EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Nov-2025 02:11 ET (28-Nov-2025 07:11 GMT/UTC)

AI-powered model predicts floods, improves water management worldwide

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Floods account for up to 40% of weather-related disasters worldwide, and their frequency has more than doubled since 2000, according to a recent report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Global flood losses now average $388 billion a year. Simultaneously, droughts are becoming more widespread and damaging across the world.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

USF study: AI and citizen science reveal potential first detection of invasive malaria mosquito in Madagascar

University of South Florida
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the University of South Florida have used artificial intelligence and citizen science to identify what may be the first specimen of Anopheles stephensi — an invasive and deadly malaria-carrying mosquito — ever detected in Madagascar.

Journal: Insects
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Science Foundation

Understanding water-soluble polymers in wastewater

Lehigh University
Grant and Award Announcement

Xuanhong Cheng, a professor of bioengineering and materials science and engineering at Lehigh University, and her team are collaborating with materials science company Dow Inc. to study how microbes—microscopic organisms that digest sewage—interact with and potentially biodegrade viscosifiers, polymers used in consumer products like shampoos, detergents, and cosmetics to keep ingredients suspended and stable in solution. Their proposal recently received a three-year GOALI award from the National Science Foundation. The program funds projects that support university-industry collaborations.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

How people learn computer programming

Society for Neuroscience
Peer-Reviewed Publication

To acquire computer programming skills, the brain repurposes cognitive areas typically involved in logical reasoning.

Journal: JNeurosci
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Researchers watched students’ brains as they learned to program

Johns Hopkins University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Computer programming powers modern society and enabled the AI revolution but little is known about how our brains learn this essential skill. To help answer that question, Johns Hopkins University researchers studied the brain activity of university students before and after they learned how to code.

Journal: JNeurosci
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Text-based system speeds up hospital discharges to long-term care

Cornell University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A text message–based system that regularly updates long-term hospital patients’ status and care facilities’ availability helps streamline the typically time-consuming placement process.

Journal: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Funder: Gates Millenium Scholar Program, U.S. National Science Foundation, Amazon, Queen’s Medical Center
Meeting: Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Stillbirths in the U.S. higher than previously reported, often occur with no clinical risk factors

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Stillbirths occur at a higher rate in the U.S. than previously reported, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Mass General Brigham. The researchers also found that, while most stillbirths had at least one identified clinical risk factor, a substantial share had none, particularly those occurring at 40+ weeks gestation.

Journal: JAMA
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

First steps in home and building flood prevention

University of Texas at Austin

A new dataset of pre- and post-hurricane first-floor elevation for homes and buildings in a Southwest Florida city was awarded a 2025 DesignSafe Dataset Award, which recognized the dataset's diverse contributions to natural hazards research.

Journal: Natural Hazards Review
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Georgia Tech’s soft robotics flips the script on ‘The Terminator’

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech researchers are rewriting robotics — swapping steel for soft, intelligent materials that move like muscle.
In Materials Horizons, Hong Yeo reveals how AI-driven “smart muscles” can respond and adapt in real time.
The discovery opens new doors for prosthetics, therapy devices, and human-machine collaboration.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Hidden toxins in e-cigarette fluids may harm lung cells

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by University of California, Riverside, scientists has found that two toxic chemicals can form when the main ingredient in most e-cigarette fluids is heated, and that these compounds can harm human lung cells.

Journal: Frontiers in Toxicology
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Center for Tobacco Products

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