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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 12:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)

Biochar benefits may fade faster than expected, 8-year field study finds

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Biochar is often promoted as a long-lasting solution for improving soil fertility, raising soil pH, storing carbon, and helping crops access nutrients. But a new 8-year field study published in Biochar suggests that its benefits may be more temporary than many farmers and land managers expect.

Journal: Biochar

New field study finds practical way to cut nitrogen pollution from tea plantations

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A two-year tea field experiment in subtropical China shows that combining nitrogen transformation inhibitors with biochar can reduce harmful nitrogen gas emissions while supporting tea productivity.

Journal: Biochar

Machine-learning how to overcome antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
Peer-Reviewed Publication

With tens of millions of annual cases, gonorrhea is the second most frequently reported sexually transmitted infection (STI). Alone in the U.S., over 600,000 cases are reported each year. If left untreated, gonorrhea can result in a plethora of serious health issues. The major challenge in more effectively controlling the disease lies in the ability of the responsible pathogen to rapidly develop resistance against newly available antibiotics.

Now, a new study published in Science Translational Medicine led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member James Collins, Ph.D. at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, MIT, and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard offers an exciting new AI-enabled strategy to identify new chemical compounds that could be further developed into antibiotic therapies for N. gonorrhoeae.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine

Shanghai and China's coastal waters might be especially vulnerable to this century's predicted sea level rise, especially in the context of local land subsidence, river water discharge, and marine currents, per new analysis

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Shanghai and China's coastal waters might be especially vulnerable to this century's predicted sea level rise, especially in the context of local land subsidence, river water discharge, and marine currents, per new analysis

Journal: PLOS One

Everyday chemical exposures linked to preterm birth, lower birthweight

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that pregnant women are exposed to dozens of everyday chemicals, many of which can impact how early a child is born or a child’s weight at birth. These outcomes influence a child’s health throughout their life.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

New quantum experiment overcomes major obstacle in search for dark matter and gravitational waves

Imperial College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Results from a UK collaboration mark a major step towards building large-scale quantum sensors.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Royal Society, Research Councils UK, University of Cambridge, Generalitat de Catalunya, Ministerio de Universidades

Four-stage pathway proposed for global energy system transformation toward carbon neutrality

Higher Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new commentary in Engineering presents a clear four-stage roadmap for shifting the global energy system toward carbon neutrality. Unlike past energy transitions, this transformation demands joint advances in technology, policy, and society. It also introduces the T-ESGO framework to integrate energy, material, carbon, and information flows, stressing innovation, cross-disciplinary work, and global cooperation to drive practical, sustainable progress.

Journal: Engineering

New heat-regulating fabric feels fluffy like cotton — but doesn't get wet

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Once cotton gets wet, it pulls heat from your body. This is helpful when you’re exercising or outside on a hot day but dangerous in the bitter cold. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have created an ultralight synthetic fiber material with a cotton-like fluffiness that also repels water. The prototype fabric outperformed regular cotton in both retaining heat in the cold and releasing heat at room temperature.

Journal: ACS Energy Letters

New scenario for cosmic neutrino events

National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), with help from a ‘natural telescope’ formed by gravity, have identified the source of a neutrino burst. The team expected a supermassive black hole to be the engine driving the remarkably bright galaxy. Instead, the team found that the galaxy was driven by vigorous star formation. This result provides important observational evidence to help explain the mysterious origin of cosmic neutrinos.

Journal: Nature Astronomy
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, TI-FRIS