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University of Sheffield planning to cut jobs in chemistry and ...
Around 20% of the chemistry and materials science faculty could lose their jobs as university address financial challenges
Chemist addresses health, safety concerns of chemical tank emergency
Efforts to keep a compromised chemical tank cool continue in Garden Grove as crews monitor the emergency situation. Elaine Bernal, chemistry and biochemistry lecturer at California State University, Long Beach, shares what exactly those efforts do and addresses the public’s concerns. This video was broadcast on Today in LA on Sunday, May 24, 2026.
Health and safety concerns of chemical tank emergency in Garden Grove
Elaine Bernal, a chemistry and biochemistry lecturer at California State University, Long Beach, discusses the ideas firefighters could be considering to find a solution.
We're 'green chemists'—why we think this emerging science can transform the way the world uses its resources
Society depends on chemistry far more than we consciously realize, from medicines to energy to electronics. However, chemistry is viewed with as much apprehension as gratitude, because of the pollution ...
Brentwood: Students Suffer Burns During Science Experiment at Adams Middle School
On Friday, two Heritage High School students were airlifted after an accident occurred during chemistry experiment demonstration.
Rediscovering science: new knowledge hidden in old data
What if some of the most important scientific discoveries are already hidden in data collected years ago? Researchers at Tohoku University are exploring how AI and data-driven science can reveal new insights from past experiments and scientific literature. Their review highlights how old data could help accelerate discoveries in chemistry and materials science.
Organizations Around the Country Support EPA’s Science-Based Reassessment of Formaldehyde
ACC applauds EPA’s updated draft risk evaluation, joining a broader and growing chorus of support from organizations across the country
Ancient chemistry trick unlocks new type of glass that traps CO2 and hydrogen
Researchers have discovered how to fine-tune a futuristic type of porous glass that can trap gases like CO2 and hydrogen. Inspired by centuries-old glassmaking techniques, the team added sodium and lithium compounds to make the material easier to process and shape. The breakthrough could accelerate the development of high-performance materials for clean energy, gas storage, and advanced manufacturing.
Lancaster Country Day School senior wins Chemistry competition at prestigious international science fair
Lancaster Country Day School senior wins Chemistry competition at prestigious international science fair
A Lancaster County Day senior won top honors at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, AZ, the school announced Thursday. Kienle, who has spent his junior and senior years at the ...
SFA’s JacksTeach program names second science teacher fellow
NACOGDOCHES, Texas –– Following the successful launch of its educator support initiative last year, Stephen F. Austin State University’s JacksTeach program has named alumna Amy Calhoun, chemistry teacher at Sabine High School in Gladewater, as the recipient of the second annual JacksTeach Science Teacher Fellowship.
AI & Science: What Is the Future of Discovery?
Continued progress in artificial intelligence, its expanding usefulness in science, and its contributions to landmark advances suggest that we may have entered a new era of AI for science.The breakthroughs so far—such as predicting the structure of practically every known protein, with profound implications for our understanding of biology, health, and the treatment of disease—are notable not only for what was achieved but also how it was achieved and what that suggests for scientific progress. This special double issue of Dædalus poses the question: What is the future of scientific discovery in this new age of AI? Thirty-three scientists responded. Bringing perspectives from life sciences and medicine, cognitive science and neuroscience, the physical and earth sciences, chemistry and materials science, computer science, mathematics and the social sciences—they draw on their work at the frontier of AI and science. The authors write with an eye to the future, not just the present. They explore what is being achieved and what possibilities lie ahead; examine AI’s limitations and efforts to move forward; and investigate the larger implications of AI-assisted science—on how science is done, the role of the scientist, and the scientific method, as well as the challenges and complexities involved.The authors together exemplify a long-standing bidirectional relationship: AI advancing science, while science advances AI. Where that relationship will take us—a golden age of discovery? New scientist-machine collaborations? Autonomous labs? Discoveries without human understanding?—is a future we are only beginning to imagine, and one we must also shape if the beneficial possibilities are to be realized.Image: UMAP sculptures visualizing three Dædalus volumes on artificial intelligence. © 2026 by Refik Anadol.
Scientists Solved the 150 Year-Old Mystery of Why Most of Your Molecules Are Right-Handed
The shape of life’s building blocks is the result of biology, chemistry, and quantum physics colliding.
UConn Hartford Students Apply Organic Chemistry to Public Health
Through a service-learning partnership with UConn Student Health and Wellness, students in an organic chemistry lab at UConn Hartford applied course concept ...
2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award
Undergraduate senior biochemistry student Lillian Ott (Mohanty group) has been awarded the 2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, one of the country’s most prestigious honors for graduate students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, supports doctoral students across a broad range of scientific and technological fields of strategic importance. This highly competitive fellowship provides full tuition, fees, and a monthly stipend for three years. In 2026, only 102 fellowships were awarded nationwide. Lillian also received an honorable mention for the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Studying biochemistry at UCLA, Lillian became excited about how her physical science background could be applied to solve environmental issues. She joined the Subsurface Engineering Analysis Laboratory (SEA Lab) led by Professor Sanjay Mohanty in the Samueli’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In the SEA lab, she has studied the fate and transport of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are ubiquitous “forever chemicals” and known carcinogens that impact water quality worldwide. This fall, she will begin her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University with Professor Nina Zhao. Her research will be focused on metabolomics and the discovery of unrecognized chemical determinants of environmental and human health. “I have seen the serious and unforeseen environmental and health consequences from man-made chemicals like PFAS and microplastics, which are often only appreciated after the damage has been done. I hope that my research can lead to more sustainable chemical design and inform policy and solutions-based innovation in public health and water quality engineering,” Lillian said. Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Culinary Chemistry Brings Science and Culture to the Kitchen
In Culinary Chemistry, students at Punahou School are discovering how science and culture connect
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
Scientists reveal how seven days of fasting transforms the human body
Scientists have discovered that the human body undergoes a dramatic internal transformation during extended fasting, with major changes appearing only after about three days without food. In a seven-day water-only fasting study, researchers tracked thousands of proteins in the blood and found widespread shifts affecting organs throughout the body — including the brain. While the body quickly switches from burning glucose to fat, the most intriguing biological changes linked to potential health benefits didn’t emerge until later in the fast.
