NSF Funded Research News
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Aug-2025 03:11 ET (6-Aug-2025 07:11 GMT/UTC)
There’s something fishy going on with great white sharks that scientists can’t explain
Florida Museum of Natural HistoryPeer-Reviewed Publication
White sharks exhibit stark differences between the DNA in their nuclei and the DNA in their mitochondria, and the longstanding theory that explains why has just been invalidated.
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, College of Charleston, Florida Museum of Natural History
Zhou receives funding for novel performance profiling & analysis infrastructure for scientific deep learning workloads
George Mason UniversityGrant and Award Announcement
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation
‘Bridge’ of stray stars reveals active merger of two galaxy clusters
Brown UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, DOE/US Department of Energy, NASA Rhode Island Space Grant
An ancient predator’s shift in diet offers clues on surviving climate change
Rutgers UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
About 56 million years ago, when Earth experienced a dramatic rise in global temperatures, one meat-eating mammal responded in a surprising way: It started eating more bones.
That’s the conclusion reached by a Rutgers-led team of researchers, whose recent study of fossil teeth from the extinct predator Dissacus praenuntius reveals how animals adapted to a period of extreme climate change known as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The findings, published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, could help scientists predict how today’s wildlife might respond to modern global warming.
- Journal
- Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation
Metabolism may unlock the secret to a deeper understanding of neurodegeneration
University of MichiganPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Molecular Metabolism
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Biodiversity matters in every forest, but even more in wetter ones
University of MichiganPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation
Organized scientific fraud is growing at an alarming rate
Northwestern UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
Using data analysis and case studies, researchers investigated scientific fraud. They found publication of fraudulent science is likely outpacing the growth rate of legitimate science. Researchers pay for papers, authorships and citations to build reputations. “This study is probably the most depressing project I’ve been involved with in my entire life," says the study's corresponding author.
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health
Midwestern butterfly count: Big data yields bad news and clues
Michigan State UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey
Ancient arthropods on the move: Unraveling the secret steps of the burgess shale trilobites
Harvard UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
In a new study published in the BMC Biology, researchers in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, analyzed 156 limbs from 28 O. serratus fossil specimens to reconstruct the precise movement and function of these mysterious ancient arthropod appendages—shedding light on one of the planet’s earliest and most successful animals.
- Journal
- BMC Biology
- Funder
- U.S. National Science Foundation, Human Frontier Science Program