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NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Nov-2025 06:11 ET (6-Nov-2025 11:11 GMT/UTC)

URI climate scientist contributes to research illustrating future impacts of Antarctic ice sheet melting

University of Rhode Island
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The impact of water expulsion into the open ocean from formerly ice-covered areas means that sea levels will change world-wide. Ambarish Karmalkar in the University of Rhode Island's Climate Dynamics Lab recently collaborated on a project to simulate and predict ice sheet-climate interactions in the coming decades, to better understand Antarctica’s potential sea level contributions.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Insights from worms could help scientists harness the power of dietary restriction for longevity

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research from the University of Michigan Medical School uncovers interesting connections between a longevity gene, behavior and the environment, which might be exploited to extend life without the downsides associated with dietary restriction.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, National Institute on Aging

Tulane researchers uncover why breaking up is hard for some continents

Tulane University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tulane University researchers have discovered why some regions of Earth’s crust remain strong while others give way, challenging long-held ideas about how continents break apart. The study, published in Nature, reveals that ancient heating and dehydration made parts of the East African Rift’s crust more resistant to future rifting and volcanism.

Journal: Nature
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, U.K. Natural Environment Research Council, U.K. Global Challenges Research Fund, National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation in Kenya

Engineering defects could transform the future of nanomaterials

University of Minnesota
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Materials scientists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have found a way to create and control tiny “flaws” inside ultra-thin materials. These internal features, known as extended defects, could give next-generation nanomaterials entirely new properties, opening the door to advances in nanotechnology.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Fishes, young and old, are shrinking in Michigan's inland lakes

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate change is changing the size of fishes in Michigan's inland lakes, leaving the young and old of many species more vulnerable to predation

Journal: Global Change Biology
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Ice Age trees helped stabilize Earth's atmosphere by suffocating

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ancient trees may have played a key role in regulating Earth’s climate during the last ice age — by breathing less efficiently. A new study, led by a researcher at Penn State and published today (Nov. 5) in the journal Nature Geoscience, examined chemical fingerprints in subfossil wood, or preserved trees, from across North America to understand how plants responded to the low carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and cooler temperatures of the last glacial period, about 20,000 years ago.

Journal: Nature Geoscience
Funder: The Aguoron Institute, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. National Science Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation

Study paints detailed picture of forest canopy damage caused by ‘heat dome’

Oregon State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A satellite imagery analysis shows that the 2021 “heat dome” scorched almost 5% of the forested area in western Oregon and western Washington, turning foliage in canopies from a healthy green to red or orange, sometimes within a matter of hours.

Journal: Global Change Biology
Funder: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. National Science Foundation, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station

Study shows light can reshape atom-thin semiconductors for next-generation optical devices

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rice researchers studying a class of atom-thin semiconductors known as transition metal dichalcogenides have discovered that light can trigger a physical shift in their atomic lattice, creating a tunable way to adjust the materials’ behavior and properties.

Journal: ACS Nano
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Welch Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Taiwan Ministry of Education

Games for rehab: Fast communication for interactive VR and AR

University of Michigan
Grant and Award Announcement

Lag is one of the most irritating bugs in video gaming over the internet, but rather than let it stand in the way of potentially therapeutic virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) games, a U-M team is leading an effort to minimize it.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, core partners at Duke University, Columbia University and Nokia Bell Labs, as well as collaborators at the University of Southern California and Microsoft Research

2.75-million-year-old stone tools show hominin response to a hostile climate

University of Arkansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Namorotukunan reveals an enduring tradition, not a moment: human ancestors made the same types of tools for hundreds of thousands of years.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

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