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 ...

When environmental stress harms DNA, it can set off a cascade of failures linked to heart conditions, neurodegeneration, and chronic inflammation. A new chemical tool developed at UC Riverside interrupts that process, helping preserve DNA before the damage leads to disease. The study, published in the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, focused on mitochondrial DNA, which is separate from the DNA housed in a cell’s nucleus. While nuclear DNA contains the vast majority of the genetic code, mitochondria carry their own smaller genomes that are essential for ...

What if we could prevent people from developing obesity? The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to develop overweight or obesity by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective. By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, an international team of researchers has created a genetic test called a polygenic risk score (PGS) that predicts adulthood obesity already in early childhood. This finding could help to identify children ...

A new commentary published in Nature Communications by Dr James Bradley, Reader in Environmental Science at Queen Mary University of London, and his team reveals a dramatic and concerning shift in the Arctic winter. During a fieldwork campaign in Svalbard in February 2025, researchers encountered exceptionally high temperatures, widespread snowmelt, and blooming vegetation.  Svalbard, warming at six to seven times the global average rate, is at the forefront of the climate crisis, with winter ...

A new genetic analysis using data from over five million people has provided a clearer understanding of the risk of going on to live with obesity.  New research led by the Universities of Copenhagen and Bristol shows analysing genes at a young age may support early strategies to prevent obesity developing later in life. The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to become overweight or obese by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective. By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, ...

As far back as the 4th Century B.C., Aristotle marveled at the nimble gecko's ability to “run up and down a tree in any way, even with the head downwards.”  Its grippy toes, able to latch on to even the slipperiest surface with extraordinary force, have inspired everything from super glues to “Superman” climbing suits to sponges for soaking up environmental toxins. Now CU Boulder scientists have taken a cue from the reptile to develop a material able to stick to tumors inside the body, pumping out chemotherapy drugs for days. The technology, developed ...

Tracking race-specific rates of cancer incidence and mortality is important for identifying racial differences in these outcomes and for monitoring efforts aimed at achieving the highest level of health for all. Researchers have assessed how well US race data collection standards and their revisions have captured cancer burdens for various racial groups over the years. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Race data collection has followed recommendations from the US Office of ...

Immune responses rely on the efficient movement of immune cells within the complex and geometrically unpredictable three-dimensional tissues that make up our bodies. Recent research by the Sixt group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) unveils how immune cells use their cytoskeleton to exert forces on their surrounding environment to push their way through tissues. The findings were published in Nature Immunology. “Eww; what, inside of me?” A common response when Patricia Reis-Rodrigues, a PhD student in the Sixt group at ISTA, reveals ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Transitioning from diapers to the toilet is a major step for young children — and their parents. Now a new report shines a light on just how bumpy that journey can be. One in five parents say their child had potty anxiety during toilet training and another one in five say the process was harder than they expected, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Learning to use the toilet is a major step in a young child’s development and requires time, patience, and consistency,” said Mott Poll Co-Director and Mott pediatrician Susan Woolford, M.D. “Our ...

Accurate removal of tumors is the most critical aspect of cancer surgery, yet it remains a significant challenge in clinical practice. In breast cancer, for example, the positive margin rate—where cancer cells remain at the surgical boundary—can reach up to 35%, often requiring reoperation and increasing the risk of recurrence. Preoperative imaging or ultrasound is often insufficient to fully identify tumor boundaries, forcing surgeons to rely heavily on experience. These limitations highlight the urgent need for technologies that can provide real-time tumor visualization during surgery. A joint research team led by ...

Owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with poorer mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people. Published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their first smartphone at age 12 or younger were more likely to report suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, poorer emotional regulation, and low self-worth. The data also shows ...

Beneath the scales of Australia’s iconic monitor lizards (commonly known as goannas), scientists have discovered an unexpected secret: a hidden layer of bony skin structures known as osteoderms. These structures, which have been long overlooked, may hold the key to understanding how these ancient reptiles not only survived but thrived in one of the world’s harshest environments.  The findings, published today in the prestigious Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, mark the first large-scale global study of osteoderms in lizards and snakes. The international collaboration brought together researchers from Australia, Europe and the United States, who ...

