Researchers have found a way to use solar energy to power a key chemical reaction that drives many manufacturing industries. This new method can significantly reduce the energy required to run these operations, eliminate harsh oxidizing byproducts and minimize carbon emissions.
Olefin epoxidation is not a process many are familiar with, but the epoxide chemicals it produces are the backbone of the textile, plastic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. However, the current industry-standard process uses harsh peroxides to facilitate oxidation reactions, which are difficult to dispose of safely and emit carbon dioxide.
Water can be used as an oxidant instead of peroxides, but H2O bonds are difficult to break, requiring high-temperature conditions, making it highly energy-intensive and further contributing to CO2 emissions.
By changing the physical structure of gold at the nanoscale, researchers can drastically change how the material interacts with light—and, as a result, its electronic and optical properties. This is shown by a study from Umeå University published in Nature Communications.
Gold plays a crucial role in modern advanced technology thanks to its unique properties. New research now demonstrates that changing the material’s physical structure—its morphology—can fundamentally enhance both its electronic behavior and its ability to interact with light.
“This might make it possible to improve the efficiency of chemical reactions such as those used in hydrogen production or carbon capture,” says Tlek Tapani, one of the leading researchers behind the study and doctoral student at the Department of Physics.
With a new electrochemical synthesis via an electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), achieving carbon-free ammonia production is closer to reality through work from Drs. Abdoulaye Djire and Perla Balbuena, chemical engineering professors at Texas A&M University, and graduate students David Kumar and Hao En Lai. A topic outlined in their recent paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society introduces NRR, which produces ammonia in a cleaner and simpler way by using renewable electricity.
The research branches off of the team’s previous work, where they looked further into enabling two-dimensional materials in renewable energy.
“The current process of making ammonia is energy intensive and emits a lot of carbon dioxide, so if you can make ammonia electrochemically, then you can avoid these two negative effects,” Djire said. “During the electrochemical NRR process, water provides the hydrogen atoms, which combine with nitrogen from the air to form ammonia, all powered by electricity.”
Using the Baryons Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) spectrograph, astronomers have discovered five new carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the first time such stars have been identified in this galaxy. The discovery was reported in a paper published January 15 on the arXiv pre-print server.
Metal-poor stars are rare objects, as only a few thousand stars with iron abundances [Fe/H] below-2.0 have been discovered to date. Expanding the still-short list of metal-poor stars is of high importance for astronomers, as such objects have the potential to improve our knowledge of the chemical evolution of the universe.
Observations show that a significant fraction of these stars exhibit a large overabundance of carbon; therefore, they are known as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have discovered how tumors disable immune “gatekeeper” cells that alert the rest of the immune system to the presence of cancer—and how restoring their energy production can improve immunotherapy. Dendritic cells activate the cytotoxic immune cells that destroy cancer. The researchers found that tumors reduce dendritic cell function by decreasing their mitochondrial fitness, thus preventing formation of the anticancer immune response.
The results, published in Science, also show that boosting mitochondrial function in dendritic cells enhances antitumor immune activity and strengthens the efficacy of existing immunotherapies.
Dendritic cells alert and activate tumor-killing immune cells as a critical part of anticancer immune response. However, within the nutrient-sparse tumor microenvironment (the complex mixture of chemicals, cells and other factors near cancer cells), dendritic cells progressively lose their energy-producing mitochondrial activity. That loss drives dendritic cell dysfunction and weakens the body’s immune defenses against cancer.
Do you believe alien life could be completely unlike anything we’ve ever imagined? In this Science Documentary, we explore forms of life that may not need light, oxygen, or even a recognizable body—glowing through chemistry, drifting like gel in endless darkness, or existing as silent, stone-like structures. This Science Documentary follows the latest discoveries as telescopes probe distant worlds for signs of life. And closer to home, beneath thick ice, hidden oceans may already hold the first alien organisms humanity could reach. Join this Science Documentary as we challenge everything we think life should be. 1:04 The Nearest Life – Europa 4:30 Ocean Worlds – Life Without Light 8:30 Tidally Locked Worlds 12:41 Life in the Atmosphere – Creatures That Never Touch the Ground 15:23 Extreme Gravity – When the Shape of Life Is Rewritten by an Invisible Force 19:11 Non-Carbon Life – When Biology Moves Beyond Our Definition 23:04 The Fermi Paradox – If They Are Everywhere… Why Do We See No One? 26:37 Conclusion.
