EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Mar-2026 17:15 ET (30-Mar-2026 21:15 GMT/UTC)

Location matters: How one fat molecule can help trigger both cell limbo and cell death

University at Buffalo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University at Buffalo scientists have shown that an impaired transport protein and a buildup of lipids known as ceramides can help lock cells into replicative senescence.

Journal: Cell Chemical Biology

Emotions in motion: How movement may signal mental health issues

University of Texas at Dallas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using 3D motion capture and machine-learning models, researchers were able to identify elevated depression and anxiety symptoms in subjects from the way they walked and got up from a chair. The findings, published online in the May issue of Gait & Posture, demonstrate the potential for developing wearable devices that one day could give users early warnings about their mental health.

Journal: Gait & Posture

Team tracks vegetation recovery from sudden permafrost collapse

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Some Arctic regions regain their “greenness” within a decade of a sudden permafrost collapse, while others can take a century or more to recover, researchers report.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

Quantum researchers engineer extremely precise phonon lasers

University of Rochester
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new squeezed phonon laser developed by researchers at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology provides precise control over phonons at the nanoscale level. This could give new insights into the nature of gravity, particle acceleration, and quantum physics.

Journal: Nature Communications

OHSU study uncovers internal cell ‘trade winds’ that drive movement and repair

Oregon Health & Science University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have uncovered a previously unknown system of internal “trade winds” that help cells rapidly move essential proteins to the front of the cell, reshaping how researchers understand cell migration, cancer spread and wound healing.

The discovery, published today in Nature Communications, reshapes what researchers thought they knew about how cells direct proteins to the right place at the right time.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: W. M. Keck Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

When algae stop growing, bacteria start swarming

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new UW-led study, published in mBio, describes how a recently identified species of marine bacteria targets diatoms based on growth phase and nutrient availability.

Journal: mBio
Funder: Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, Simons Foundation

Understanding protein motion could greatly aid new drug design

Arizona State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Recently, the research group of associate professor Matthias Heyden in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences has found a new way forward. They developed a method that can tease out these slow, important motions from short computer simulations—snapshots lasting only billionths of a second. Even better, the method is remarkably reliable: run it again and again, and it tells the same story each time. They have recently published this work in Science Advances.

Journal: Science Advances

Study explains Antarctic sea ice growth and sudden decline

Stanford University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Although climate models predicted Antarctic sea ice would steadily dwindle, its extent grew for decades until 2016. A new study finds the ice finally receded when wind-driven upwelling unleashed warmer, deeper water.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Washington Research Foundation, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

The habits and habitats of 'living fossils' Nautilus and Allonautilus

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a recent paper published in Scientific Reports, a UW-led team documented new habits and habitats for Nautilus and Allonautilus species.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Tiffany and Co. Foundation

UCF researchers unlock scalable entanglement for next-generation quantum computing

University of Central Florida
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The breakthrough enables larger capacities for quantum information using complex states of light that are less affected by imperfections, paving the way for potential innovations in medicine, materials science, data management and security.

Journal: Science

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