New research reveals that people who eat the most ultra-processed foods show significantly elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) – a key marker of inflammation and a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease. The risk is particularly pronounced among adults aged 50 to 59, smokers, and individuals with unhealthy body weights. Surprisingly, physical activity didn’t appear to offset this effect: researchers found no significant difference in hs-CRP levels between sedentary individuals and those meeting exercise guidelines.

The ion of the hydrogen molecule is ideally suited for making ultra-precise measurements of important physical constants. Physicists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) headed by Professor Stephan Schiller Ph.D. have now used the “Doppler-free laser spectroscopy” method for the first time on the H₂⁺ ion, achieving a huge improvement in accuracy compared with previous measurements. From this, it is also possible to determine the proton-to-electron mass ratio more accurately than ever before, as the researchers report in the journal Nature. The method paves the way for examining aspects of “new physics”.

Today, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists announced the Finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards. Three will be named Laureates and receive a $250,000 prize at a Gala Ceremony in New York City on October 7, 2025. These Finalists include:

LIFE SCIENCES

Daniele Canzio, PhD, University of California, San Francisco (Neuroscience)

Kaiyu Guan, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Agriculture & Animal Sciences)

Philip J. Kranzusch, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Harvard Medical School (Microbiology)

Elizabeth Nance, PhD, University of Washington (Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology)

Tomasz Nowakowski, PhD, University of California, San Francisco (Neuroscience)

Samuel H. Sternberg, PhD, Columbia University/Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Molecular & Cellular Biology)

 

CHEMICAL SCIENCES

Song Lin, PhD, Cornell University (Organic Chemistry)

Joseph Cotruvo, Jr., PhD, The Pennsylvania State University (Biochemistry & Structural Biology)

Frank Leibfarth, PhD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Polymer Chemistry)

Ryan Lively, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology (Chemical Engineering)

Leslie M. Schoop, PhD, Princeton University (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry)

Yogesh Surendranath, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry)

 

PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Charlie Conroy, PhD, Harvard University (Astrophysics & Cosmology)

Nathaniel Craig, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara (Theoretical Physics)

Matthew McDowell, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology (Materials Science & Nanotechnology)

Prateek Mittal, PhD, Princeton University (Computer Science)

Elaina J. Sutley, PhD, University of Kansas (Civil Engineering)

Zhongwen Zhan, PhD, California Institute of Technology (Physical Earth Sciences)

A self-powered analytical device that detects toxic amines in water using electrochemiluminescence has been developed by researchers from Japan, enabling pollutant detection without an external power source. The device operates using voltage generated by liquid flow and produces light signals to indicate contamination. This breakthrough makes water quality testing more accessible, enabling real-time, portable monitoring in situations where traditional methods are impractical.

Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have developed a GaN transistor technology with a gate length of 70 nm that achieves record efficiency values under typical satellite conditions. In the future, this technology aims to enable compact active antennas for high-bitrate data transfers in the Ka, Q, and W-bands, thereby contributing to the establishment and expansion of seamless and resilient global communication networks via high-throughput satellites. Fraunhofer IAF will present these and other research results from the field of high-frequency electronics at EuMW in Utrecht from September 21 to 26, 2025.

This promising new catalyst can speed up the oxygen evolution reaction to create clean energy.

Unpaired electrons located at linear band dispersion (LBD) are exceptional and called Dirac electrons (DE). They are paid attention to because of the unique electronic properties such as temperature (T)-independent resistivity, as if they belong to neither metallic nor non-metallic substances. In this study, we have developed a series of new organic Dirac electron systems and discovered universal features of magnetic behavior originating from LBD.