NSF Funded Research News
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-May-2026 18:16 ET (6-May-2026 22:16 GMT/UTC)
Engineered material uses light to destroy PFAS, other contaminants
Rice UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Materials Today
- Funder
- Air Force Research Laboratory, Welch Foundation
Study uncovers new drug target for huge class of viruses
University of Maryland Baltimore CountyPeer-Reviewed Publication
A University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) study, published in Nature Communications, uncovers how enteroviruses—including those causing polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and the common cold—hijack host cell machinery to replicate. Researchers determined the structure of a cloverleaf-shaped RNA element in the viral genome bound to the viral protein 3CD, which recruits host factors to form the viral replication complex. 3CD also acts as a switch between genome copying and protein synthesis. This highly conserved mechanism across all seven enteroviruses in the study presents a stable target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that could disrupt this essential interaction and prevent replication.
- Journal
- Nature Communications
Penn and UMich create world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots
University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied SciencePeer-Reviewed Publication
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months and cost just a penny each. Barely visible to the naked eye, the robots are smaller than grains of salt and could advance medicine, manufacturing and more.
- Journal
- Science Robotics
- Funder
- University of Pennsylvania, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, Fujitsu
Anatomy of a phytoplankton bloom revealed north of Hawai‘i
University of Hawaii at ManoaPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Progress In Oceanography
- Funder
- The Simons Foundation - Life Sciences
Is bioluminescence the key to safe, effective brain imaging?
Brown UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Nature Methods
- Funder
- Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, Brown University, NeuroNex
CRISPR primes goldenberry for fruit bowl fame
Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryPeer-Reviewed Publication
CSHL postdoc Miguel Santo Domingo Martinez and colleagues in the Lippman lab have used CRISPR gene editing to produce more compact goldenberry crops, making them easier to grow and harvest. The development could help bring this tasty fruit to farms and grocery stores around the globe.
- Journal
- Plants People Planet
- Funder
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Warblers borrow color-related genes from evolutionary neighbors, study finds
Penn StatePeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- PLOS Biology
- Funder
- Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Penn State Eberly College of Science
Roundworms discovered in Great Salt Lake are new to science
University of UtahPeer-Reviewed Publication
Roundworms recently discovered in Great Salt Lake are new to science. A new study by University of Utah biologists characterizes D. woaabi, the first of two nematode species collected from the lake's microbialites
- Funder
- Society of Systematic Biologists, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Hurricanes as a source of episodic natural selection
University of Rhode IslandPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences