A new study reports that a biochar-enhanced photocatalyst can efficiently degrade antibiotic contaminants in water, offering a promising strategy for addressing one of the growing threats to global water quality.

A new study published in Big Earth Data introduces Geo-Disasters, a database that geocodes 9,217 climate-related disasters reported by EM-DAT from 1990 to 2023. The database enhances disaster risk analysis by providing accurate geocoded locations and offering an open, reproducible framework for integrating spatial climate and socioeconomic data. This framework supports machine learning applications for climate risk, vulnerability, and adaptation studies. The Geo-Disasters database aims to bridge critical data gaps in global climate-hazard risk assessment and inform more equitable adaptation planning. The link to Geo-Disasters Database is https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15487667.

A new U of A study raise questions about how scientists use the Small Magellanic Cloud, our neighboring galaxy, as a reference point for understanding galaxies across the history of the universe. 

Discovered in the Pictor II dwarf galaxy, star PicII-503 has an extreme deficiency in iron — less than 1/40,000th of the Sun. This signature makes it the clearest example of a star within a primordial system that preserves the chemical enrichment of the Universe’s first stars. PicII-503 also has an extreme overabundance of carbon, providing the missing link to connect carbon-enhanced stars observed in the Milky Way halo to an origin in ancient dwarf galaxies.

A thick layer of haze around the ultra-low-density planet Kepler-51d likely obscures not only the strange planet’s composition, but also its origin, according to a new study. A team led by Penn State researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to take a deeper look at the “super-puff” planet that defies planetary formation models. However, the thickest layer of haze found on a planet yet makes discerning the chemical elements in the planet’s atmosphere — and any clues to the planet’s formation — challenging.