Rice University’s Matteo Pasquali has been elected a fellow of The Society of Rheology (SoR). SoR is the world’s leading organization of rheology, the branch of physics that studies the flow and deformation of matter. The society has over 1,400 members with only 0.5% elected as fellows in any given year. Pasquali was recognized for outstanding research contributions and his track record in educating young rheologists and building a strong soft matter cluster at Rice.

Early online research in journals of the American Meteorological Society discusses the increased risk of urban heat stress for children and pets due to radiant heat from sidewalks, the effects of solar eclipse totality on wind and insects, an extension of the climate "warming stripes", thunderstorms and gamma rays, and more.

New research from The University of Texas at Arlington aimed at improving the effectiveness of radiation therapy to cure cancer and other diseases will be recognized in July by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

In order to improve the performance of photoelectrocatalysts that act in the “separation” of H2, work carried out at a FAPESP-supported research center uses light and glycerol to eliminate unwanted compounds resulting from the reaction of these materials with organic molecules.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have made significant breakthroughs in a promising technology for efficient energy conversion and chemical processing. Two recent studies involving protonic ceramic electrochemical cells, called PCECs, address significant challenges in electrochemical manufacturing and efficiency. These innovations are a crucial step toward reliable and affordable solutions for hydrogen production and clean energy storage.

The universe is decaying much faster than thought. This is shown by calculations of three Dutch scientists on the so-called Hawking radiation. They calculate that the last stellar remnants take about 10^78 years (a 1 with 78 zeros) to perish. That is much shorter than the previously postulated 10^1100 years (a 1 with 1100 zeros). The researchers publish their findings, with a wink and dead-seriously, in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

Researchers from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute and collaborating institutions have achieved high-precision measurements of the ²⁷Al(γ,n)²⁶Al photoneutron cross section using quasi-monochromatic γbeams at the Shanghai Laser-Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS). By employing a novel flat-efficiency neutron detector array, the team reduced measurement uncertainties to below 4%, resolving discrepancies in existing experimental data and improving theoretical models for nuclear astrophysics. The results, spanning 13.2–21.7 MeV, provide critical insights into the production of ²⁶Al in cosmic environments and address inconsistencies with prior datasets.