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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Oct-2026 06:16 ET (28-Oct-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)

Beyond GPX4: Selenium metabolism emerges as an active regulator of ferroptosis sensitivity

Science Exploration Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, selenium has been recognized as an essential micronutrient, and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4)—a selenium-containing enzyme—has been widely regarded as the central guardian against ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death driven by lipid peroxidation. But is GPX4 the whole story?

Journal: Ferroptosis and Oxidative Stress
Funder: JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI

Smarter railways: New ultrasonic denoising method improves defect detection in heavy-haul lines

Tsinghua University Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Reliable defect detection is critical for the safe operation of heavy-haul railways. However, ultrasonic inspection signals are often distorted by complex non-Gaussian noise in small-radius curve sections. A research team developed a physics-informed denoising framework that integrates multi-feature fusion within an ideal binary mask paradigm. The proposed method improves defect echo extraction accuracy and reduces the risk of missed detections.

Journal: Communications in Transportation Research

Bath drug discovery spin-out wins national Emerging Technologies Competition

University of Bath
Grant and Award Announcement

Revolver Therapeutics has won the health category of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Emerging Technologies Competition 2026.

Removing ‘forever chemicals’ from farmlands — at a fraction of the cost

Yale University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Recent progress in the development of MOFs/POMOFs for light-mediated C-H bond activation

Tsinghua University Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Selective activation of inert C-H bonds-the "Holy Grail" of organic synthesis-has long eluded chemists due to their high bond energy and weak polarity. Now, a comprehensive review published in Polyoxometalates highlights how metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and polyoxometalate-based MOFs (POMOFs) are emerging as game-changing photocatalysts that harness sunlight to convert these stubborn bonds into high-value chemicals under mild conditions, offering a greener path for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and fine chemical industries.

Journal: Polyoxometalates

Reinforcement learning helps wave energy converters generate up to 14% more power - without needing a precise model

Tsinghua University Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from UCL, the University of Southampton and the University of Nottingham have developed a reinforcement learning-based control scheme that helps wave energy converters harvest more power from the ocean without relying on a precise mathematical model of the device. By combining a proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm with short-term wave forecasts, the controller continuously adapts itself and generated up to 13.9% more energy than a conventional controller when tested on real sea-wave data collected off the coast of Cornwall, UK.

Journal: Ocean

Physics: Universal structure of exceptional points discovered in non-linear systems

Universität Paderborn
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Exceptional points, or EPs for short, are among the phenomena of modern Physics. These are special points or locations at which the properties of matter, space or time change. In a new theoretical study, researchers from the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS) at Paderborn University, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Arizona, have now shown that ‘exceptional points’ in non-linear systems follow a universal geometric order – something that was previously unclear. Their findings have now been published in the prestigious journal *Nature Communications*.

Journal: Nature Communications

From CO₂, a new way to make chemistry more sustainable

Politecnico di Milano
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Published in Science, an international study with the contribution of Politecnico di Milano: carbon dioxide can be used as an oxygen source in a key reaction for the production of molecules useful to the chemical, pharmaceutical and materials industries

Journal: Science

Topological insulators advance towards practical applications

University of Würzburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the University of Würzburg have succeeded in detecting exceptionally robust electrical transport in a topological insulator. This could lead to new metrological applications.

Journal: Nature