EurekAlert! National Science Foundation - NSF Funded Research News

NSF Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Nov-2025 12:11 ET (21-Nov-2025 17:11 GMT/UTC)

5-Nov-2025

Ice Age trees helped stabilize Earth's atmosphere by suffocating

Ancient trees may have played a key role in regulating Earth’s climate during the last ice age — by breathing less efficiently. A new study, led by a researcher at Penn State and published today (Nov. 5) in the journal Nature Geoscience, examined chemical fingerprints in subfossil wood, or preserved trees, from across North America to understand how plants responded to the low carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and cooler temperatures of the last glacial period, about 20,000 years ago.

Journal: Nature Geoscience
Funder: The Aguoron Institute, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. National Science Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation

4-Nov-2025

Study paints detailed picture of forest canopy damage caused by ‘heat dome’

Oregon State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A satellite imagery analysis shows that the 2021 “heat dome” scorched almost 5% of the forested area in western Oregon and western Washington, turning foliage in canopies from a healthy green to red or orange, sometimes within a matter of hours.

Journal: Global Change Biology
Funder: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. National Science Foundation, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station

4-Nov-2025

Study shows light can reshape atom-thin semiconductors for next-generation optical devices

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rice researchers studying a class of atom-thin semiconductors known as transition metal dichalcogenides have discovered that light can trigger a physical shift in their atomic lattice, creating a tunable way to adjust the materials’ behavior and properties.

Journal: ACS Nano
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Welch Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Taiwan Ministry of Education

4-Nov-2025

Games for rehab: Fast communication for interactive VR and AR

University of Michigan
Grant and Award Announcement

Lag is one of the most irritating bugs in video gaming over the internet, but rather than let it stand in the way of potentially therapeutic virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) games, a U-M team is leading an effort to minimize it.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, core partners at Duke University, Columbia University and Nokia Bell Labs, as well as collaborators at the University of Southern California and Microsoft Research

4-Nov-2025

2.75-million-year-old stone tools show hominin response to a hostile climate

University of Arkansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Namorotukunan reveals an enduring tradition, not a moment: human ancestors made the same types of tools for hundreds of thousands of years.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

3-Nov-2025

How algae help corals bounce back after bleaching

University of California - Riverside
Grant and Award Announcement

Amidst the decline of reefs worldwide, UC Riverside scientists have launched a $1.1 million project to uncover how coral regains life-giving algae after suffering from heat stress.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

3-Nov-2025

When speaking out feels risky

Arizona State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Arizona State University and University of Michigan researchers have developed a model showing how fear, boldness and surveillance interact to shape when people choose to speak up or stay silent.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, Advanced Research Projects Agency

3-Nov-2025

Rainfall tipping point predicts drought risk for crops

Stanford University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In many parts of the world, staple crops such as maize and wheat are dependent on rainfall recycled from land rather than oceans, making them more vulnerable to drought. Researchers at Stanford and the University of California San Diego identified a critical threshold in atmospheric moisture sources that could help predict and prevent future crop failures.

Journal: Nature Sustainability
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, Center for Global Transformation at University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy

3-Nov-2025

OHSU researchers identify new tools for early cancer detection, treatment

Oregon Health & Science University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new review by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute and other universities highlights how advances in New Approach Methodologies and tissue engineering are offering powerful new tools to study the earliest stages of cancer development. New Approach Methodologies use human-relevant technologies such as in vitro tests, organoids, organs-on-a-chip and computational modeling to replace, reduce or refine animal testing.

Journal: Nature Reviews Bioengineering
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation, American Cancer Society

31-Oct-2025

Researchers build brain-inspired computer prototype

University of Texas at Dallas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Texas at Dallas researchers have taken an important step forward in building a neuromorphic computer by creating a small-scale prototype that learns patterns and makes predictions using fewer training computations than conventional AI systems. Their next challenge is to scale up the proof-of-concept to larger sizes.

Journal: Communications Engineering
Funder: Semiconductor Research Corporation, U.S. National Science Foundation