Alzheimer’s, potentially slowing or even reversing its symptoms.  The study first analyzed how Alzheimer's disease altered gene expression in single cells in the human brain. Then, researchers looked for existing drugs that ...

Scientists have corrected gene mutations in mice causing an ultra-rare disease by editing DNA directly in the brain with a single injection, a feat with profound implications for patients with neurological diseases. In tests that also included patient derived cells, the cutting-edge technique not only fixed mutations causing alternating hemiplegia in childhood (AHC) — it also reduced symptoms and extended survival in mice that had AHC and were otherwise at risk of sudden death. The research, led by the Rare Disease Translational Center ...

Prime editing treats childhood brain disease in mice Scientists use a precise form of gene editing called prime editing to correct the most common genetic mutations that cause alternating hemiplegia of childhood, a rare and severe neurological disorder that begins in infancy.   July 21, 2025 (Cambridge, MA) — By the time they are a few months old, infants born with alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) begin experiencing terrifying episodes of paralysis and seizures, and will soon show developmental delays and intellectual disability. There is no cure or effective treatment for this rare genetic disease, but new research suggests a potential path to one. Researchers ...

About The Study: In this study of individuals with private insurance, patients faced high out-of-pocket costs (OOPCs) after an incident diagnosis of cancer, with patients with more advanced cancer having the highest OOPCs. Further research is needed to determine the clinical and financial effects of increased OOPCs for patients with cancer.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Liam Rose, PhD, email liamrose@stanford.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21575) Editor’s ...

What makes the human brain distinctive? A new study published July 21 in Cell identifies two genes linked to human brain features and provides a road map to discover many more. The research could lead to insights into the functioning and evolution of the human brain, as well as the roots of language disorders and autism. The newly characterized genes are found among the “dark matter” of the human genome: regions of DNA that contain a lot of duplicated or repeat sequences, making them difficult to study until recently. If assembling ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 21, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists conducted lab experiments to address a mystery about the origins of frozen hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Their results, published in the July 2025 issue of Planetary Science Journal, may help explain puzzling observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scientists studying the telescope data noticed elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide on Europa in unexpected areas. Decades of lab studies suggested higher concentrations ...

Some autistic teens often adopt behaviors to mask their diagnosis in social settings helping them be perceived — or “pass” — as non-autistic. For the first time, researchers are able to observe brain functions that differ in those who “pass as non-autistic,” which could lead to a better understanding of the cognitive toll of this kind of masking, and of how these individuals could be more effectively supported. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwaves, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute found that teens who pass as non-autistic ...

Popular GLP-1 drugs help many people drop tremendous amounts of weight, but the drugs fail to provide a key improvement in heart and lung function essential for long-term good health, University of Virginia experts warn in a new paper. The researchers emphasize that weight loss associated with GLP-1 drugs has many clear health benefits for people with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart failure, including improving blood-sugar control, short-term cardiorenal benefits and improvements in survival outcomes. But doctors may need to consider recommending exercise programs or develop other approaches, such as nutrition supplements or complementary medications, to help ...

A new high-resolution flood dataset, FloodPlanet, is enhancing satellite-based flood monitoring through more accurate training of deep learning models. By manually labeling inundation data from commercial satellites and aligning them with public sensor imagery, researchers improved flood detection accuracy by up to 15.6%. This work addresses critical limitations in current flood mapping and opens the door for more reliable global inundation response systems. Flooding affects more people globally than any other environmental hazard, yet accurate ...

Recent research shows that your brain doesn’t pay attention in one smooth stream—instead, it switches focus in quick bursts, about 8 times per second. This process, called “attentional sampling,” helps your brain deal with too much information by jumping back and forth between different things you're seeing. It’s kind of like your brain is taking rapid snapshots instead of watching a constant video. And when you need to focus on more than one thing, the rhythm splits to allow focusing on each one around 4 times ...

Photocatalysis, a technology that converts solar energy into chemical reactions, holds immense promise for addressing energy shortages and environmental pollution. However, traditional crystalline semiconductors face limitations in efficiency and stability. A groundbreaking review led by researchers from China Three Gorges University and Capital Normal University unveils how amorphous nanomaterials, which are lacking of long-range atomic order, could overcome these barriers and provide a new thought of advanced photocatalysis.  Published in Nano Research, the ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 21, 2025 —Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Dr. Sidney Chocron has been named a Ballistic Science Fellow by the International Ballistics Society. The honor is awarded to members who have made numerous contributions to ballistics science. Chocron specializes in the nonlinear response of materials under high strain rates. His work primarily focuses on unconventional tests and computer modeling of materials, such as his research studying the impact of foam and ice on the Space Shuttle thermal protection ...

Dr. Sung Mook Choi and his research team at the Energy & Environmental Materials Research Division of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) have successfully developed a highly durable non-precious metal-based hydrogen evolution catalyst for use in a direct electrolysis system employing waste alkaline water and anion exchange membranes (AEM). This breakthrough enables the production of clean hydrogen by directly utilizing alkaline wastewater generated from industrial processes. Notably, the developed catalyst was applied to a commercial-scale ...

Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral. “We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, ...

In the race to develop AI that understands complex images like financial forecasts, medical diagrams and nutrition labels — essential for AI to operate independently in everyday settings — closed-source systems like ChatGPT and Claude currently set the pace. But no one outside their makers knows how those models were trained or what data they used, leaving open-source alternatives scrambling to catch up.  Now, researchers at Penn Engineering and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) have developed a new approach to train open-source models: using AI to create scientific figures, charts and tables that teach other AI systems ...