In May 2026, Tabitha Awuor Amollo is spending some weeks as a guest scientist at HZB, analysing perovskite thin films at BESSY II. The Kenyan physicist from Egerton University, Nairobi, was recently recognised for her achievements in research and teaching. For the development of a solar-powered refrigeration system for use in rural health centres, she  has been awarded the 2026 Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)-Elsevier Foundation Award. An interview on exceptional projects and daily struggles of a scientist. Questions were asked by Antonia Rötger.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers Dustin Gilbert and Anne Murray teamed up to investigate bee magnetism after learning honeybees can sense Earth’s geomagnetic field. With Laura Russo, they tested 120+ bee species over six years and found nearly 90% are magnetic, expanding knowledge far beyond earlier limited studies.

The U.S. space agency used a device developed by a startup supported by FAPESP to monitor the sleep patterns, physical activity, and interactions of astronauts on the Artemis 2 mission.

A new study published in Big Earth Data develops a stochastic random forest (RF) classifier to predict extreme wind-gust (WG) occurrences along the western Mediterranean coast by integrating instantaneous and trailing 24-hour meteorological variables across multiple height levels, enabling the model to capture both short-term evolution and immediate atmospheric forcing. It demonstrates strong forecasting performance with high precision, low false-alarm rates, and reliable uncertainty estimation, while identifying barometric-pressure tendencies and humidity as key predictors, highlighting the framework’s potential for early-warning systems, climate resilience, and disaster-risk management. UERRA reanalysis data can be downloaded from the Copernicus Climate Data Store platform: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/. Supplementary materials supporting the findings of this study are openly accessible at the public GitHub repository: https://github.com/AI4OCEANS/.

After over seven years of research and development, the student-run AggieSat Laboratory has sent the AggieSat 6 satellite into Earth’s orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard the Minotaur IV. 

Ahead of World IBD Day on 19 May, footage from the EU-funded Algae4IBD shows how project is uncovering anti-inflammatory and gut-supporting compounds from microalgae and seaweeds, developing them into food prototypes for IBD patients and beyond. 

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new, non-toxic method for protecting wood that could eventually replace conventional pressure-treated timber. The method is based on lignin – a natural substance found in wood – and is designed to avoid the environmentally harmful chemicals that are currently used to extend the lifespan of wood products. The researchers aim to have the technology ready for market use before 2030.

Leipzig/Lindenberg. To improve weather and climate forecasts, clouds must be described more accurately in the relevant models. One problem is that, until now, it has not been possible to represent clouds in their complex three-dimensional structure. The C3SAR group of the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to change this and, for the first time, determine the scattering of solar radiation in clouds whilst taking their three-dimensional structure into account. The C3SAR measurement campaign (Cloud 3D Structure and Radiation) is a key component of this effort. It will take place from May to August 2026 south-east of Berlin. Over 40 researchers will operate more than 35 instruments at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory of the German Weather Service (DWD) and its measurement site in Falkenberg (Tauche). The aim is to measure the influence of the three-dimensional nature of clouds on solar radiation at ground level with unprecedented accuracy. In addition to ground-based measurements, radiation measurements using drones and helicopters will be carried out in parallel for the first time, alongside comparisons with data from the latest generation of weather and climate satellites.

At Georgia State University, chemistry faculty developed a simple closed-loop pump system that cuts lab water use by nearly 99.8 percent by recirculating water instead of sending it down the drain. The low-cost innovation is now saving millions of liters of water each year and serving as a model for sustainable science labs.

Gordon Burghardt, Alumni Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and international collaborators reviewed 37 primate species and found social “style” best predicts whether adults keep playing. Tolerant species with flexible bonds and cooperation show adult–adult play in over 90% of cases, while despotic, aggressive hierarchies show almost none.