Jeffery Kelly, the H. Lutcher Brown Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, has been elected as a member of the European Academy of Engineering for his contributions to understanding how proteins fold, misfold and aggregate. Kelly’s findings laid the groundwork for therapeutics for diseases linked to proteins that fold incorrectly or clump together. Membership recognizes professionals who have made exceptional contributions to engineering and technology.

Published in Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, the study abandons the long-standing "component-independent assumption" used in conventional kinetic models. Instead, it introduces a component-coupled framework based on representative volume element analysis (RVEA) and a controlled-release densification pretreatment using sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. By transforming lignin-derived inhibitors into quantifiable kinetic indicators, the model captures how lignin removal dynamically exposes hemicellulose, driving the transition from slow to fast hydrolysis phases. Semi-analytical solutions deliver high computational efficiency, while explicit relationships between process parameters and kinetic behavior enable rational design of lignocellulosic biorefinery processes.

In Biointerphases, researchers seek to explore whether setulae — the nanoscopic hairs geckos have covering their body — may have a role in preventing water from escaping and keeping the lizards from drying out. The team created a simplified computational model of the gecko’s skin, complete with a row of setulae, and using fluid dynamics models, they simulated the flow of air across the skin. They found that the setulae, thanks to their precise arrangement, trap air between one another, sheltering the skin and retaining water.

SAN ANTONIO — August 25, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has received a $1 million, two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to develop a sustainable domestic supply of graphite by converting captured carbon dioxide.

Queen Mary University of London researchers develop a quantum computational spectroscopy approach that could open new ways of studying complex quantum systems 

Pure water only freezes at around minus 38 degrees Celsius. Tiny mineral dust particles act as so‑called ice nucleators—crystallization seeds on which ice crystals form. A research team at Bielefeld University and the University of Vienna in cooperation with researchers from Helsinki University has now demonstrated for the first time, at the molecular scale, why the mineral microcline is particularly effective at forming ice in clouds. Published in a renowned scientific journal, the study provides a new explanation for processes that influence climate and precipitation worldwide.

The Royal Society of Chemistry presented the Faraday Medal in Electrochemistry to Mari Lundström, Professor of Hydrometallurgy at Aalto University, in York (UK) on 24 August. The international honour acknowledges Professor Lundström’s pioneering work in hydrometallurgy and sustainable electrochemical processes for critical raw material recovery and recycling.  

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin textures that can behave like particles and move and diffuse in real space. This makes them promising information carriers for future memory and computing technologies. A new computational study in npj Spintronics shows how geometry and topology can guide asymmetric thermal diffusion of magnetic skyrmions, offering insights for unlocking unconventional computing paradigms, including future stochastic and neuromorphic computing devices for more efficient artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

An international collaborative team led by researchers from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Columbia University has delivered a comprehensive microscopic portrait of magnetic ordering and spin dynamics in Li(Zn,Mn)As, a landmark bulk diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) promising to overcome longstanding limitations of classic (Ga,Mn)As thin-film systems. Published in Materials Futures, the study leverages multi-geometry muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance (µSR) to resolve three core unresolved puzzles surrounding the material’s ferromagnetism, offering quantitative benchmarks for bound magnetic polaron (BMP) percolation theories widely applied to DMS research.