Scientists around the world rely on ocean monitoring tools to measure the effects of climate change. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and their industry partners have advanced the technology available to measure carbon dioxide in the ocean. 

Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute led a study that sheds new light on how pulsar signals—the spinning remnants of massive stars—distort as they travel through space. This study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, was performed by a multi-year cohort of undergraduate researchers in the Penn State branch of the Pulsar Search Collaboratory student club. Maura McLaughlin, Chair, Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, created the Pulsar Search Collaboratory to engage high schoolers and undergraduates in pulsar science, and she helped facilitate access to the data used in this study. Using archival data from the Arecibo Observatory, the student team found patterns that show how pulsar signals change as they move through the interstellar medium (ISM), the gas and dust that fills the space between stars. The team measured scintillation bandwidths for 23 pulsars, including new data for six pulsars not previously studied. The results showed that in almost all cases, measured bandwidths were higher than predictions by widely used models of the galaxy, highlighting a need for updates to current ISM density models.

“This work demonstrates the value of large, archived datasets,” said Dr. Sofia Sheikh, SETI Institute researcher and lead author. “Even years after the Arecibo Observatory's collapse, its data continues to unlock critical information that can advance our understanding of the galaxy and enhance our ability to study phenomena like gravitational waves.”

A paper published in Gravitational and Space Research unveils insights gained from International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) National Laboratory-sponsored research on transport phenomena, fundamental physical processes involving momentum, energy, and mass transfer. Transport phenomena describe the ways in which heat and matter move through their surroundings, for example, how heat radiates from a stove or how a scent fills the room. Exploring these dynamics outside Earth’s gravitational forces could lead to revolutionary advances in pharmaceuticals and other commercial applications.

A coordination polymer called KGF-9 has achieved record-high photocatalytic efficiency for CO₂-to-formate conversion, as reported by researchers at Science Tokyo. Using a microwave-assisted solvothermal method, the team synthesized KGF-9 with enhanced crystallinity and surface area compared to a previous synthesis route, boosting its apparent quantum yield ten-fold to 25%. These findings demonstrate KGF-9's significant potential for advancing sustainable technologies that effectively reduce carbon emissions.

A groundbreaking transverse thermoelectric effect is observed in WSi₂, a mixed-dimensional semimetal. This study reveals that WSi₂ exhibits axis-dependent conduction polarity, efficiently converting heat into electrical energy along perpendicular axes. Unlike traditional thermoelectric materials, WSi₂ achieves high efficiency without an external magnetic field, with performance comparable to the best anomalous Nernst effect materials. These findings highlight WSi₂ as a promising candidate for heat management applications and open new avenues for thermoelectric materials research.

Dark ovals in Jupiter's polar haze, visible only at UV wavelengths, were first noticed 25 years ago, then ignored. A UC Berkeley study shows that these dark UV ovals are common, appearing at the south pole in 75% of Hubble Space Telescope images taken since 2015. They appear less often at the north pole. The scientists theorize that a magnetic vortex generated in the ionosphere stirs up and concentrates the hydrocarbon haze that blankets the poles.