Feature: Moore ’26 Keeps Busy with Double Science Major and Music
Luke Moore ’26 came to Kansas Wesleyan on a music scholarship. He’s graduating this weekend (May 16) with a double major in Chemistry and Physics. He’s as active on the music side as he is with his science activities — he’s played the cello for 10 years, including four years at Kansas Wesleyan. It’s common, he said, for scientists and musicians to share those interests. “I’ve spoken to plenty of musicians who would have done science if they weren’t musicians, and I’ve talked to plenty of scientists who would have done music if they weren’t scientists,” Mooresaid. He played the cello in the string orchestra, which he’s done since his first year, and as a junior and senior, sang in the Philharmonic Choir as a bass. He hadn’t sung in a choir since middle schoolin Garden City, but he found he really enjoys that aspect of his college career. Also as a junior, Moore helped re-activate the STEM Club as vice president. For two years, he helped build the club’s battlebot. Last year the bot came home from battles in Kansas City in pieces, lots of pieces. This year it came home with the first-place trophy. He’s helped make frozen nitrogen ice cream at Homecoming and other events and helped organize the STEM Club’s first gingerbread house competition for the holidays. Willing to get his hands – and face – dirty for science, he encouraged fellow musicians and scientists to smash him in the face with whipped cream pies on Pi Day (March 14) as a fundraiser for the STEM Club. His capstone project involved developing a metallic organic framework (MOF) that takes a methylene blue dye out of water. “I’m proud that I was able to design this project, and I was proud that I did end up making the MOF,” Moore said. The professors and attitudes at KWU have made all this possible. “I don’t actually have time for everything,” Moore said. “I have to prioritize things. Things inevitably fall through the cracks, but it’s hard for me to choose one over the other, because I like a lot of things. And I don’t want to not do music, and I don’t want to not do science.” Moore said that Kansas Wesleyan, as a smaller university, gives students the opportunity to try things. “If I were to want to be in a music ensemble, it would probably be a bit harder in a larger school. One nice thing about this school is that everyone’s involved in something,” he said. “Professors know that you have other things going on, and they are flexible and understanding.” Moore has applied to grad schools, with an goal of earning his Ph.D. and landing at a university big enough to allow for a small research team that also gives him an opportunity to teach. He’s off to a good start. Moore is receiving the award for Outstanding Research in the Math, Physics and Computer Studies Department at Commencement this year. Story by Jean Kozubowski
UCF Materials Science Student Earns Notre Dame Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jeonghyun Song traded the arts for engineering, where he found beauty in chemistry. Now, his pursuit of more sustainable materials is taking him to the University of Notre Dame to advance his research.
Grad Student and Undergrad Win National Science Foundation Research Fellowship
Chemistry master’s student Samantha “Sammie” Ellis and undergraduate astrophysics major Jesus Poblano recently received one of the most competitive and prestigious awards for students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).
Scientists Discover “Hidden” Materials That Could Transform Clean Energy and Batteries
Researchers have uncovered a hidden side of material formation by tracking what happens as specially designed molecules are heated.
Scientists Revive Ancient Chemistry Trick To Engineer Next-Generation Glass
A centuries-old glassmaking strategy has helped researchers unlock new ways to engineer futuristic MOF glasses with promising applications in gas storage and advanced materials.
The 2026 Science Division Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Gregory Reyes (Kresge ’76, biology), Larry de Ghetaldi (Merrill ’76, biology and chemistry), and Nicholas Suntzeff (Ph.D. ’80, astronomy) are recognized for careers of exceptional distinction in biomedical research, healthcare policy, and observational cosmology.
OHSU researchers connect tinnitus with elevated serotonin activity in the brain
While far from a cure, the new research could one day help scientists understand how to reverse tinnitus through brain chemistry.
Scientists discover hidden chemical signature that could reveal alien life
Scientists may have found a powerful new way to hunt for alien life — not by searching for specific molecules, but by looking for hidden patterns in how those molecules are organized. Researchers discovered that living systems leave behind a kind of chemical “fingerprint” in the statistical distribution of amino acids and fatty acids, one that consistently differs from nonliving chemistry.
'It's a chemistry thing:' Behind the Knicks' staggering playoff stretch that has New York dreaming big
MSOE students share nanoscience with St. Joan Antida High Schoolers
Students became the teachers in SCI 3750 Nanoscience and Nanotechnology course thanks to a unique partnership that has been fostered for more than a decade. Dr. Anne-Marie Nickel, professor in the Physics and Chemistry Department, has partnered with St…
NYU’s Quantum Institute, IBM Team Up for Postdoctoral Research Program in Quantum Computing
Joint postdoctoral research projects will focus on quantum algorithms and applications in research areas across chemistry, computer science, materials science, physics, optimization, and more
Commentary: Physical-science education will thrive in AI-driven world
Florida’s middle and high school students should take the advice of the CEO of Nvidia: Work toward a bachelor’s degree in chemistry or physics.
