A research team led by Professor Jin Yong Lee from the Department of Chemistry of Sungkyunkwan University, with co-first author HyoungChul Ham, and in collaboration with research teams from Korea University and the National University of Singapore, has developed a next-generation phototherapeutic agent, "NDI-COE." This agent induces pyroptosis (inflammatory cell death) in hypoxic tumor tissues by directly oxidizing intracellular water. [...]
Urea is an extremely important chemical, especially for fertilizers. But, making urea is energy intensive and relies heavily on fossil fuels. However, new findings from Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology have highlighted new ways to produce urea electrochemically, using electricity and waste gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NO) instead. [...]
Researchers have demonstrated the first "all-in-one" cocatalyst for photocatalytic overall water splitting, a breakthrough that could simplify the production of clean hydrogen fuel. The discovery marks an important step toward practical technologies that use sunlight and water to generate hydrogen, a key energy carrier expected to play a major role in building a decarbonized and sustainable society. [...]
Designing molecules is one of chemistry's most complex challenges. From life-saving drugs to advanced materials, each compound requires a precise sequence of reactions. Planning these steps demands both technical knowledge and strategic insight, making it a task that often relies on years of experience. [...]
A study led by Wageningen University & Research shows that human interventions have significantly changed tides in river estuaries over the past centuries. In many regions around the world, the difference between high and low tide has increased, and the tidal wave is moving inland faster. These changes often appear to have a greater impact than the effects of sea-level rise. [...]
DNA does not float freely in the cell. Instead, it is wrapped around histone proteins to form structures called nucleosomes. These histones carry numerous chemical modifications that act as molecular signals, controlling how tightly the DNA is packaged and which genes are active. During cell division, this DNA-histone complex—known as chromatin—must be further condensed into compact, rod-shaped chromosomes. Histone modifications play a key role in this process: They change significantly during condensation and regulate the conversion of chromatin. [...]
A new article published in Science argues that governments should adopt three integrated energy demand goals by 2035, warning that climate policy will fall short unless it focuses not only on how energy is produced, but also on how it is used. [...]
Researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have developed a vaccine approach that shows promise in protecting against highly pathogenic bird flu, demonstrating strong efficacy in both mice and cattle. Avian influenza (H5N1) has disrupted agricultural systems globally, leading to the culling of more than 166 million commercial poultry birds in the United States since 2022. In 2024, the virus spread to dairy cattle—an unprecedented interspecies transfer—and subsequently caused illness in about 70 farm workers with close contact to infected animals. [...]
During the development of marine organisms—from fertilization through to juvenile stages—it is often observed that the eggs released into the water column are initially supplied with only a small fraction of the energy they require. The remaining reserves needed for growth must be obtained from the environment through filtering food—like phytoplankton—from the water column. This strategy of providing many eggs with only a small amount of energy each often leads to the loss of almost all potential offspring. [...]
Researchers have developed a powerful new tool that can track how microbes spread between people with unprecedented precision, offering new ways to prevent infections and improve treatments in the future. The research, published April 24 in Nature Microbiology, describes how the new tool, called TRAnsmision Clustering of Strains (TRACS), uses genomics to distinguish between closely related strains of microbes. [...]
One of the biggest challenges in cancer research is understanding why some tumor cells become especially aggressive, invasive and resistant to treatment. Scientists have increasingly linked these dangerous traits to polyploid cancer cells—cells with extra sets of chromosomes—but exactly how those extra chromosomes help tumors spread has remained unclear. [...]
As the U.S. economy becomes more consolidated, the strategic decisions of senior leaders at leading companies carry ever-greater weight. A lot is riding on how these companies are run, yet in most cases, their day-to-day decision-making remains obscure. But the banking industry is an exception. As Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at George Mason University, notes, "Because the banking industry is heavily regulated, it allows us to have access to subsidiary banks' financial information. We can observe how much money parent companies take from each subsidiary, as well as the internal capital allocation between subsidiaries by headquarters." [...]
A team of astrophysicists from Nanjing University and University of Bonn have demonstrated that, rather than being random, the mass of new stars born inside a star cluster is actually governed by a defined process of self-regulation. Their work has been published in the journal Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics. [...]
Carbon nanotubes are one technology that many observers believe hasn't quite lived up to the extreme hype that surrounded them when they first appeared on the scene in the late 1990s. At that time, much was made of their extraordinary electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, with predictions that they would revolutionize materials science, electronics, and daily life. But could we be closer to realizing some of that promise? [...]
A research team has developed a high-efficiency electrochemical system that simultaneously produces hydrogen and value-added chemicals using glycerol, a low-cost, abundant byproduct of biodiesel production. The findings are published in Joule. [...]
For observers on Earth, the sun appears as a bright, familiar disk—but what we see is only half the story. Like the moon, one half of the sun is permanently hidden from our direct view: the far side beyond the visible solar limb. Yet, activity brewing there can eventually turn toward Earth, sometimes unleashing solar flares and eruptions capable of disrupting human technology. [...]
Imagine your favorite sunny beach. Anywhere will do. You look out and see the ocean stretching to the horizon. To a glaciologist, that view is not just water; it's melted ice. Our new study shows that the best case sea-level rise scenarios may now be out of reach. The work is published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. [...]
Messier 104, nicknamed the Sombrero Galaxy, is a popular target for amateur observing and astronomical research. Its recognizable extended halo, as well as a faint stellar stream, are captured in exquisite detail in this image from the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. [...]
The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has detected PeV (1015 eV) gamma-ray emission from a pulsar wind nebula powered by PSR J1849-0001 in the constellation Aquila, marking the discovery of a new PeVatron and posing a challenge to the classical theory of particle acceleration in pulsar wind nebulae. [...]
Using the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), astronomers have observed a nearby young open cluster known as NGC 1647. Results of the new observations, presented in a paper published April 13 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver essential information regarding the properties of this cluster. [...]
A study by University of Wollongong (UOW) physicist Dr. Enbang Li has demonstrated that gravity can subtly influence the behavior of light, a breakthrough that could underpin future technologies for monitoring groundwater, tracking glacier melt, locating mineral deposits and detecting underground changes linked to volcanic activity and carbon storage. [...]
An international team of academics led by Professor Garrick Allen at the University of Glasgow has successfully recovered 42 lost pages from one of the world's most important early New Testament manuscripts: Codex H. [...]
Even after fires, severe droughts, and windstorms, the vegetation in degraded Amazonian forests demonstrates a high capacity for regeneration, including tree species. However, recovery occurs under new ecological conditions, resulting in a loss of diversity and increased vulnerability to new disturbances. [...]
An international team of researchers has produced complete, gap-free genome sequences for six peanut varieties, providing a comprehensive blueprint for future peanut breeding and improvement strategies. [...]
The detection and study of isotopes, atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons, could expand the scope of physics research and enable new scientific discoveries. So far, rare isotopes have been primarily detected using a technique known as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), which accelerates atoms, to then measure their mass and charge. [...]
The El Niño weather phenomenon, which pushed global temperatures to record highs the last time around, is expected to return in mid-2026, the UN said Friday. [...]
As Earth shifts to climates not seen for several hundred thousand years, we may need to look at ancient environments for clues about what could happen next. [...]
A study has provided new evidence of beavers' expansion into the Canadian Arctic by dating the changes they have made to the tundra landscape as they spread northward. Published in the journal Ecosphere, the research combines tree-ring analysis, or dendrochronology, with satellite imagery of surface water to pinpoint the spread of the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories. [...]
New research shows that lower-intensity management of coconut palm plantations can sustain, or even increase, crop yields while improving soil health. The new approach, published in Plants, People, Planet, reduces harmful pathogens and promotes beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, providing a practical model for more sustainable tropical agriculture. [...]
Trying to find a whale song in the ocean is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But now, UNSW Sydney researchers say they've trained a model, with just a single case study, to find blue whale songs in recordings that span across decades and entire ocean basins. [...]