Dr. Alison Altman is using high-pressure chemistry to rewrite the rules of the periodic table—work that just earned her an NSF CAREER Award.

Indiana University environmental anthropologist Eduardo Brondizio was awarded the 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for his work on human-environment interaction in the Amazon and global-level work linking biodiversity to humankind. Established in the early 1970s, the Tyler Prize was the first of its kind to recognize global leaders in the environment and sustainability. Often called the “Nobel Prize for the environment,” the Tyler Prize has been awarded to scientists, policymakers and thought leaders whose work has advanced environmental science, conservation and sustainability across the world.

Researchers at the University of Rochester have engineered a new form of QR codes that can protect smartphone users from QR code-based phishing attacks by signaling if users are being directed to a safe link or a potential scam. The technology is outlined in a new study published in the journal IEEE Security & Privacy.

A team of public health researchers found “very low-certainty evidence” to support a commonly held belief that nicotine vaping is a gateway to cigarette smoking for young people.