EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-May-2026 16:16 ET (19-May-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)

19-May-2026

Researchers measure giant light-conversion effect in chiral carbon nanotubes

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rice scientists successfully assembled carbon nanotubes with the same chiral orientation into large high-quality crystals that can manipulate light with an efficiency two to three orders of magnitude greater than conventional materials.

Journal: ACS Nano
Funder: Welch Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, U.S.-Japan PIRE collaboration

19-May-2026

From silkworm to super material

Tufts University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists fuse silk fibers into solid materials that outperform the strength of bone and wood and come remarkably close to Kevlar in impact resistance

Journal: Nature Sustainability
Funder: Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK Research and Innovation, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Major Science and Technology Project of Hainan Province, Key Science & Technology Project of Hainan Province

19-May-2026

Researchers improve AI’s ability to learn new tasks without sacrificing performance

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new framework allows AI models that have already been trained to learn new tasks without sacrificing performance when performing old tasks. The framework, called CHEEM, also improves an AI model’s operating efficiency by using fewer computational steps to perform simpler tasks.

Funder: Army Research Office
Meeting: The IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2026

18-May-2026

Sea level rise is swallowing Mid-Atlantic farmland faster than expected, study finds

Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ghost forests, the cemetery-like groupings of dead trees killed by saltwater intrusion, have become haunting symbols of sea level rise overtaking land along the Mid-Atlantic coast. But a new study in Nature Sustainability led by William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS points to even more dramatic land losses in the region’s coastal farmlands, where the rate of marsh encroachment is happening nearly twice as fast.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

15-May-2026

These “clockwork” earthquakes puzzled scientists for decades — new Indiana University study explains why

Indiana University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, scientists have tracked a strange pattern deep beneath the Pacific Ocean: a fault line that produces nearly identical earthquakes every few years, almost like clockwork — something that’s rarely seen in nature. New research published in Science and led by Indiana University seismologist Jianhua Gong finally explains why.

Journal: Science
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

15-May-2026

This single mother must learn quickly — or her colony won’t survive

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new report shows that queen bumblebees are fast learners, able to memorize flower scents more quickly than worker bumblebees. The work could shed light on how cognition first evolved and help scientists preserve a critical ecological link.

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Funder: National Geographic Society

15-May-2026

FSU researchers develop method to expand winter weather forecasting capabilities from weeks to months

Florida State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Florida State University researchers have discovered how to accurately predict winter weather forecasts months in advance, affording sectors such as agriculture, water management, energy use and public health a longer lead time to prepare for inclement conditions.

Journal: Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
Funder: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

15-May-2026

Stretchy implants could stick to arteries to treat high blood pressure

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Penn State developed a new class of 3D-printed bioelectronics made of soft, stretchy materials, as well as an adhesive component that helps the device painlessly stick to biological tissue. The team reported that their new design, which they call CaroFlex and tested in a rodent model, relieved hypertension while causing much less damage to surrounding tissue.

Journal: Device

15-May-2026

From bottleneck to breakthrough: Student engineers unlock fully autonomous electroporation at UCLA

California NanoSystems Institute

UCLA students developed new software and hardware tools that streamline a traditionally time-consuming step in synthetic biology research - helping scientists deliver genetic material into cells more quickly, efficiently, and with far less manual work. This innovation will help accelerate research workflows for scientists in both academia and industry, while also expanding the potential for more autonomous biotech labs in the future.

14-May-2026

URI master’s student Emilio Pedroza Lopez earns prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

University of Rhode Island
Grant and Award Announcement

For Emilio Pedroza Lopez, studying the social dynamics of degus — a small rodent native to Chile — offers clues to one of biology’s enduring questions: why animals choose to live together. Pedroza Lopez has been awarded funding through a highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to help support his research.