EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-May-2026 16:15 ET (6-May-2026 20:15 GMT/UTC)

How to motivate collective action on climate

Stanford University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

One of the most effective ways to move individuals to act together on climate involves showing them how past collective actions have delivered structural change, a new study finds. What doesn’t work? Inducing guilt, or emphasizing co-benefits for health and economic growth.

Journal: PNAS Nexus
Funder: Grantham Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Keynes Fund, Carlsberg Foundation, European Research Council

Context matters: Looking at role in fishery sustainability could serve as a foundation to improve fisheries worldwide

University of Rhode Island
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Governance arrangements that fit social-ecological context help support fishery sustainability, according to Mateja Nenadović in the University of Rhode Island's Department of Marine Affairs. Nenadović’s fieldwork has taken him across Northern and Central America and the Caribbean. He recently published a new paper that he says could serve as a foundation to improve sustainable fisheries worldwide.

Journal: Fish and Fisheries

Nepal’s green success story has a hidden social gap, Notre Dame research shows

University of Notre Dame
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In recent years, Nepal has been heralded as a global leader in community-based forest conservation. By handing over nearly a third of its nationally owned forest to local villagers in the 1980s, the country reversed years of deforestation and effectively doubled its forest cover. However, a new study from the University of Notre Dame suggests these environmental successes may exclude Nepal’s most vulnerable groups from their accompanying economic benefits.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

Mighty microscopic fibers key to cell division and life itself

University of California - San Francisco
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Every second, millions of cells in your body divide in two. In the space of an hour, they duplicate their DNA and grow a web of protein fibers around it called a spindle. The spindle extends its many fibers from the chromosomes in the center to the edges of the cell. Then, with extraordinary force, it pulls the chromosomes apart.

Journal: Current Biology
Funder: UCSF Discovery Fellowship, UC Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineering Community Fellowship, H2H8 Research Grant, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

A protein tape-recorder enables scientists to measure and decode cellular processes at scale and over time

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Called "CytoTape", University of Michigan researchers developed a flexible thread-like intracellular protein fiber, designed with the help of artificial intelligence, to record cellular processes in vivo.

Journal: Nature
Funder: American Federation for Aging Research, Whitehall Foundation, Klingenstein Philanthropies, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Cars and planes could avoid hazardous ice, freezing rain with new sensors

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pilots, drivers and automated safety systems in cars and airplanes could be alerted to icy hazards by a pair of sensors developed at the University of Michigan.

Journal: Scientific Reports

Breaching the fortress: Two-faced nanoparticles revive antibiotics against superbugs

The University of Osaka
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international research team led by The University of Osaka has demonstrated that two-faced Janus nanoparticles can restore the effectiveness of antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria. These particles disrupt the protective outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, which normally blocks antibiotics. This allows conventional drugs to regain access and kill the once-resistant microbes. This synergistic strategy restores the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, offering a new line of defense against the growing threat of superbugs and extending the utility of our current medical arsenal.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, The Nippon Foundation

Wood burning in homes drives dangerous air pollution in winter

Northwestern University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Only 2% of U.S. homes rely on wood as their primary heating source, but residential wood burning accounts for 22% of fine particulate matter in winter air, a new study finds. The researchers estimate 8,600 premature deaths per year are associated with wood-burning fireplaces, furnaces and stoves. People of color burn less wood yet disproportionately experience higher exposure rates.

Journal: Science Advances

Biologists and engineers follow goopy clues to plant-wilting bacteria

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Slippery, drippy goop makes Ralstonia bacteria devastating killers of plants, causing rapid wilting in tomato, potato and a wide range of other crops, according to new research. The work comes from an unusual collaboration between plant pathologists and engineers at UC Davis.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Research uses radar to expose sky’s organized, living habitat

Purdue University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The lower atmosphere, or troposphere, may be the largest habitat on the planet. A study published in Ecology argues that this vast aerial expanse is an environment teeming with life.

Journal: Ecology
Funder: NASA

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