In the complex world of soil and water chemistry, certain minerals act like microscopic sponges, soaking up pollutants and keeping our environment safe. Among the most dangerous of these pollutants is hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), a highly toxic and mobile substance often found at industrial and mining sites. Now, a groundbreaking study published in Carbon Research has identified the specific "superstar" minerals that are best at neutralizing this threat while simultaneously locking away organic carbon.

Imagine a “smart fluid” whose internal structure can be rearranged just by changing temperature.

In a new study in Matter, researchers report a way to overcome a long-standing limitation in a class of “smart fluids” called nematic liquid crystal microcolloids, allowing for reconfigurable self-assembly of micrometer-sized particles dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal host.

17 February 2026 / Kiel / Las Palmas. Yesterday, an international team of researchers from various disciplines set off aboard the German research vessel METEOR for an expedition along the west coast of Africa, led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The expedition focuses on two poorly understood phenomena: the Benguela upwelling system off the coasts of Angola and Namibia, which partly operates independently of the wind, and the recurring marine heatwaves known as Benguela Niños, which have a significant impact on the local climate and cause flooding in Angola and Namibia.

Rice bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski has been named a 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in chemistry, one of the most competitive honors for early career scientists in the U.S. and Canada.

SAN ANTONIO — February 17, 2026 —Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Metering Research Facility (MRF) has received ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for natural gas flow calibration, which confirms compliance with international testing and calibration standards. As a result, SwRI is now certified by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to offer highly specialized calibration services to a broad range of energy sector clients, including natural gas pipeline operators, flow meter manufacturers and power plants.

Four New York University faculty have been awarded fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Danique Jeurissen, an assistant professor of neural science, and Marvin Parasram, an assistant professor of chemistry, as well as Florian Schäfer and Joseph Tassarotti, assistant professors in NYU’s Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.

Research shows that allowing natural vegetation to grow back in mountainous areas and on steep slopes and moving production to more fertile areas will both reduce climate emissions and increase biodiversity.

PPPL-led simulations have identified why far more exhaust particles strike the inner divertor target than the outer one in tokamaks, a long-observed phenomenon that previous models couldn’t fully explain. The key is combining cross-field drift effects with core plasma rotation. When researchers added both factors to their simulations, the results finally matched experimental measurements. The finding could improve exhaust system designs for future fusion power plants.