Astronomers have found evidence for a possible first-of-its-kind "superkilonova," or a kilonova spurred by a supernova. Such an event has been hypothesized but never seen. 

A new rapid blood test for ALS has been announced by the not-for-profit Brain Chemistry Labs in Jackson Hole. Based on samples from 788 ALS patients and controls, the test can identify a person who has ALS with 97% accuracy from a single blood draw.

Two faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville — Hua “Kevin” Bai, a professor in the Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks in the Tickle College of Engineering, and Sheng Dai, a chemistry professor who holds a joint faculty appointment between UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory — have been elected National Academy of Inventors Fellows.

SAN ANTONIO — December 16, 2025 —Southwest Research Institute’s novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument aboard NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft has successfully collected first-light data. IMAP launched in September to help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system.

How can you tell if fruit has reached its optimal ripeness without picking it, touching it or carrying out any test that might damage it? A research team from the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has found the answer by applying near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy to the leaves closest to the fruit. They discovered that the technique allows reliable information to be obtained about the fruit’s developmental state without damaging it.

Helium leaks are hard to detect, since it is odorless, colorless, tasteless, and does not react with other chemical substances. In Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Nanjing University developed a device that utilizes sound waves to detect helium. The researchers built a device inspired by a traditional Japanese bamboo weaving technique called “Kagome-biki.” The triangular device also allows the researchers to determine the location of helium leaks in a 2D space and the researchers hopes to expand the device to locate leakage points in 3D space and develop the system into a portable device.

 The highly ordered, evenly spaced spikes of a cicada wing can be modified to act as an optical metamaterial, using their tiny geometry to modify interactions between light waves and matter. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers showed that these natural nanostructures can be tuned to amplify signals in molecular detection techniques. The team coated cicada wing spires in silver nanoparticles using two methods: sputtering deposition and e-gun evaporation.  The microscopic gap created by the silver-coatings provided an optimal cranny for strong and consistent electromagnetic hotspots to form in, enhancing improve surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) performance by a factor of a million.