NEWS RELEASES

In California’s Death Valley, where summer temperatures regularly soar above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, life seems almost impossible. Yet among the cracked earth and blinding sunlight, one native plant not only survives — it thrives. That plant, Tidestromia oblongifolia, has helped Michigan State University scientists uncover how life can flourish in extreme heat, revealing a potential blueprint for engineering crops that can adapt to our changing climate. In a new paper published in Current Biology, Research Foundation Professor Seung Yon “Sue” Rhee and Research Specialist Karine Prado report that T. oblongifolia grows faster in Death Valley’s summer conditions by rapidly adjusting its photosynthetic system to withstand the heat. 

In a Nov. 5 article in the journal Nature, a Princeton team reported their new qubit lasts for over 1 millisecond — three times longer than the best ever reported in a lab setting and nearly fifteen times longer than industry standard processors. The team built a fully functioning quantum chip to validate the performance of their new qubit, clearing major obstacles to efficient error correction and scaling for industrial systems.

The UA Power Group designed a silicon carbide-based motor drive for the hybrid version of a plane commonly used as an air taxi between islands.

Researchers have created a more energy dense storage material for iron-based batteries. The breakthrough could also improve applications in MRI technology and magnetic levitation.

Scientists find that the oscillation behavior of neutrinos may have led to increase in the matter to antimatter ratio to the tune of one part per billion, leading to the persistence of matter in the universe and the existence of galaxies, stars, planets ... and us

Airplane travel is more popular than ever, and our desire for fast transportation means jet fuel has become a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered a novel way to address that problem—by converting food waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that meets industry standards without relying on fossil fuel blends. Their process, described in a new Nature Communications study, could help the aviation industry meet its ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Lithium-ion batteries power our phones, cars, and even homes; ensuring their safe and efficient behavior has become incredibly important. Using a simple optical technique, Purdue University researchers have observed a battery's individual particles lighting up as they charge - enabling a more complete picture of the battery's overall health and performance.