2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award
First year Materials and Nanoscience graduate student Stéphane Miaule (Tolbert group) has been awarded the 2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, one of the country’s most prestigious honors for graduate students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, supports doctoral students across a broad range of scientific and technological fields of strategic importance. This highly competitive fellowship provides full tuition, fees, and a monthly stipend for three years. In 2026, only 102 fellowships were awarded nationwide, and Stéphane is the sole recipient from UCLA. Before transferring from Santa Monica College to UCLA, Stéphane interned at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, where he researched the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of lunar regolith, as well as radiation shielding materials for lunar habitation development. At UCLA, he joined the Soft Materials Research Laboratory under Professor Qibing Pei, focusing on the synthesis and characterization of hafnium oxide nanocomposite scintillators. After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, he remained in the Soft Materials Research Laboratory as a post-baccalaureate researcher for one year before joining Professor Sarah Tolbert’s group as a Ph.D. student. Stéphane’s Ph.D. research is focused on improving the properties of conjugated polymers, which are a family of plastic materials that can conduct electricity. Stéphane is specifically looking at self-assembling polymers that can be processed in water to create light-weight, flexible, high-conductivity polymer devices without the need for toxic or volatile organic solvents. After completing his Ph.D., Stéphane hopes to work in a national laboratory, researching semiconducting polymers for applications in new electronic devices. “The Graduate (1967) featured a memorable scene in which the protagonist was told that ‘there’s a great future in plastics.’ We know this still holds true today, as polymer research has expanded rapidly due to the wide variety of applications these materials enable. Through my work on semiconducting polymers, I hope to contribute to the continued development of plastic electronics,” Stéphane said. Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Scientists unlock fungi's secret chemistry, offering a greener path to crop protection
Pesky pests can wreak havoc on plants by chewing leaves, boring into stems, and sucking sap from trees. Beyond the direct damage, they also spread harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi that can infect and ultimately kill the ...
Former OpenAI Researcher To Raise $500 Million For AI Science Startup
Periodic Labs, which plans to push breakthroughs in physics and chemistry using artificial intelligence, has seen its valuation jump sixfold in just eight months.
Scientists unlock fungi's secret chemistry, offering a greener path to crop protection
Pesky pests can wreak havoc on plants by chewing leaves, boring into stems, and sucking sap from trees. Beyond the direct damage, they also spread harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi that can infect ...
The delicious science of honey: Kitchen Table Talk
On this month’s edition of Kitchen Table Talk, hosts John Lehndorff and Dan Asher were joined by Boulder Valley Honey head beekeeper Chris Borke to discuss the chemistry of honey and taste different honeys from around the world. You can find Boulder Valley Honey at the Boulder Farmers Market ...
The National Academy of Sciences Elects Two Berkeley Lab Researchers
Two Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. They are part of a cohort of 120 new members and 25 international members. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — alongside the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. The 2026 electees bring the total number of active members to 2,705 with 557 international members. Gary Karpen is a biologist senior faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Biological Systems and Engineering Division and a Professor of Cell and Developmental Physiology in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. Karpen studies how the structure, organization, and maintenance of genetic material impact inheritance and cell function. His lab focuses on chromatin — a packaged form of DNA strands wrapped around proteins that comprises our chromosomes — with a particular emphasis on centromeres, rarely expressed sequences called heterochromatin, DNA repair, and regulatory RNAs. His research reveals insights into fundamental aspects of nuclear organization and genome regulation that are shared across the tree of life, broadening our understanding of cancer and other diseases, birth defects, and aging. Kam-Biu Luk is a Professor Emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley and a retired senior faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division. He is an experimental particle physicist whose research has focused on neutrinos: nearly massless, electrically neutral elementary particles that can pass through matter virtually undetected. Neutrinos are created during radioactive decay processes, including the fusion process occurring in stars and the fission process that powers nuclear reactors. Luk initiated and co-led the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment, a project based in China with more than 200 international collaborators. In 2012, the Daya Bay experiment discovered a new form of a phenomenon called “neutrino oscillation” in which neutrinos change from one type to another. For this discovery, Luk and his collaborator Yifan Wang received the 2014 American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields W.K.H. Panofsky Prize for outstanding work in experimental particle physics, and he was also the co-recipient of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize. Luk is currently participating in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which will investigate any potential difference in behavior between neutrinos and antineutrinos that may shed light on the evolution of the universe, especially why antimatter is absent in the present universe. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
Annual Science Expo Winners Announced — Central Catholic High School
Central Catholic announced the winning projects from its annual Science Expo, which took place April 20. More than 50 Honors Biology and Chemistry students presented their research projects to faculty, staff, and students, and 20 junior high students from OLPH, St. Joseph's Sylvania, and S
Elizabeth Gordon receives South Carolina Academy of Science Faculty of the Year Award
Furman Chemistry Senior Instructor Elizabeth Gordon M'97 is recognized by the academy for outstanding teaching across all STEM disciplines. Biochemistry major and Furman EMT Campbell Romero '27 knows why.
