EurekAlert! News by Subject: Chemistry & Physics - News by Subject: Chemistry & Physics

Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Aug-2025 05:11 ET (27-Aug-2025 09:11 GMT/UTC)

Do neurons transmit light?

University of Rochester
Grant and Award Announcement

Researchers from the University of Rochester have begun an ambitious project to study if living neurons can transmit light through their axons—the long, tail-like nerve fibers of neurons that resemble optical fibers.

Funder: John Templeton Foundation

Tropical bounty: How forests can turn into chemical factories

Washington University in St. Louis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden has uncovered a surprising layer of diversity in tropical forests. Not only are the forests populated by a dizzying number of tree species, but each of those species takes a different approach to chemistry, increasing the array of natural compounds that provide important functions for the plants — and potentially for humans.

Journal: Ecology
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation

UH researcher unveils new model to evaluate impact of extreme events and natural hazards

University of Houston
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A University of Houston professor of engineering has created a sophisticated computer model that tracks how water moves in estuaries – which is critical for evaluating climate variability and sea level fluctuation impacts for coastal communities.

Journal: Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Fighting honey fraud with AI technology

McGill University

McGill University researchers have developed an AI-powered method to verify the origin of honey, ensuring that what’s on the label matches what’s in the jar. The breakthrough offers a potential solution to a long-standing problem.

“Honey is one of the most fraud-prone commodities in global trade. It often involves mislabelling where it was produced or the types of flowers that bees collected nectar from,” said lead author Stéphane Bayen, Associate Professor and Chair of McGill’s Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry.

Journal: Analytical Chemistry

A bio-inspired thermoelectric cement towards self-powered buildings

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team from Southeast University has developed a bio-inspired thermoelectric cement with remarkable Seebeck coefficient via employing interfacial selective immobilization.

Journal: Science Bulletin

High-performance probabilistic computing based on strongly correlated oxides

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Enhanced computing performance is achieved using nanomaterial-based probabilistic-bits with high operational stability.

Journal: National Science Review

Breaking limits: Full-aperture grating compressor paves the way for single-channel 100-petawatt ultrafast lasers

Ultrafast Science

Recently, a research team from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a groundbreaking study in Ultrafast Science, demonstrating a novel Full-Aperture Grating Compressor (FAGC). This innovation overcomes critical limitations in traditional 4-grating compressors and provides key technical support for achieving single-channel 100-petawatt (PW) ultra-intense ultrafast lasers, a milestone in extreme physics research.

Journal: Ultrafast Science