A research team at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is the first ever to observe a beta-delayed neutron emission from fluorine-25, a rare, unstable nuclide. Using the FRIB Decay Station Initiator (FDSi), the team found contradictions in prior experimental findings. The results led to a new line of inquiry into how particles in exotic, unstable isotopes remain bound under extreme conditions. Led by Robert Grzywacz, professor of physics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), the team included Jack Peltier, undergraduate student at UTK, Zhengyu Xu, postdoctoral researcher at UTK, Sean Liddick, professor of chemistry at FRIB and interim chairperson of MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and Rebeka Lubna, scientist at FRIB. The team published its results (“The evidence of N = 16 shell closure and β-delayed neutron emission from ²⁵F”) in Physics Letters B.

A University at Buffalo researcher has developed a framework to help scientists incorporate community input into Earth system models, tools that simulate climate as well as chemical and biological processes.

Brown University engineers showed that applying a temperature gradient across a solid-state electrolyte blocks destructive dendrite growth, offering a practical solution to a major barrier in battery technology.

Taking advantage of a "natural laboratory" in Iceland, a research team from the University of Arizona studied how microbes colonize fresh lava flows as soon as they cooled. The research provides insights into how a biological community is established over time, beginning the very moment new habitat is created.

A flutter of blue and yellow darts through a field in late May. Trees, shrubs and summer flowers fill the landscape. A blue-winged warbler is just within reach, with one swift motion it can be gently grasped, banded and studied to understand the health and evolution of one of North America’s most colorful birds. A practice once reserved for scientists, this moment is now possible anywhere in the world thanks to a virtual reality experience developed by scientists at Penn State.    

A plant’s success may depend on how well the three sets of genetic instructions it carries in its cells cooperate, according to a new study led by plant scientists at Penn State. In an analysis of the hybrids of two crossbred tree species, the researchers found that two sets of those genes inherited from different species may not work well together, disrupting the plant’s ability to harvest light for photosynthesis and take up key nutrients. However, when the combination of inherited genes better matches up, those plants may be better able to adapt to changing environments.

The climate is changing and nowhere is it changing faster than at Earth’s poles. Researchers at Penn State have painted a comprehensive picture of the chemical processes taking place in the Arctic and found that there are multiple, separate interactions impacting the atmosphere.

UC San Diego engineers have developed a spray-on polymer coating that could help plants resist harmful bacterial infections and survive drought. Spraying just part of a leaf results in bacterial immunity and improved drought tolerance for the entire plant.

Scientists have discovered wintertime seismic activity in the ocean around Antarctica controls summer growth of phytoplankton, tiny organisms that fuel the marine food web and sequester huge amounts of carbon from Earth’s atmosphere.