Optics research uses dim light to produce bright LEDs
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jan-2026 14:11 ET (21-Jan-2026 19:11 GMT/UTC)
Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new system that allows researchers to observe how plants “breathe” in real time under controlled environmental conditions. The tool, called Stomata In-Sight, integrates live confocal microscopy with leaf gas exchange measurements and precise environmental controls, enabling researchers to directly link microscopic stomatal movements with carbon dioxide uptake and water loss.
Stomata — tiny pores on leaf surfaces — play a critical role in plant growth and water use, but until now, scientists have had to choose between observing their structure or measuring their function. Stomata In-Sight overcomes this limitation, providing a dynamic view of how plants respond to changes in light, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide.
The system could accelerate efforts to develop crops that use water more efficiently, an increasingly urgent need as drought and climate stress intensify. The research was published in Plant Physiology and was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and philanthropic funding.
An international team has obtained the first-ever experimental evidence of electrical behavior that mimics a Josephson junction with two superconductors even though only one was present.
In a new study, researchers have explored the mechanisms of phage resistance and its effects on the ecological jobs done by ocean bacteria. The team found that some of the mutations studied don’t interfere with – and may even enhance – the bacteria’s ability to carry out their job of capturing and sinking carbon to the ocean floor, thanks to giving the cells a “sticky” quality.
Brown University engineers showed that applying a temperature gradient across a solid-state electrolyte blocks destructive dendrite growth, offering a practical solution to a major barrier in battery technology.
Astronomers have found evidence for a possible first-of-its-kind "superkilonova," or a kilonova spurred by a supernova. Such an event has been hypothesized but never seen.