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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-May-2025 11:08 ET (1-May-2025 15:08 GMT/UTC)

Molecular Frontiers Symposium in Hong Kong “Frontiers of New Knowledge in Science”

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Meeting Announcement

The Molecular Frontiers Symposium, organized by the globally renowned Molecular Frontiers Foundation - founded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - is recognized as one of the most influential scientific organizations worldwide.

For the first time in the organization’s history, the Foundation's annual flagship symposium will be held in Greater China, hosted at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

With the theme "Frontiers of New Knowledge in Science", the Symposium will bring together more than 30 top molecular scientists from around the globe, including 4 Nobel Prize laureates, with the aim of advancing cutting-edge molecular science research and facilitating interaction between scientific elites and the public.

Climate change parching the American West even without rainfall deficits

University of California - Los Angeles
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change turned an ordinary drought into an exceptional one that parched the American West from 2020–22. A study by UCLA and NOAA scientists has found that evaporation accounted for 61% of the drought’s severity, while reduced precipitation accounted for 39%. The research found that since 2000, evaporative demand has played a bigger role than reduced precipitation in droughts, which may become more severe as the climate warms.

Journal: Science Advances

$2.1M aids researchers in building chemical sensors to safeguard troops

University of Arizona College of Engineering
Grant and Award Announcement

University of Arizona researchers, funded at $2.1 million by the U.S. Army, are building a handheld device for military personnel. It demonstrates unprecedented sensitity in detecting toxic gases.

Funder: U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency

Scientists calculate predictions for meson measurements

DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Calculations of charge distribution in mesons provide benchmark for experimental measurements and validate widely used 'factorization' method for imaging the building blocks of matter.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

How plants evolved multiple ways to override genetic instructions

Washington University in St. Louis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

WashU biologists, led by Xuehua Zhong in Arts & Sciences, investigated the inner workings of DNA methylation in plants. Their findings could help engineer crops that are more resilient to environmental changes, like heat or drought stress.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Mighty radio bursts linked to massive galaxies

California Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Reporting in the journal Nature, Caltech-led researchers have uncovered where FRBs are more likely to occur in the universe—massive star-forming galaxies rather than low-mass ones.

Journal: Nature
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Grant supports finding brain-inspired ways to develop low-energy computing

University of Delaware
Grant and Award Announcement

Benjamin Jungfleisch, associate professor of physics at the University of Delaware, has received a 2024 NSF CAREER Award for his work on brain-inspired, low-power computing technology. His research explores the use of magnetic nanostructures, or magnons, to create energy-efficient AI devices.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation