Shengxi Huang, associate professor in Rice University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was elected this month as a fellow of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in recognition of her contributions to the field and service to its scientific community.

The effects of climate on forest biomass differs  among forests on with different histories on a continental scale

Microplastic pollution in the Gulf of Mexico is contaminating Texas oysters and causing biochemical stress and physiological damage

US meat products with sustainability labels do cost more, but price premiums vary greatly - from an average 7% increase for "organic" labelled chicken, to an average 33% increase for "grass-fed" labelled beef

Published in Chemical Science, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have designed and synthesized new multi-functional compounds that change structure under UV light. Depending on the light conditions,  the molecules reversibly switch between two stable forms through a ring-opening and ring-closing reaction.  These molecular switches have a range of desirable properties, for example glowing with fluorescence after their structure changes, making it easy to see which state the molecule is in.

By analyzing decades of war death statistics, researchers found large civil wars tend to cool off over time, but wars between nations show a persistent risk of ratcheting up in size. 

Heather Kelly, field crops pathologist at the University of Tennessee, has received a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award for two one-month trips to Brazil in 2026 and 2027

Little red dots have puzzled astronomers since their discovery in JWST data from the Universe’s deep past. Their ‘powering engines’ might resemble a newly discovered phenomenon dubbed a “black hole star”—an early, rapidly growing black hole wrapped in dense gas. This object, described in a study published today in Nature by researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and international collaborators, may help explain how billion-solar-mass black holes formed so soon after the Big Bang.