Conscious spending can unlock greener science
This Greening Chemistry column explores how to find savings in the lab and the false economy of buying supplies on sale
As visa rules tighten, impacts to researchers and US science escalate
New restrictions are increasingly squeezing international researchers in the US and threatening the country’s long-term scientific competitiveness, analysts say
Scientists unlock new way to engineer next-generation glass
Scientists have adapted a centuries-old principle of chemistry to fine-tune a new type of glass made from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)—metal atoms connected by organic molecules—that efficiently trap ...
2026 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Awards & Honorable Mentions
Congratulations to our current graduate and undergraduate students and alumni who have received prestigious 2026 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships (GRFP) and Honorable Mentions. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend and a cost of education allowance to the institution. Left to right: Row 1 – 2026 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipients: Jasmin Bioteau, Kasey Chung, Daniel Cohn, Michael Eng, Tyler Martinez. Row 2 – Henry Shavel, Breanna Sprague, Abigail Wilson, ofia Ando, Daniel Kendall. Row 3 – Rebecca Lee, Lauren Van Auken, Tim Duong. NSF Honorable Mention recipients: Evan Baerg, Isaac Hendrix. Row 4 – Nathan Palmer, Paul Saucedo, Helen Elmer and Maximilian Floridia. 2026 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships (GRFP) were awarded to current graduate students Jasmin Bioteau (Kwon), Kasey Chung (Garg), Daniel Cohn (Kappel), Michael Eng (Doyle), Tyler Martinez (Barber), Henry Shavel (Alexandrova), Breanna Sprague (Garg), Abigail Wilson (Garg); undergraduate researchers Sofia Ando (Shafaat, headed to Princeton for graduate school), Daniel Kendall (Barber, headed to MIT for graduate school), Rebecca Lee (Chen, headed to Stanford for graduate school) and Lauren Van Auken (Garg, headed to the Caltech for graduate school). Former undergraduate researcher Tim Duong ’25 (Neuhauser/Caram, now a graduate student at Princeton) also received the fellowship. 2026 Honorable Mentions by NSF, also a significant national academic achievement, were accorded to current graduate students Evan Baerg, Isaac Hendrix (Tinoco Valencia), Nathan Palmer (Conway),and Paul Saucedo (Doyle). Also receiving Honorable Mentions are former undergraduate researchers Helen Elmer ’25 (Gelbart/Knobler, now a graduate student at the Stanford University School of Medicine), and Maximilian Floridia ‘25 (P. Weiss, now a graduate student at Caltech). Congratulations again to all the recipients! Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Erin Schuette
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Erin Schuette is this semester's recipient from Chemistry & Biochemistry!
Scientists use AI to test whether life can run on only 19 amino acids
An engineered E. coli strain survived after one amino acid was designed out of many of its ribosomal proteins—an early test of whether life’s chemistry can be simplified
Viewpoint: A career in science is possible, and worth it
Starting a career in science is exciting, but also demanding, with researchers often faced with intense competition, long working hours and high levels of stress. A pioneer in the field of mass spectrometry, Carol Robinson has been there. She speaks with Science|Business on the importance of creating a supportive environment, particularly for women.Robinson did not wake up one day thinking that she would become a scientist. It was only late in school that she developed an interest in chemistry. “The more you work at something, the more you think, actually, this is fascinating. So, I went much further and deeper than I ever needed to pass the exam. And then I loved it,” she says. “I thought, I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to enjoy it while I’m here. But I didn’t think this would be my career for 50 odd years.”She left school at 16 to become a lab technician with the drug company Pfizer, which is where she first worked with mass spectrometry. Fascinated, she was encouraged to take a part-time degree and then a PhD. She went on to do pioneering work in native mass spectrometry, a technique that is used to study protein structures in their natural state, paving the way for breakthroughs in drug discovery. She also broke new ground by becoming the first female professor of chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and then the first female professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford, her current home.She now wants to show young researchers that a career in science is worth it. “Sometimes, I believe the culture isn’t very encouraging, and that’s something I have worked on,” Robinson says.In 2021, she launched the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery at Oxford, whose acronym gives a sense of what she hopes it will achieve. “Maybe it is corny,” she says. “It’s just a reminder that I would like it if we could all be kind to each other and supportive, especially for early-career researchers of either gender, because there’s quite a big attrition rate in science, and maybe it just doesn’t feel like a very friendly place to work.”And yet, a career in science comes with a lot of flexibility. “There are few careers where you have that amount of freedom, to go to conferences, to the library. Just because you didn’t see me didn’t mean I wasn’t working,” she says. “And I’m excited to come in every day. So, I don’t want people to think it’s a terrible place.”Gender equality is also important when it comes to the quality of science as a career. “The more women we have, the better it becomes,” Robinson adds.Imposter syndromeAccording to EU data, women outnumber men in university education but account for just about a third of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem). And while the number of women working as scientists and engineers in the 27-member bloc is on the rise, their representation remains below that of men, at 41%. This discrepancy is even more pronounced in top-tier functions across these fields, where women fill just 20% of positions.Having supervised many young scientists, Robinson sees that women continue to have a greater propensity than men to doubt their abilities, a feeling she once shared. “When I was doing my PhD at the University at Cambridge, I really felt like an imposter,” she says. “I don’t think I ever felt I deserved to be there or owned it and was proud. I just thought I was lucky.” Later on, she adds, “I was always that person who said, I can’t apply yet because my CV is not strong enough.”She has now made it her job to encourage women to break with this imposter syndrome. For example, rather than calling for