EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Dec-2025 17:11 ET (2-Dec-2025 22:11 GMT/UTC)

2-Dec-2025

UC Irvine-led study uses social media for real-time monitoring of heat experiences in state

University of California - Irvine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

California heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense, and not all residents have access to air conditioning.

Researchers developed a powerful AI-based technique to identify vulnerable communities most in need of mitigation efforts, which could improve heat equity.

The study was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Journal: Weather Climate and Society
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

2-Dec-2025

Tracking forever chemicals across food web shows not all isomers are distributed equally

University at Buffalo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The results suggest that as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) moves across the food web — from water to fish to birds — its linear isomers become more prevalent than branched isomers.

Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency

2-Dec-2025

Plant ‘first responder’ cells warn neighbors about bacterial pathogens

Purdue University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Purdue University researchers found that a subset of epidermal cells in plant leaves serves as early responders to chemical cues from bacterial pathogens and communicate this information to neighbors through a local traveling wave of calcium ions. The properties of this local wave differ from those generated when epidermal cells are wounded, suggesting that distinct mechanisms are used by plants to communicate specific types of pathogen attack, the team reported Dec. 2 in Science Signaling.

Journal: Science Signaling
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

2-Dec-2025

Epigenetics linked to high-altitude adaptation in Andes

Emory University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Epigenetics, or how genes are expressed in response to the environment, may play a bigger role in longstanding human adaptation than previously realized.

Journal: Environmental Epigenetics
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation

1-Dec-2025

New global guidelines streamline environmental microbiome research

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microbiomes, the communities of microorganisms that live in and around us, play a vital role in everything from human health to soil fertility and climate regulation. But studying these tiny life forms, especially outside the human body, presents a major challenge: how do scientists share complex data across such a wide range of environments and disciplines? To help solve this problem, a team of nearly 250 researchers from 28 countries has developed a new set of guidelines called STREAMS.

Journal: Nature Microbiology
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

1-Dec-2025

Artificial tendons give muscle-powered robots a boost

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MIT engineers developed artificial tendons that could connect robotic skeletons and biological muscle tissue. Made from tough and flexible hydrogel, the tendons could be used in various bio-hybrid robots.

Journal: Advanced Science
Funder: U.S. Department of Defense Army Research Office, MIT Research Support Committee, U.S. National Science Foundation

30-Nov-2025

Bat besties start to sound alike over time

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ever suddenly realize you had picked up certain words or ways of speaking from a close friend? It turns out that humans are far from the only animals who copy the sounds of their closest companions — a new study shows that vampire bats do, too. Research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that female vampire bats match the calls of those closest to them as they forge new friendships.

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

28-Nov-2025

Tulane study reveals how floods drive river movement amid shifting environmental patterns

Tulane University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new Tulane University study shows that the size and frequency of floods play a key role in how quickly rivers shift their course, with sandy banks moving more easily and muddy banks staying stable. Using data from the Mississippi and dozens of rivers worldwide, researchers found that increasingly extreme flood cycles could reshape waterways, affecting communities, infrastructure and regional planning.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: Yonsei University, U.S. National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation of Korea, U.S. Geological Survey

28-Nov-2025

Scientists develop plastics that can break down, tackling pollution

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a study published in Nature Chemistry, Rutgers chemist Yuwei Gu and a team of Rutgers scientists have shown that by borrowing a principle from nature, they can create plastics that break down under everyday conditions without heat or harsh chemicals.

Journal: Nature Chemistry
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund

27-Nov-2025

Social media research tool can lower political temperature. It could also lead to more user control over algorithms.

Stanford University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A web-based method developed by a Stanford-led team was shown to mitigate political polarization on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by nudging antidemocratic and extremely negative partisan posts lower in a user’s feed. The tool, which is independent of the platform, has the potential to give users more say over what they see on social media.

Journal: Science
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence