Podcast: Photonic quantum chips promise fast future Miloš Popović, an NSF-supported associate professor, discusses a collaboration that has built a photonic quantum system into a traditional electronic chip... Read more at nsf.gov
New NSF awards will advance theoretical foundations of data science research through interdisciplinary collaborations Data science is an expanding field that requires the expertise of computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and statisticians to handle the complex analysis of ever-larger data sets. Data affect how industry, academia and government operate… Read more at nsf.gov
Statement by Director Sethuraman Panchanathan on the passage of the 'CHIPS and Science Act' Our nation’s economic and national security depends on our ability not only to harness the technologies of today, but to lay the foundation for the industries of the future. We also need to inspire and train the next generation STEM workforce and… Read more at nsf.gov
Scientists identify mechanism responsible for fruit and seed development in flowering plants With rising global temperatures and dwindling pollinator populations, food production has become increasingly difficult for the world's growers. A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland addresses this issue, providing insight into… Read more at nsf.gov
Risk of death surges when extreme heat and air pollution coincide Heat waves and air pollution are harmful, even deadly, and both are predicted to increase in frequency due to climate change. A team of researchers at the University of Southern California is helping shed light on those health risks by assessing six… Read more at nsf.gov
Materials researchers build longest highly conductive molecular nanowire Researchers at Columbia University, supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, engineered a nanowire 2.6 nanometers long with quasi-metallic properties and conductance that increases with the wire's length. The breakthrough could… Read more at nsf.gov
Faint fossil galaxy found at the Andromeda galaxy’s edge An amateur astronomer examining archival data processed by the Community Science & Data Center tipped off astronomers about a smudge of interest in an image he examined as part of an effort by the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo… Read more at nsf.gov
Engineers use electrolyte to create high-capacity batteries that operate in extreme temperatures Engineers at the University of California San Diego supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation have developed a reliable lithium-ion battery that functions in extreme cold and heat. The team created an electrolyte that allows… Read more at nsf.gov
Citizen astronomer helps identify more than 30 ultracool dwarf binary systems A citizen astronomer participating in the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported Backyard Worlds program examined archival data provided by the Community Science & Data Center and found 34 new ultracool dwarf binary systems, nearly twice the… Read more at nsf.gov
Destruction and recovery of kelp forests driven by changes in sea urchin behavior A dramatic outbreak of kelp-eating purple sea urchins along the Central Coast of California in 2014, leading to a significant reduction in the region's kelp forests, was driven primarily by the emergence of sea urchins from their hiding places rather… Read more at nsf.gov
Ancient southwestern desert people ate more, larger, fish than previously thought There is a common misconception that Ancestral Pueblo people rarely ate fish. The remains of fish that were eaten by these people are indeed rare at early archaeological sites in the Middle Rio Grande basin of central New Mexico. Now, however… Read more at nsf.gov
Supercomputing simulation reveals weaknesses in HIV-1 defense How HIV-1 infects cells is not fully understood. Discoveries from a recent study have provided new insights, however. Computer scientists at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, ran the… Read more at nsf.gov
Awash in potential: Wastewater provides early detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus Writing in the journal Nature, scientists at the University of California San Diego and Scripps Research, along with local and federal public health officials, describe how wastewater sequencing provided dramatic new insights into levels and variants… Read more at nsf.gov
U.S. and U.K. Launch Innovation Prize Challenges in Privacy-Enhancing Technologies to Tackle Financial Crime and Public Health Emergencies Today, the U.S. and U.K. governments launched a set of prize challenges to unleash the potential of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) to combat global societal challenges. Announced at the Summit for Democracy last year, innovators from academia… Read more at nsf.gov
Hidden in caves: Mineral overgrowths reveal unprecedented modern sea level rise The early 1900s saw rapid advances in the steel, electric and automobile industries. Those industrial changes also mark an inflection point in the planet’s climate. According to an international team of researchers led by University of South Florida… Read more at nsf.gov
Platinum can act as a catalyst for wastewater treatment Making wastewater potable has a unique set of challenges, one of which is removing persistent chemicals and byproducts. Aldehydes, a byproduct of wastewater treatment, are toxic to humans. Removing aldehydes from wastewater requires a sustainable… Read more at nsf.gov
Borrowed gene helps maize adapt to high elevations, cold temperatures Researchers at North Carolina State University have shown that an important gene in maize called HPC1 modulates chemical processes that contribute to flowering time, and has its origins in "teosinte mexicana," a precursor to modern-day corn that… Read more at nsf.gov
Researchers uncover life's power generators in Earth's oldest groundwater An international team of researchers has discovered 1.2 billion-year-old groundwater deep in a gold and uranium mine in South Africa, shedding more light on how life is sustained below the Earth's surface and how it may thrive on other planets. The… Read more at nsf.gov
Climate change may be culprit in Antarctic fish disease outbreak Climate change might be behind an unusual disease outbreak among Antarctic fish, researchers are finding. For a decade, University of Oregon biologists John Postlethwait and Thomas Desvignes have been visiting the West Antarctic Peninsula. They study… Read more at nsf.gov
Evidence that buckyballs and carbon nanotubes form from the dust and gas of dying stars Astronomers at the University of Arizona, funded by two grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, have developed a theory to explain the presence of the largest molecules known to exist in interstellar gas. The team simulated the environment… Read more at nsf.gov
New technology surpasses long-sought solar energy milestone Engineers at Princeton University, supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, have developed a new class of renewable solar energy technology. The team successfully manufactured a perovskite solar cell that can operate above… Read more at nsf.gov
Researchers discover how tuberculosis bacteria mutate to form antibiotic-resistant films Tuberculosis, the second leading cause of death globally, is a highly infectious, hard to treat and difficult to contain disease that causes preventable deaths daily. A team of researchers supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science… Read more at nsf.gov
Researchers study early stages of infant word learning Researchers at Indiana University, supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, have published the results of their research on how infants put names to objects, a key step in language development. Past research has usually focused… Read more at nsf.gov
Hummingbirds may struggle to avoid climate change Climate change is making it more challenging for small animals like hummingbirds to reach heights that allow them to evade the impacts of a warming world. A team of researchers set out to study how Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) would adjust to a… Read more at nsf.gov
Statement by Director Sethuraman Panchanathan on NSF ranking in Best Places to Work in the Federal Government I am thrilled and proud that the U.S. National Science Foundation recently ranked No. 2 among mid-sized agencies in the 2021 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®, up from No. 5 last year. At NSF, we value innovation, creativity… Read more at nsf.gov
New hybrid machine learning forecasts lake ecosystem responses to climate change Through the middle of the 20th century, phosphorus inputs from detergents and fertilizers degraded the water quality of Switzerland's Lake Geneva, spurring officials to take action in the 1970s to remediate the pollution. "The obvious remedy was to… Read more at nsf.gov
Discovery pushes back the earliest record of wildfire by 10 million years While wildfires in recent years have raged across much of the Western United States and pose significant hazards to wildlife and human populations, fires have been a long-standing part of Earth's systems without the influence of humans for hundreds… Read more at nsf.gov