volunteers to give a lecture in the groups that she mentors or teaches, which nearly always results in men stepping forward, she goes straight to the women, “because I know they won’t push themselves forward.”But the gender gap in science is not just down to imposter syndrome. The “obvious” reason, Robinson says, and the reason that is on everybody’s mind when discussing workplace gender equality, is the balance between work and raising a family. Her own path was to choose between the two, taking an eight-year break after completing a postdoctoral training fellowship to bring up three children. And she continues to advise women not to work part-time while they raise a family. “You’ll just get half the pay and continue to work full-time because you are not able to fit everything in,” she says. “You should be able to have a family and come back to have the career that you want.”The solution is for men to also take career breaks. “That kind of evens it up, so that it’s not such a big thing for women,” Robinson says. “I always encourage men in my groups to do that. I think it’s important to take your share of the duties.”Support produces resultsAccording to the Women in Stem Network, a UK advocacy group, countries with strong childcare systems and equal pay policies retain more women in technical careers. In Europe, these are primarily found in the Nordic region and parts of central Europe.At the EU level, the European Commission asks all Horizon Europe applicant organisations to have a gender action plan in place. Since this criterion was introduced in 2021, the share of women leading consortia has increased to 31%, against 23% in Horizon 2020. Their overall participation, however, has risen just 1%, to 38%. After trying to weaken the requirement for gender action plans in 2025, the Commission now intends to adopt a plan for supporting women in research and innovation.Related articlesCommission scraps plan to water down gender requirements in HorizonHow gender balance can swing who wins Horizon Europe fundingRobinson herself has benefited from three Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. “I was extremely honoured and privileged to get those, because they really allowed me to fuel my passion,” she says. “Without that, it would have been a much harder slog.”Beyond applying gender rules, she says that more work is needed on translational enterprise, where women are, once again, largely underrepresented. The European Patent Office found that only 13.8% of applications were filed by women in 2022. “We have so many more women doing amazing science; why do they feel it’s not a thing to have a company?” she asks.She founded her own spin-out company, OMass Technologies, in 2016, and remains chair of its scientific advisory board now that it trades as OMass Therapeutics. As for research, Robinson is now studying how changes in the brain may be linked to depression, using port-mortem tissue. “We’re hoping to publish soon,” she says. “We had to consult with a lot of people who knew a lot more about the brain than we did. So, we’ve learnt a lot, and that’s always a lot of fun to learn a new thing. That’s what keeps you going.”
Scientists just found a chilling way life may have begun
New experiments suggest that freezing and thawing on early Earth may have helped primitive cell-like structures grow and evolve. Tiny lipid bubbles behaved very differently depending on their membrane makeup—some fused into larger compartments and captured DNA more efficiently. These fusion events could have mixed key molecules, setting the stage for more complex chemistry.
Chula's Chemistry Metaverse Harnesses Gaming to Transform Science Education
/PRNewswire/ -- Developed under the Metaverse of Academic Nexus for Global Opportunities (MANGOs), the platform allows students to enter a virtual "digital...
NASA Curiosity rover finds mysterious life linked molecules on mars
Curiosity has detected a surprising variety of organic molecules on Mars, including compounds tied to the chemistry of life. Some of these molecules may be billions of years old, preserved in ancient clay-rich rocks that once held water. One standout find resembles building blocks of DNA, raising exciting questions about Mars’ past. Although not proof of life, the discovery suggests the Red Planet may have once been far more biologically promising than we thought.
Trump administration fires entire board of US’s National Science ...
Move leaves the nation's largest chemistry funder without a board or director
Trump fires independent board overseeing the National Science Foundation
The fired scientists hail from academia and industry and specialize in areas including astronomy, math, chemistry, and aerospace engineering.
2026 Geochemistry Fellow David Catling reflects on a career spent trying to answer science’s biggest questions
2026 Geochemistry Fellow David Catling reflects on a career spent trying to answer science’s biggest questions
APSU alum Hannah Richards becomes Vanderbilt’s first Schmidt Science Fellow
When Hannah Richards first declared chemistry as her major at Austin Peay State University, she was "100% confident" she would change it.
LSU to Open $148M Science Building This Fall
A 148,000-square-foot facility set to open in the 2026-27 academic year will have research and teaching laboratories with technology supporting the biology, chemistry, geology, math, physics and astronomy disciplines.
Eckerd students present research at scientific conferences around the world
This spring, Eckerd students travelled around the world to present their research at conferences. In February, marine science students attended the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. In March, chemistry
Scientists Raise Concerns Over Newly Recognized Pollutant Found Everywhere in the Air
Scientists have uncovered unexpectedly high levels of methylsiloxanes in the air worldwide, suggesting a hidden and widespread form of pollution.
Carver Academy student takes 3rd in chemistry at state science fair
DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — A student from Carver 9th Grade Academy in Dothan placed high in Alabama’s state science fair. Gabrielle Saffold earned third place in the senior division for chemistry and mater...
Kennesaw State to launch Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in Fall 2027
Building on its leadership in scientific research and education, Kennesaw State University on Wednesday received approval from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to launch a new Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. The program will begin in Fall 2027 on the Kennesaw Campus. Housed in the College of Science and Mathematics, the degree will help meet the increasing demand in Georgia and the nation for research scientists in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and ecology.