University of Cambridge media release   Teenage diaries from Stalin’s Russia reveal boys’ struggles with love, famine and Soviet pressure to achieve   UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 US EDT ON SUNDAY 20TH JULY 2025 / 00:01 UK TIME (BST) ON MONDAY 21ST JULY 2025   Overlooked diaries written by teenage boys in pre-war Soviet Russia reveal relatable perspectives on love, lust, boredom, pressure to succeed and trying to fit in; but also experience of famine, exile and conscription ...

About The Study: This cross-sectional study of U.S. hospitals found that a widespread technology outage after a faulty cyber security software update on July 19, 2024, was associated with outages in patient-facing network services integral to care delivery. These findings suggest that internet measurement techniques may be useful for surveillance and study of critical digital health care infrastructure.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jeffrey L. Tully, MD, email jtully@health.ucsd.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.30226) Editor’s ...

Vaccination of pregnant women has been linked to a drop in newborns being admitted to hospital with a serious lung infection, research suggests. Researchers found the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, introduced across the UK in late summer 2024, led to a 72 per cent reduction in babies hospitalised with the virus if mothers were vaccinated. The findings are the first to show the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine in pregnant women in the UK. Uptake of the jab among pregnant women could help to limit the number of sick babies each winter, reducing hospital pressures, experts say. RSV is a common virus that causes coughs and colds but can lead to ...

JULY 2025 TIP SHEET Blood Cancer Expanding Donor Pool for Stem Cell Transplant Patients Blood cancer patients who have struggled to find a donor match for transplantation now have more options, according to new research from Sylvester. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that patients can achieve good outcomes with a partial match drawn from the national public donor registry when they are treated with the immune-suppressing drug cyclophosphamide. These findings should expand the donor pool for patients struggling to find a full match, said Antonio Jimenez Jimenez, M.D., physician-scientist and senior study author. Pap ...

Each year, numerous patients worldwide require surgical interventions that could benefit from the precision and safety offered by surgical robots. The standard approach for complex surgeries often involves traditional open or laparoscopic techniques, which may result in significant patient trauma and longer recovery times. In a study published in the manuscript "Current Application Status and Innovative Development of Surgical Robot," a team of researchers explores a new approach to enhance surgical outcomes through the use of surgical ...

Counterfeiting tops the list of organized crimes committed worldwide, raking in nearly half a trillion dollars in 2019. These illicit businesses impact consumers, workers, brand owners, state authorities, and the overall economy. For example, counterfeit luxury goods like handbags and watches are commonly sold to unsuspecting consumers and divert revenue from legitimate producers. Moreover, the proliferation of counterfeiting has fueled the advancement of other types of organized crimes, such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, and money laundering. In a new book, a Rutgers ...

Yellowstone, a popular tourist destination and namesake of an equally popular TV show, was the first-ever national park in the United States. And bubbling beneath it – to this day – is one of Earth’s most seismically active networks of volcanic activity. In a new study, published July 18 in the high impact journal Science Advances, Western engineering professor Bing Li and his collaborators at Universidad Industrial de Santander (Industrial University of Santander) in Colombia and the United States Geological Survey used machine learning to re-examine historical earthquake data from the Yellowstone caldera over a 15-year period. The team was able to retroactively detect ...

The first studies of the 28 March 2025 magnitude 7.8 Myanmar earthquake suggest that the southern portion of its rupture occurred at supershear velocity, reaching speeds of 5 to 6 kilometers per second. In their paper published in The Seismic Record, seismologists Lingling Ye, Thorne Lay and Hiroo Kanamori share new details about the devastating earthquake, which caused widespread and severe damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries such as Thailand, with more than 5,000 confirmed casualties. The earthquake ruptured about ...

Dramatic CCTV video of fault slip during a recent large earthquake in Myanmar thrilled both scientists and casual observers when it was posted to YouTube. But it was on his fifth or sixth viewing, said geophysicist Jesse Kearse, that he spotted something even more exciting. When Kearse and his colleague Yoshihiro Kaneko at Kyoto University analyzed the video more carefully, they concluded that it had captured the first direct visual evidence of curved fault slip. Earthquake geologists often observe curved slickenlines, the scrape marks created ...