A team of researchers led by Thomas Richards at the University of Oxford, UK, studied the properties of membranes to understand how these cellular structures influenced the chemistry of life on earth as it began. The researchers published their findings on May 20^th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

Purdue University researchers have developed a metamaterial comprising of carefully arranged plates that trap air within and act as guides for the sound. With their metamaterial in place, sound from monopile installation can be reduced by 40 decibels, an improvement over the 25-decibel reduction of other methods. The material is modular and foldable, making its transport and deployment easy and inexpensive. Junfei Li will present on the work at the 188th ASA Meeting.

Twenty-three University of Texas at Arlington students have been selected for the McNair Scholars Program, a competitive Department of Education program that prepares undergraduates for academic research careers.

“The McNair Scholars Program has proven to be a great way for undergraduate students considering a career in academia to see firsthand how scientific research is conducted and the real-world impacts that can come from it,” said Kayunta Johnson-Winters, director of undergraduate research at UTA and an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

New research could improve the efficiency of electrochemical carbon-dioxide capture and release by six times and cut costs by at least 20 percent. MIT researchers added nanoscale filtering membranes to a carbon-capture system, separating the ions that carry out the capture and release steps, and enabling both steps to proceed more efficiently.

Scientists from The University of Texas at Arlington are among the researchers worldwide recognized with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their contributions to the ATLAS Experiment. The $1 million award honors the team’s groundbreaking work at the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization of Nuclear Research, known as CERN—the world’s largest particle physics laboratory—which led to the discovery of the Higgs boson, often called the “God particle” for its key role in explaining the existence of mass in the universe.

Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy is now home to the Center for Research Innovation in Biotechnology and the Clinical Drug Experience Knowledgebase, a comprehensive database of every active pharmaceutical ingredient with evidence of clinical testing.

SAN ANTONIO — May 20, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will significantly expand its testing and research capabilities with a new hydrocarbon research facility. It will offer megawatt-scale testing of machinery and energy systems powered by hydrocarbons and other flammable gases. SwRI’s new 90,000-square-foot facility will evaluate a range of hydrocarbon machinery for efficiency, safety and durability.