A simple flame-synthesis method can produce highly active catalysts for converting carbon dioxide into methane, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. The team used flame-assisted spray pyrolysis to manufacture nickel–cerium oxide catalysts with finer nanoparticles and more active sites than conventional methods. These catalysts achieved outstanding methanation performance while remaining suitable for large-scale production, offering a practical route toward carbon-neutral fuel technologies.

For many years, cynodonts – animals that were a transitional link between early synapsids, a group of animals among which true mammals evolved, and the first true mammals – were believed to have laid eggs. Now, for the first time, a new study has found evidence to the contrary. Using a neonatal line, which is only rarely conserved in the fossil record, and comparisons of newborn-adult body weight ratios, a team in Argentina concluded that Chiniquodon theotonicus gave birth to live young. This pushes the timeline of this evolutionary adaptation back by up to 95 million years, said the team, and offers new avenues to reconstruct ecological aspects of the Triassic world.