Khalid Hattar, the director of the Tennessee Ion Beam Materials Laboratory and associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, is part of two Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awards of more than $2 million that focus on plasma-facing surface relationships for fusion energy systems.

A Rutgers astrophysicist is helping to solve a cosmic puzzle that has astronomers scratching their heads. The mystery centers on a powerful explosion in space that lasted far longer than anything they have seen before. NASA announced today that scientists using its James Webb Space Telescope studied GRB 250702B, a long gamma-ray burst, one of the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. Normally, long gamma-ray bursts happen when a huge star collapses into a black hole, creating a quick, intense flash of high-energy gamma-ray light. This one didn’t follow the rules.

A startup company called Zymosense is developing and marketing nanosensors invented in Nigel Reuel's Iowa State lab. The new tools will help industries track and improve the enzymes used in biotechnology, medicine, drug development, food production and other industrial and everyday applications.

SAN ANTONIO — December 8, 2025 — A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) research project is using data from NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) spacecraft to track the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It tracked the comet for many weeks when it was behind the Sun as seen from Earth. The comet’s position made impossible to observe from Earth except by telescopes designed to look at the Sun. PUNCH, which launched in March 2025, is a constellation of four small spacecraft that act as a single virtual instrument 8,000 miles across to image the solar corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, as it transitions into the solar wind that fills and defines our solar system. The PUNCH mission is led by SwRI’s Dr. Craig DeForest.

Academic libraries have long stood as temples of truth—sanctuaries where scholars seek to expand human understanding. Yet knowledge is rarely born in isolation. The most transformative discoveries have emerged through collaboration.

Simon Fraser University researchers are laying the groundwork for an innovative long-term care model that combines nature-based therapy with village-setting care to enhance the quality of life for people living with dementia. First developed on traditional farms in the Netherlands, the Green Care Farm (GCF) model integrates long-term care with farm-related activities in a therapeutic setting to foster autonomy, cognitive stimulation, and emotional well-being for people living with dementia. Now, a first-of-its-kind research project is bringing this model to Canada. 

An international team of researchers asked 517 experts: What happens if we drastically cut pesticide use? The answer points to major gains for the environment and health, but also tough choices for farmers and policymakers.