In a recent study published in Analytical Chemistry, researchers from the University of Amsterdam’s Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) reveal a sobering reality regarding "nontargeted" chemical analysis. Although widely used for screening the environment for chemicals, this concept isn't nearly as broad as its name suggests, leaving massive "blind spots" in the data. To quantify these gaps, the team developed a novel computational framework: Measurable Feature Prediction. It helps predict which regions of the vast chemical space are actually measurable — before running real samples.

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers have uncovered evidence for our Sun joining a mass migration of similar “twins” leaving the core regions of our galaxy, 4 to 6 billion years ago. The team created and studied an unprecedentedly accurate catalogue of stars and their properties using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite. Their discovery sheds light on the evolution of our galaxy, particularly the development of the rotating bar-like structure at its center.

An oddly-behaving star led two UW astronomers to capture rare evidence of a collision between two planets in a distant solar system. The discovery could aid scientists in their search for worlds similar to our own.

A new class of photonic devices enables the precise broadcasting of light from the chip into free space in a scalable way, which could lead to advanced displays, high-speed optical communications, and larger-scale quantum computers.

For decades, astronomers have used distant supernovae as cosmic lighthouses to test fundamental physics and to measure the universe. For Joseph Farah, a fifth-year graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, one particular supernova began to signal something never seen before: a “chirp.”

Breakthrough discovery provides new clues about how these celestial bodies - that push the known laws of physics to their limits - find each other.