High-capacity and cost-effective sodium (Na) metal anode receives increasing attention for constructing high-energy-density metal batteries. However, the unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) that forms on Na metal anodes drives detrimental dendrite growth and capacity fade, and its formation mechanisms remain poorly understood. Herein, an accelerated on-the-fly learning (AOFL) approach is introduced to uncover the mechanistic underpinnings of SEI formation. By combining conventional on-the-fly learning with similarity structure screening, AOFL achieves 71% faster simulations than ab initio molecular dynamics while maintaining comparable accuracy. The ClO₄⁻ decomposition forms Na₂O during the interfacial reaction simulation, while proton abstraction from 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) by reactive oxygen leads to NaOH formation, both of which are identified as critical inorganic SEI components. These insights afford theoretical guidance for elucidating SEI formation mechanisms and for the rational design of advanced electrolytes.

Researchers have developed a room-temperature liquid metal method that cleanly separates cathode materials from aluminum foil in spent Li ion batteries, eliminating the need for heating or chemical leaching. Liquid metals infiltrate aluminum grain boundaries and dissolve the foil within 30 minutes, achieving 99.4 percent separation efficiency across all four major commercial cathode types. The liquid metal is fully recyclable and coproduces clean hydrogen gas as a valuable byproduct.

In the high-stakes world of drug discovery, building a new medicine is a lot like microscopic architecture. To create the next breakthrough antibiotic or brain-targeting therapy, chemists must snap together fragile molecular building blocks. But for decades, one of the most useful chemical pieces has been notoriously stubborn, requiring conditions so harsh they often destroy the very medicine being built. Now, researchers have found a way to pick the lock.

An international collaboration of astronomers has produced one of the most precise measurements yet of how fast the local Universe is expanding. The result deepens one of the most significant challenges in modern cosmology. John Blakeslee, astronomer at NSF NOIRLab, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, is a member of the collaboration, and telescopes across two NSF NOIRLab Programs contributed data.

A recent session of the Carbon and Soil Research International Forum brought together leading scientists to address a critical challenge in sustainable agriculture: how to improve soil health while maximizing carbon sequestration. The 22nd installment of the forum was held online on March 11, 2026, and is now available for public viewing via a recorded presentation on YouTube.

The 2026 season of the Pharma.AI webinar series will showcase the ongoing AI revolution in life sciences, including the increased interest in the use of foundation models why specialized models remain essential for biology, chemistry, and translational research; How Pharma.AI brings together foundation models and scientific AI agents within a unified AI-driven workflow for drug R&D and scientific research; and how Insilico’s leading “AI trains AI” approach may enable foundation models to be better adapted for scientific and drug discovery applications, accelerating the evolution of AI decision-making systems.

A multidisciplinary study conducted by researchers from the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology, Ancient History, Medieval History, and Historiographical Sciences and Techniques at the University of Murcia, together with the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Chemical Institute for Energy and the Environment (IQUEMA) at the University of Córdoba, reveal a unique combination of pigments never before documented in Hispania, with only one known parallel in Ephesus, Turkey

A new type of radiofrequency trap can capture particles with extremely different requirements and could theoretically hold both types of particles at the same time. Researchers in the group of Professor Dmitry Budker from the PRISMA⁺⁺ Cluster of Excellence and the Helmholtz Institute at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) were able to trap calcium ions or electrons in the same apparatus. The team’s findings, published in Physical Review A, show the potential of this technology for synthesizing antihydrogen.