Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The gently curving stellar jets are the outflow from young stars, and astronomers suspect their sidewinding appearances are caused by the gravitational attraction of companion stars. These crystal-clear observations were made using the Gemini South telescope’s adaptive optics system, which helps astronomers counteract the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence.

A tool called quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) lets scientists identity bacteria in a community and their demographic data. In a new qSIP study, scientists found that in many soil environments just a few types of bacteria use more than half of the available carbon. The results will help scientists focus future research on key soil functions such as carbon cycling.

A recently published study led by University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa researchers brought together experts from the fields of oceanography, genetics, ecology, fisheries biology, and social sciences to develop unprecedented insights into the natural and commercial flow of fish.

While the Omicron variant continues to infect people around the world, researchers at the University of Missouri have identified the highly prevalent, specific mutations that are causing the Omicron variant’s high rate of infection. The findings help explain how the new variant can escape pre-existing antibodies present in the human body, either from vaccination or naturally from a recent COVID-19 infection.

A program within the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has been recognized as the nation’s leading educator of high school agriculture teachers.