Latest News Releases 6 April

Mathematical models developed at the University of Michigan show how mismatched geometries can lead to fascinating complexity and enhance material properties like strength and toughness.

Since the 2018 Farm Bill effectively legalized hemp-derived cannabidiol — better known as CBD — there’s been an exponential growth in products hitting the market, but a newly published study suggests consumer understanding of the products has not kept pace.

Despite its uniquely rich inventory of organic molecules, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may be able to support only a minuscule amount of biomass, if life exists on the moon, according to a study using bioenergetic modeling

Thinking creatively, solving complex problems, and working in teams… all add up to Design Thinking (DT). A study conducted by the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) and Ghent University provides a step-by-step guide for teaching this methodology as a university course.

The main objective of this study is to share the implementation of DT in the first year of all undergraduate programs at ESPOL, considering that previous research has shown that this course fosters essential DT skills in a world of constant change, allowing students to build their own knowledge through experiential learning.

Twelve distinguished science and health journalists have been awarded a highly competitive fellowship in the Logan Science Journalism Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). Now in its 38th year, the Logan Science Journalism Program provides journalists with immersive, hands-on research training, giving them invaluable insight into the practice of science as well as some of the major news stories of today

NIST researchers have found special atomic patterns called quasicrystals in 3D-printed aluminum alloys.

Quasicrystals increase the strength of 3D-printed aluminum, the researchers discovered, making it possible to use in lightweight, high-strength objects such as airplane parts.

Once thought impossible, quasicrystals were originally discovered at NIST, leading to a 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Simulation model estimates that Food is Medicine programs, if implemented nationwide, could save approximately $32.1 billion in health care costs in the first year alone and prevent more than 3.5 million hospitalizations annually related to complications from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Pulmonary sarcoidosis is a lung disease characterized by granulomas—tiny clumps of immune cells that form in response to inflammation. It’s the most inflammatory of the interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), a family of conditions that all involve some level of inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, of the lungs. In the U.S., pulmonary sarcoidosis affects around 200,000 patients. The cause is unknown, and no new treatments have been introduced in the past 70 years. In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine on March 12, 2025, scientists at Scripps Research and aTyr Pharma characterized a protein, HARS^WHEP, that can soothe the inflammation associated with sarcoidosis by regulating white blood cells. Reducing inflammation slows the disease’s progression and results in less scarring. A phase 1b/2a clinical trial of efzofitimod, a therapeutic form of HARS^WHEP, showed promising results.

A web platform developed at Emory University uses a chatbot to enable any chemist — including undergraduate chemistry majors — to configure and execute complex quantum mechanical simulations through chatting.