A scientific team led by Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, researchers identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic transitions within the nucleus. The study, “Magnetic Character of the Low-Energy Enhancement in ⁷⁰Zn,” published in Nature, sheds light on a long-standing puzzle in nuclear physics and has far-reaching implications for astrophysics. 

Collective motion of microscopic oscillators enables a new form of physical computing: Researchers from Konstanz and Stuttgart bring “reservoir computing” to life.

A Yale-led research team has proposed a less expensive — and more environmentally friendly — method for removing certain “forever chemicals” from millions of acres of farmland in the United States and around the world. 

The new process, which is based on data from agricultural sites in Maine. They say it has the potential to address two connected environmental challenges: remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have contaminated agricultural land for decades and scaling up the use of enhanced weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

Just as important, the new approach allows previously contaminated cropland to once again be used for an agricultural purpose — unlike current remediation methods. 

“There is an obvious need for new tools to help farmers affected by ‘forever chemicals’ contamination,” said Noah Planavsky, a professor of Earth and planetary science in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the son and brother of farmers. He is also a faculty member of the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture and principal investigator for a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienceswhich describes the new method.