Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
The new EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) has been in effect since Aug. 12, 2026. Under this regulation, beginning in January 2030, the food service industry may no longer buy food or toiletries packaged in single-use plastic—for example, ketchup packets or individually wrapped bars of soap. This is increasing pressure on hotels, restaurants and catering businesses to act.
Perfection is overrated—at least when it comes to complex systems like the power grid, food webs and advanced materials. For decades, scientists generally assumed that networks function most reliably when their individual components are as similar as possible. But real-world networks are rarely uniform.
Do Hyun Ryu's research team in the Department of Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) has developed two new asymmetric catalytic methods for the precise synthesis of complex molecules using chiral organic catalysts.
The global water cycle is becoming increasingly unbalanced. Extreme droughts and floods are the result. This is shown in this year's report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the state of global water resources, "State of Global Water Resources 2025," which was published today.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology have discovered a previously unknown cellular defense system that protects the brain from abnormal glycogen accumulation, which is linked to severe neurological disorders.
A new open-access study introduces RiSpy, a data-driven fingerprinting framework that makes the identification of genome-edited (GE) rice lines more robust, scalable and broadly applicable. Researchers from Sciensano, together with CIRAD and DARWIN project partners, in collaboration with colleagues from Ghent University, have presented the new methodological framework for the reliable identification of genome-edited (GE) rice lines in the journal Briefings in Bioinformatics.
Scientists at Warwick have shown that a material treated for 40 years as a uniform, textbook superconductor is in fact a patchwork of different crystal structures throughout its bulk, using an advanced 3D imaging technique to see deep inside the crystal for the first time.
An international research team has reported the first experimental investigation of a nuclear physics reaction essential for understanding how the element strontium is produced in stars—specifically in stellar environments where traditional explanations for its formation fall short. The study, published June 8 in Communications Physics, reports that the team used indirect experimental techniques to extract previously inaccessible information about how an isotope of a separate element—krypton—absorbs, or captures, neutrons.
Metals can be transformed into alloys by adding different elements, allowing their strength, stability and other properties to be tailored. A key parameter for understanding these properties is the volume size factor (VSF), which quantifies lattice distortion caused by differences in atomic size.
"People who are determined, passionate and believe in their ability to improve appear more likely to flourish and experience meaningful, engaging lives," says Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson at NTNU's Department of Psychology.
Scientists have taken a step toward a better understanding of how fungi sense and respond to nutrients in the environment, which is critical for engineering fungi for green technologies and combating fungal pathogens and their resistance to treatments.
An international team of glaciologists and climate scientists, including professor Bethan Davies from Newcastle University, carried out a rapid scientific analysis and identified the role of climate change and its impacts on the high-altitude landscape.
Understanding how wind changes in response to global warming is necessary for accurately modeling climate and weather, identifying risks to infrastructure, and assessing global wind power capacity.
Nanodiamonds are tiny diamond particles that usually measure mere millionths of a millimeter. They are extremely hard, stable and heat-resistant and highly adaptable for various purposes in medicine, new materials, catalysis and energy technology. By compressing plastic with lasers, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Rostock are now able to systematically produce high-purity, ultra-small diamonds with a narrow size distribution. This is impossible to achieve with conventional methods such as explosions. As a scalable technology, laser compression offers great potential for improved, clean and sustainable production of ultra-small nanodiamonds...
President Donald Trump's administration will no longer treat the unintentional killing of protected wildlife as unlawful, officials confirmed Thursday, in a shift conservationists say effectively guts the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Beauty and mystery—it is hard to imagine a more alluring combination, and this is precisely what we encounter when we observe phenomena in the nanoworld. But are we really sure that observations made using modern microscopic techniques do not influence what is happening there? A comparison of images of copper oxide nanoparticles reacting with chloroauric acid, obtained using electron and photon beams, has yielded unexpected results.
Researchers at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) have developed microfluidic technology that can grow cells in three dimensions (3D). The goal is to conduct toxicity tests on new products by more accurately simulating living organisms.
Structural variants and so-called tandem repeats are individual differences in the human genome. They are increasingly linked to diseases, but analyzing and interpreting them poses challenges for researchers.
Old-growth forests are some of Europe's most valuable natural ecosystems, but they are also among the most threatened. Their role in conserving biodiversity, regulating the climate, preserving cultural heritage and supporting people's well-being is invaluable. According to a rough estimate, only around 3% of Europe's forests meet the criteria for primary or old-growth forests, and their extent continues to decline rapidly in Northern Europe.
Dilute alloy catalysts could improve fuel, plastic and pharmaceutical production, but their instability under heat holds back widespread use. Researchers at University of Michigan Engineering built a stability rulebook for this class of materials, which are made of a tiny amount of an active dopant metal dispersed in an inert host metal. A study outlining the rulebook was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.