Building Custom Atomistic Simulation Workflows for Chemistry and Materials Science with NVIDIA ALCHEMI Toolkit
For decades, computational chemistry has faced a tug-of-war between accuracy and speed. Ab initio methods like density functional theory (DFT) provide high fidelity but are computationally expensive…
University of Arizona launches BS in Science Law, available on campus and online
The BS in Science Law builds a strong foundation in both disciplines through coursework and labs in biology, chemistry and physics, alongside undergraduate law courses.
Scientists Grow Electronics Inside the Brains of Living Mice
The technology harnesses the brain's own blood chemistry to assemble soft, light-controlled electrodes around neurons.
Scientists Unveil Microscopy Breakthrough That Reveals “Invisible” Molecular States
Scientists have introduced a microscopy technique that reveals a hidden layer of chemistry involving molecules that normally evade detection.
Photos: Makeup tests, shoulder cuff health and student presentations
Darryna Guy-Williams, a bioengineering and bio chemistry major, sprays Jenna King, class TA and postdoctorate candidate in chemistry and chemical biology, with a facial hydrating mist in Leila Deravi’s cosmetic chemistry class.
New Study Reveals Hidden Ocean Chemistry
Science team led by Mariana Bif (right) prepare to launch a Biogeochemical-Argo (BCG Argo) float.
New study reveals hidden ocean chemistry
Findings reveal that nitrogen cycling in marine oxygen-deficient zones is far more dynamic than previously thought
New study reveals hidden ocean chemistry
Scientists have found a new way to detect subtle chemical signatures in seawater—revealing previously invisible details about the ocean’s chemistry from data continuously collected by thousands of autonomous robotic floats drifting across the seas.
Mars dust storms are sparking electricity and rewriting the planet’s chemistry
Mars may look like a quiet, dusty world, but it’s actually buzzing with hidden electrical activity. Powerful dust storms and swirling dust devils generate static electricity strong enough to spark faint glowing discharges across the planet, triggering chemical reactions that reshape its surface and atmosphere. Scientists have now shown that these tiny lightning-like events can create a surprising mix of chemicals—including chlorine compounds and carbonates—and even leave behind distinct isotopic “fingerprints.”
Scientists built a quantum battery that breaks the rules of charging
Scientists have taken a major step toward futuristic energy tech by building a working prototype of a quantum battery—one that can charge, store, and release energy using the strange rules of quantum physics instead of chemistry. This tiny, laser-powered device hints at a future where energy storage is not only faster but actually improves as systems get larger, flipping the rules of conventional batteries.
Biophysicist Joins Ranks of Elite Scientists as AAAS Fellow
Dr. G. Andrés Cisneros has been recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his contributions to biophysics, computational enzymology and computational chemistry. Dr. G. Andrés Cisneros, professor and department head of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, has been elected to the 2025 class of American Association for the […]
Sharing her passion for science
By Danielle Rush Communications Specialist, Indiana University Kokomo Hisako Masuda, Indiana University Kokomo professor of biochemistry, was honored by the Indiana Academy of Science (IAS) as its 2026 Distinguished Scholar. The award is given to an individual who is recognized by the IAS as having an exceptional record of scholarship. Recipients are selected from nominations submitted to its awards committee. “I was surprised,” said Masuda, who joined IU Kokomo’s faculty in 2013. “I feel there are many good scientists in the Academy, so I wasn’t expecting it at all.” Patrick Motl, dean of the School of Sciences, said the Academy recognizes up to one member per year, and that Masuda is the second or third IU Kokomo faculty member to receive the commendation. “Clearly this speaks to the strength of Dr. Masuda’s accomplishments in research and scholarship and that her work stands out amongst her peers in Indiana,” said Motl, who received the award in 2019. “Many of the institutions that participate in the IAS are undergraduate institutions or primarily undergraduate institutions, but even having that caveat, Dr. Masuda has built and maintains a very active research program in her lab, working exclusively with undergraduates. She is passionate about science and can share that passion with her students. To carry on a quality research program with so many students involved in so many projects is truly remarkable and I am glad that the IAS acknowledged that for Dr. Masuda.” The IAS specifically commended her for involving more than 50 undergraduates in her research in bacterial metabolism, genomics, and their phenotypic plasticity at IU Kokomo, and publishing 23 articles with many student co-authors. Masuda’s current work primarily focuses on biodegradation and chemical repurposing of nylon. Using soil bacteria, her lab studies bacterial biodegradation of nylon and other environmental pollutants. She applies principles of green chemistry while developing a method to convert nylon waste into other nontoxic polymers. In collaborative work with health scientists, her lab investigates gut microbiomes of Indiana native birds as well as human subjects in a clinical study. She became interested in converting plastic waste while earning her Ph.D. at Rutgers University, working on methods to remove environmental waste not using chemicals or other intrusive methods. She learned about Nylon 11, which is used in pipes for transferring oil, interior components for cars, catheters, and in other industrial hard plastics. Nylon 11 is nontoxic, she added, so it is safe to include students in the research. “Those are considered to be nonbiodegradable, and have to go to a landfill,” she said. “I thought if we could come up with a way to biodegrade it, that would make some kind of impact.” Eventually, she wants to develop a product that would convert nylon waste to something useful, and to reduce waste and microplastics in the environment. “That would be my goal at some point, that we can make that change, and also make people more aware of their use of plastics,” she said. “I hope students stop to think about what we can do as scientists to address issues currently impacting us.” She appreciates the IAS for its support of scientific research at Indiana institutions, and IU Kokomo and the School of Sciences for providing funding for students to attend the Academy’s annual meeting. She added that IU Kokomo has also supported her research with funding from the School of Sciences and Academic Affairs. “Without that, I couldn’t do my research,” she said. Masuda has also earned a Senior Research Grant from the IAS, IU Kokomo’s Distinguished Research Award, and the IU Kokomo Junior Faculty Annual Research Award. She is a Fellow of the Indiana Academy of Science. Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.
