EurekAlert! Features & Articles Portal - Feature Stories

Feature Stories

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Apr-2026 08:15 ET (3-Apr-2026 12:15 GMT/UTC)

Artificial sweeteners instead of sugar: are sweeteners harmful to health?

BfR Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

Sugar damages teeth, causes weight gain and promotes diabetes – these are just three of the widely discussed criticisms of the sweet ingredient found in many treats and drinks. Some people with a sweet tooth therefore resort to low-sugar or sugar-free alternatives, which usually contain non-sugar sweeteners. However, some of these are also associated with health risks. Before they are authorised, all sweeteners – just like all other food additives – are tested at the European level to ensure they are safe for human health," says Professor Andreas Hensel, President of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). Authorised sweeteners are regularly subject to new assessments in order to take current scientific findings into account. The new BfR2GO science magazine takes a closer look at sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.

Rare rattlesnake discovery lands at UTA

University of Texas at Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington’s Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, known as ARDRC, recently added Denton County’s first documented Western Diamondback rattlesnake to its extensive herpetology research collection.

Israel Post issues commemorative stamp marking 100 years of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

As part of the centennial celebrations of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Post has issued a new commemorative stamp marking 100 years since the University’s founding. The stamp was released this week by Israel Post’s Philatelic Service as part of the official events marking the University’s centenary throughout 2025.

Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life

Murdoch University

A team of researchers from Australia and China have discovered that offshore windfarms can improve underwater ecosystems and diversify aquatic life.

Journal: Global Ecology and Conservation
Funder: Liaoning Provincial Joint Foundation, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Scientific Research Fund of Liaoning Provincial Education Department

New ISO standard advances accuracy of global climate observations

National Research Council of Science & Technology

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Lee Ho Seong) has succeeded in having its radiosonde performance evaluation technology—used for one of the key instruments in weather and climate observation—adopted as an international standard. The ISO 8932-1 test method, newly approved as an international standard, defines detailed criteria and procedures for calibrating the measurement errors of radiosonde temperature sensors under upper-atmospheric conditions. Using this method, calibration errors can be maintained within 0.1 °C even in environments reaching altitudes of up to 40 km and temperatures as low as –85 °C.

Funder: Ministry of Science and ICT

How big-area 3D printing evolved from ORNL research into new industry

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Additive Engineering Solutions, an Ohio-based company that’s now a leader in large-format 3D printing, began as an idea sparked by additive manufacturing research at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

A Year of Discovery: 10 Mayo Clinic research breakthroughs moving medicine forward

From AI-powered drug discovery to regenerative therapies and next-generation neurology tools, Mayo Clinic researchers made significant strides in 2025 toward predicting, preventing and treating some of the world's most serious and complex diseases.

Ecosystem interactions shape spread of wasting disease

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

A Bigelow Laboratory researcher is co-leading a multi-institutional effort to unravel the causes and consequences of seagrass wasting in a warming ocean, highlighting the influence of the broader ecosystem in the spread of marine diseases.

Journal: Biology Letters

Rice computer scientists reach finals in global XPRIZE Quantum Applications competition

Rice University

Rice quantum computing researchers have introduced a novel algorithm that earned the team a place in the global XPRIZE Quantum Applications competition.

Climate safe havens could be one of Earth’s best defenses against global warming—but how well do they work?

University of Massachusetts Amherst

From Maine’s Acadia National Park to the wilds of Australia—and in thousands of places in-between—geological conditions exist that slow the effects of climate change on the local ecology and inhabitants. How these “climate refugia” remain relatively protected from climate change impacts over time, and how they might help local plant and animal species survive, is the focus of a special issue of the journal Conservation Science and Practice spearheaded by Toni Lyn Morelli, adjunct full professor of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst and U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist.

Journal: Conservation Science and Practice

55
56
57
58
59