Welcome to WUFO, your space documentary channel dedicated to both education and entertainment. WUFO explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth.
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Whether you’re passionate about astronomy, planetary science, or simply love exploring the cosmos, WUFO channel offers engaging journeys that expand your mind and spark your imagination.
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Superconductivity—the ability of a material to conduct electricity without any energy loss to heat—enables highly efficient, ultra-fast electronics essential for advanced technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, particle accelerators and, potentially, quantum computers. New research has now revealed that iron telluride (FeTe), a compound composed of the chemical elements iron and tellurium and long thought to be an ordinary magnetic metal, is in fact a superconductor. The researchers found that hidden excess iron atoms induce the material’s magnetism, and removing these atoms allows electricity to flow with zero resistance.
Two papers describing the research, both led by Penn State Professor of Physics Cui-Zu Chang, were published back-to-back today (April 1) in the journal Nature. The first paper focuses on how to “switch on” superconductivity in FeTe, while the second paper reveals a new kind of “quantum dance,” where superconductivity interacts with the material’s atomic structure when a different top layer is added, allowing researchers to tune its behavior.
“Unlike the well-known iron-based superconductor iron selenide (FeSe), FeTe has long been considered a magnetic metal without superconductivity, despite having an almost identical crystal structure,” Chang said. “It has remained a mystery why FeTe doesn’t share this important property.”
Hidden features uncovered in X-ray signals are set to overturn a key scientific theory and fundamentally change how X-rays are interpreted across fields of physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, new research reveals. Researchers say the discovery can help scientists measure X-rays more precisely and reliably, and improve our understanding of common materials, from battery materials to biological proteins.
X-ray science focuses on the unique energy signatures of atoms. These include the specific X-rays emitted when electrons transition into inner shells—the strongest of which are known as K-alpha lines—as well as distinct energy thresholds at which atoms begin to strongly absorb X-rays.
For more than 50 years, the entire field has relied on the assumption that a core parameter in the equation used to model X-ray absorption spectra, known as the standard XAFS equation, is fixed and does not change.
Astronomers have discovered that a giant planet, WASP-189b, echoes the composition of its host star, providing the first direct evidence of a foundational concept in astrobiology. This discovery was achieved through the first-ever simultaneous measurement of gaseous magnesium and silicon in a planet’s atmosphere. The team used the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory. The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Almost 320 light-years away in the Libra constellation lies WASP-189b, an exoplanet known as an ultra-hot Jupiter (UHJ). UHJs have temperatures high enough to vaporize rock-forming elements like magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), and iron (Fe), offering a rare opportunity to see these elements using spectroscopy—the technique of breaking up light into its component wavelengths to identify the presence of chemicals.
An international team of astronomers led by Jorge Antonio Sanchez, a graduate student at Arizona State University (ASU), observed WASP-189b using the high-resolution Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS) when it was mounted on the Gemini South telescope in Chile. This powerful instrument allowed them to simultaneously measure the magnesium and silicon content of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.
Meteor impacts may have helped spark life on Earth, creating hot, chemical-rich environments where the first living cells could take shape, according to research integrated by a recent Rutgers University graduate. Shea Cinquemani, who earned her bachelor’s degree from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in May 2025, has published a paper based on research she started during the spring of her senior year.
“No one knows, from a scientific perspective, how life could have been formed from an early Earth that had no life,” said Shea Cinquemani, who earned her bachelor’s degree in marine biology and fisheries management from the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in May 2025. “How does something come from nothing?”
Cinquemani is the lead author of a review, published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, examining where life may have first formed on Earth. The paper focuses on hydrothermal vents, places where hot, mineral-rich water flows through rock and emerges into surrounding water, creating the chemical conditions and energy gradients needed for complex reactions.