How did this get made? Giant planet orbits small star
New observations of "forbidden" planet TOI5205-b reveal surprising details about it its atmospheric chemistry.
Marshmallow Peeps rule in quest for physics, chemistry
This week in Woo! Science, the approach of Easter means marshmallow Peeps. So, why not take them to the physics lab? And to the chemistry lab?
Cocktail Chemistry at the Science and Discovery Center
All proceeds will benefit the Science and Discovery Center of Northwest Florida, a 501(c)3 corporation.
Fulghum prepares for her next role after UNM — and passing the ADVANCE torch
Julia Fulghum has held a variety of positions at The University of New Mexico during her over 20-year tenure here. A professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, she has been a faculty member in two separate colleges. She served as an...
Scientists Stunned: Colossal Eggs Discovered 3,500 Meters Beneath an Active Volcano
Beneath an active seafloor volcano off Vancouver Island, researchers have documented a congregation of giant eggs at roughly 3,500 meters, a discovery that reframes how life can flourish under extreme conditions. The eggs belong to the Pacific white skate, an elusive deep‑sea species adapted to cold, crushing pressure and perpetual darkness. What seemed an unlikely nursery is actually a geothermally warmed refuge, where subtle heat helps embryos survive a marathon incubation. The finding links volcanic energy to a quiet engine of biodiversity, turning a hostile landscape into an incubator. A living volcano, a hidden nursery The seamount long assumed dormant now exhales mineral‑rich, shimmering plumes, proof of hydrothermal life at depth. Expedition cameras swept across black basalt and pale bacterial mats, revealing vents that pulse with warmth. That warmth, though modest by human standards, alters the physics of development for cold‑adapted embryos. In a realm where metabolism creeps, even a few degrees can mean faster growth and higher survival. The volcano is not only active; it is ecologically formative, drafting a blueprint for a thriving oasis. Giant eggs and a skate built for the abyss The Pacific white skate, Bathyraja spinosissima, is built for the abyss: broad wings, armored spines, and a life history that trades speed for endurance. Females lay outsized, rectangular “mermaid’s purses,” often 46–50 centimeters long, packed with rich yolk to fuel years of growth. In the frigid deep, embryos can require around four years to hatch, a timeline that magnifies every energetic advantage. The scale is striking—large eggs, large adults, and a textbook case of deep‑sea gigantism. The volcano’s gentle heat may literally shave months or years from the wait. Why heat matters at the bottom of the sea Hydrothermal circulation delivers low‑level warmth without the turbulence that would scatter fragile egg‑cases. Slightly elevated temperatures accelerate enzyme kinetics, nudging development along while keeping embryos within a safe range. Mineral‑laden fluids likely shape local microbiomes, which, in turn, can influence biofilms on egg surfaces. The environment acts like a slow, steady incubator, countering the deep sea’s tyrannies of cold and scarcity. For a species with long maturation and few offspring, every incremental boost compounds across generations. An ecosystem sculpted by fire and water Seafloor volcanoes create steep environmental gradients, stitching together hot vents, cool eddies, and mineral gardens into mosaic habitats. Microbes harvest chemical energy, seeding food webs that support crustaceans, fishes, and skates. Cameras documented egg‑cases nestled among rocky ledges, near communities nourished by vent‑driven chemistry. These islands of productivity behave like deep‑sea oases, sustaining life far beyond the vent orifice’s flickering light. The nursery’s success underscores how geological forces engineer biological opportunity. “Finding a cradle of life tucked beneath a breathing volcano reminds us that the planet’s harshest places can be profoundly generous.” What the discovery could change The nursery reframes conservation priorities in regions where volcanism quietly underwrites reproduction. Protecting hydrothermal corridors could safeguard entire lifecycles, not just charismatic adults spotted during occasional surveys. It also sharpens questions about how climate‑driven shifts in ocean circulation might influence vent activity, temperature fields, and embryo survival. With methodical mapping, time‑series cameras, and environmental DNA, scientists can track whether nurseries remain stable or drift with geologic rhythms. Key implications include: Enhanced understanding of deep‑sea reproduction at hydrothermal sites. New conservation targets centered on geothermal nurseries. Comparative studies with other volcanic regions, from the Galápagos to rift zones. Biotechnological insights from organisms adapted to long, cold development. Better models of how seafloor heat shapes regional biodiversity. Methods behind the revelation Remotely operated vehicles threaded through chimney fields, gathering video, temperatures, and mineral signatures. High‑definition imagery captured the distinctive, horned egg cases, their edges dusted with fine volcanic silt. Geochemical profiles mapped how heat and chemicals disperse, outlining the “thermal lanes” where eggs most cluster. Combined, these datasets reveal a nursery organized by geothermal topography, with egg‑cases concentrated in pockets of gentle, sustained warmth. A fragile boon in a changing ocean Deep‑sea environments feel remote, yet they intersect with global pressures: mining proposals, cable routes, and shifting oxygen levels. The nursery’s resilience hinges on stable heat flow, intact substrates, and minimal disturbance from noise or sediment. Safeguarding such places is not just about protecting novelty; it preserves a slow, ancient strategy that lets large, long‑lived animals endure in the coldest reaches of the Pacific. Where geology and biology meet, the planet’s deep time still writes living stories. This volcano‑warmed nursery adds a vital chapter to that story, revealing how subtle thermal gifts can tip the scales toward life in the abyss. With each dive, researchers trace the contours of an unseen world, where fire feeds water, and water—against all odds—feeds the future.
