Sound and noise have a major impact on our ability to focus and communicate, which is why acoustic requirements often feature in green building standards. Acoustic consultant George Edgar evaluated multiple materials, including timber, steel, and concrete, for their sound insulating properties along with their global warming potential. He found that concrete could have a far higher GWP than timber, and walls that incorporated timber outperformed standard steel studs, even when they needed more wall linings to achieve the same acoustic performance.

The KATRIN experiment has searched with unprecedented precision for signs of a fourth type of neutrino, that could reveal new physics beyond the Standard Model. No signal was found, tightening the constraints on one of the most debated puzzles in neutrino research.

As the scientific community embraces open science principles, the American Physical Society is launching a new open access journal designed to meet the moment. With submissions opening in late February 2026, APS Open Science will publish a diverse range of research outputs while upholding the trusted, rigorous review processes that define APS standards.

Building on decades of effort, Lizhong Zhang, Member (2023–24) in the School of Natural Sciences; James Stone, Professor in the School; and a team of astrophysicists have achieved a major milestone: developing the most comprehensive model to date of luminous black hole accretion. Their breakthrough allows scholars to "observe" such black hole systems not through a telescope, but through a computer.

The largest annual meeting focused on weather, water, and climate sciences, the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) will be held 25–29 January, 2026, in Houston, Texas. 

Using measurements and advanced computer models, an international team led by researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt has pinpointed an emission source for the climate-damaging gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) in southern Germany. This regional source of SF₆ has not yet been taken into account in Germany's climate balance sheet.

To see if a fish is fresh, people recommend looking at its eyes and gills or giving it a sniff. But a more accurate check for food quality and safety is to look for compounds that form when decomposition starts. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sensors have developed a simple, effective electronic device that quickly measures one of these compounds. The prototype sensor can determine how fresh a fish is in less than two minutes.