Flowering plants, or angiosperms, now dominate Earth’s flora, but biologists thought they truly took off only after dinosaurs died out following an asteroid impact 66 million years ago. UC Berkeley paleobotanists analyzed fossilized seeds and fruits from a ‘botanical Pompeii’ in New Mexico that contradicts this scenario. A mature forest buried under ash 10 million years earlier was dominated by angiosperms with elaborate diaspores that could only have been spread by animals, including early mammals.

After analyzing a diverse array of geological evidence, researchers found that the Andes of west-central Argentina, which includes the highest peak in South America, formed in four distinct and rapid pulses of activity, each lasting about 5 to 8 million years — a growth rate that is faster and more punctuated than previously thought.

Rice researchers have developed a high-throughput method to measure the quality of diamond and other wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, providing rapid feedback for improving crystal growth and device reliability.

The National Science Foundation-funded Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA), a platform created through a $5 million NSF award to UCF Pegasus Professor Gregory Welch, has reached two major milestones: launching its first large-scale remote study and awarding its first use grant. Led by UCF Research Associate Professor Gerd Bruder, the study will investigate cybersickness using remote participants in virtual reality environments, while researchers from San José State University will use the first VERA grant to explore how people engage with immersive technologies to improve learning experiences across education, cultural institutions and public engagement. The milestones mark a significant step toward expanding the scale, accessibility and impact of virtual and augmented reality research nationwide.

A Florida State University computational scientist is paving the way for future medical breakthroughs by developing mathematical models and simulations to predict the behavior of a unique drug-delivery method, which aims to deploy treatments directly to targeted sites in the body.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and Department of Chemistry developed a nanoplasmonic “leaf,” a wireless bioelectronic device that they used to stimulate nerves and pace heartbeats in an animal model.

West Virginia University researchers are developing new laser-based techniques to observe plasma behavior in unprecedented detail, opening a window into interactions that shape technologies ranging from computer chips and spacecraft engines to next-generation fusion energy systems.

New instruments on the horizon promise the most precise tools yet to study and experiment on the smallest and most complex materials ever manufactured.