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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Apr-2026 21:16 ET (1-May-2026 01:16 GMT/UTC)

Prediction of optic disc edema progression during spaceflight

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest crewmembers who did not develop optic disc edema (ODE) on flight day 30 were unlikely to develop clinically concerning ODE on flight day 150. The data suggest that optical coherence tomography imaging during spaceflight missions provides an opportunity to predict the magnitude of ODE that may develop during a longer-lasting mission.

Journal: JAMA Ophthalmology

The riddle of rising extreme heat days in Europe: Remote “triggers” and local “amplifiers”

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The riddle of rising extreme heat days in Europe: Remote “triggers” and local “amplifiers”

Journal: Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

From light to logic

University of Pittsburgh
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A groundbreaking new study has made significant contributions to the long-running vision of “materials that compute,” a concept that has evolved from the pioneering collaborations between researchers Balazs and Levitan. This vision aims to create materials capable of processing information in a manner similar to traditional computing systems, but with the added benefits of flexibility and adaptability inherent in physical materials.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canadian Foundation for Innovation

Scientists get a first look at the innermost region of a white dwarf system

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MIT astronomers used the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer to identify key features in the innermost region of a white dwarf system called an intermediate polar. This extremely energetic environment has been inaccessible to most telescopes until now.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
Funder: NASA Headquarters

Theoretical framework developed by University of Tartu researchers creates new opportunities for clean energy production

Estonian Research Council
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international study, involving researchers from the University of Tartu Institute of Chemistry, was recently published in Chemical Society Reviews. It provides the most comprehensive theoretical description to date of electrocatalysis and how its current limitations can be addressed. The research establishes a framework that helps design more efficient fuel cells, electrolysers, and other clean energy conversion devices.

Journal: Chemical Society Reviews
Funder: Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, Estonian Research Council, Independent Research Fund Denmark, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Danish National Research Foundation Centers of Excellence, specifically the Center for High Entropy Alloy Catalysis.

Scientists quantitatively identify main causes of Russian once-in-a-century heatwave

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists quantitatively identify main causes of Russian once-in-a-century heatwave

Journal: Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

JUNO experiment delivers first physics results two months after completion

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Reports and Proceedings

After more than a decade of design, construction, and international collaboration, the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory has become the world's first next-generation, large-scale, high-precision neutrino detector to begin operation. The detector's key performance indicators fully meet or surpass design expectations, confirming that JUNO is ready to deliver frontier measurements in neutrino physics.

Journal: Chinese Physics C

University of Minnesota chemists pioneer new method for future drug and agrochemical discovery

University of Minnesota
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of organic and computational chemists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have created a new, modern tool to make the process of creating pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals faster, cost-effective, and energy-efficient.

Journal: Nature

The road ahead: Why conserving the invisible 99% of life is fundamental to planetary health

Applied Microbiology International
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper outlines how scientists came together to put together the first microbial conservation roadmap under the leadership of Applied Microbiology International President, Professor Jack Gilbert.

In July 2025, IUCN formally launched the MCSG within its Species Survival Commission, co-chaired by Professor Gilbert and Raquel Peixoto (KAUST / ISME). This came out of a meeting that Professor Gilbert led in May of conservation experts and microbiologists to define the premise of conservation in a microbial world.

This is the first global coalition dedicated to safeguarding microbial biodiversity, which is the ‘invisible 99% of life’, to ensure that microbes are recognized as essential to the planet’s ecological, climate, and health systems.

Journal: Sustainable Microbiology