One would think that a volcano was not the most hospitable place for living organisms. However, the Borealis Mud Volcano, at 400 m water depth, acts as a sanctuary for a number of marine species.

University of Missouri researchers and collaborators have developed a new chemical tool that could help lower the cost of prescription medications. The tool, called AshPhos, is a ligand, or molecule, that makes it easier to create special carbon-nitrogen bonds. These bonds are the backbone of more than half of all medicines on the market today.

Researchers have pioneered an innovative method using helioseismology to measure the solar radiative opacity under extreme conditions. This groundbreaking work, published in Nature Communications, not only reveals gaps in our understanding of atomic physics but also confirms recent experimental results, thereby opening new perspectives in astrophysics and nuclear physics.

Effective management of phosphorus is needed to curb the rise of harmful algal blooms. Few studies have explored how algal biomass, especially blue-green algae, can be used to create materials that remove phosphate from water. Researchers have filled that gap by transforming cyanobacterial biomass into materials that can pull harmful phosphorus out of water. Materials treated in the study removed more than 99% of phosphorous. With further refinement and scalability, this method could become a key tool for managing nutrient pollution.

Every year, the high-profile academic journal "Science" names ten groundbreaking discoveries in a top list of scientific breakthroughs. For 2024, "Science" chose the drug lenacapavir and its potential to reduce HIV/AIDS infections to zero as its Breakthrough of the Year. In the field of physics, the phenomenon of altermagnetism – discovered by researchers of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) – received the special honor to be listed as another major scientific breakthrough.