For centuries, the process by which the cinchona tree produces its valuable alkaloids, including the life-saving quinine used to treat malaria, was shrouded in mystery. Now, a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, together with colleagues from the University of Georgia, has uncovered the secret. In a new study, the scientists demonstrate how the plant sequentially builds up the complex molecular framework characteristic of quinine. The researchers identified the enzymes responsible for catalyzing the chemical reactions that take place inside the plant. The study opens up new avenues for the sustainable and efficient laboratory production of natural substances such as quinine and related active ingredients.

Two microscopic grains collide and produce a tiny spark. This phenomenon may have provided the energy to kick off life on Earth. But if these solid particles have the same composition, what factor causes the charge to flow in a given direction? In a new study published in Nature, physicists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) identify the key factor as environmental carbon-based molecules that adhere to the materials’ surface.

At the interface between light and magnetism: Physicists from Konstanz show how spin waves (magnons) can be converted into signals that can be used by computers.

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard as the recipients of the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award for their essential role in establishing the foundations of quantum information science and transforming secure communication and computing.

niversity of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers working on the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment are part of a team who successfully cooled the experiment to its base temperature—the temperature required for the superconducting detectors to become operational, which is hundreds of times colder than outer space.