One of Earth’s most explosive supervolcanoes is recharging
Far beneath the ocean near Japan, scientists have discovered that the magma system linked to the most powerful eruption of the Holocene is slowly rebuilding. By using seismic imaging, researchers mapped a large magma reservoir under the Kikai caldera and confirmed it is the same system that fueled the massive eruption 7,300 years ago. However, the magma now present is newly injected, not leftover, as shown by changes in the chemistry of recent volcanic material and the growth of a lava dome over thousands of years.
Impossible Science Live! with World Champion of Magic Jason Latimer
Impossible Science Live! with World Champion of Magic Jason Latimer From bending light with physics, to shaping water with chemistry and walking through solid glass with engineering, World Champion of Magic Jason Latimer’s mind-blowing live show delivers an inspiring message of how “The right question changes everything.” Impossible Science LIVE! expands on Jason Latimer’s inspiring TED Talk “ Seeing Beyond the Illusion of Knowledge ” with family-friendly, mind-blowing illusion entertainment. Uniting his favorite illusions from his illustrious career, Latimer reveals the secret to his magic is not special powers but simply a pursuit of challenging the impossible with curiosity. During your museum visit from April 7-11, 2026, drop into the auditorium for one of Latimer’s shows throughout the day. Shows are included with your Spring Break admission and FREE for museum members. Add a membership to your cart for free Spring Break admission! Available showtimes: 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. daily, with a 3:30 p.m. show on Saturday, April 11. Open seating; first come, first seated. About Jason Latimer: Jason Latimer has been featured on television around the world as both a scientist and magician. While Latimer is both a curator of the iconic Fleet Museum in San Diego, CA, and a World Champion Magician his network specials, TV series, and appearances span the globe. Jason has been featured as a science host on the Science Channel, Roku, Amazon, and as a magician on the Syfy Channel, History, BBC ONE, and Japan’s NHK. In 2021, SONY partnered with Latimer to bring his unique blend of science and magic to online and to PBS to assist with distance learning. Impossible Science’s growth has been exponential ever since, garnering over a hundred million views and multiple streaming awards as an educational series.
Remembering Theodore “Ted” Brown, the founding director of the Beckman Institute
Theodore “Ted” Brown, the founding director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and professor emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, died Tuesday, March 24, 2026. He was 97 years old.
2025 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow
Department Chair, Professor Alexander Spokoyny has been selected as a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of his distinguished contributions in main group and organometallic chemistry and academic community engagement and leadership. AAAS is the world’s largest general-scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Spokoyny is among the 449 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. Four of the new fellows are UCLA faculty members. The new Fellows will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., in late May 2026. Read more about the new AAAS Fellows here. AAAS Fellows in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry are Professors Kendall Houk (1988), Paul Weiss (1999), Richard Kaner (2000), David Eisenberg and Todd Yeates (2001), Juli Feigon (2002), Miguel Garcia-Garibay and Steven Clarke (2007), Heather Maynard, Carla Koehler, Xiangfeng Duan and Neil Garg (2018), Paula Diaconescu and Thomas Mason (2019), Joseph Loo (2021), and Yi Tang (2022). Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Distinguished Binghamton Professor and Nobel laureate elected AAAS Fellow
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry M. Stanley Whittingham elected for his decades of lithium-ion battery research
Charles County Science Fair Winners Announced Following Annual Expo
WALDORF, Md. – Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) held the 10th annual History, Industry, Technology and Science Expo, also known as HITS, on March 21 at St. Charles High School. Each year the Expo features student history and science fair projects on display for judging. Science fair project categories included behavioral/medicine and health science, chemistry, […]
Brookdale Student Leana Vitale Turns Passion for Science into Research Success
Leana Vitale is proving that curiosity, determination, and hard work can open remarkable doors. A Brookdale student graduating this spring with two associate degrees in biology and chemistry, she has already distinguished herself as an
Steven Corcelli named William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science
Steven A. Corcelli, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science by University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., effective April 1. Corcelli, who has served as interim science dean since July, was selected through a comprehensive national search launched after his predecessor, Santiago Schnell, was appointed as Dartmouth’s provost.
Chemistry student develops clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus
Researchers have developed a prototype nail polish to help more people access electrically-charged touch screens.
Formulating a Future: Finding a Calling in Pharmaceutical Science | Oberlin College and Conservatory
Chemistry major Alex Xie ’26 utilizes CELA’s research fellowships and scholarship advising to transition from campus labs to a future in pharmaceutical research.
Inside a rare lab that's blazing a bold trail as it hunts for new drugs
A scientist from Zambia who loves — LOVES! — chemistry runs a lab in South Africa that is being hailed for "extraordinary" work.
Inside a rare lab that's blazing a bold trail as it hunts for new drugs
A scientist from Zambia who loves — LOVES! — chemistry runs a lab in South Africa that is being hailed for "extraordinary" work.
Mapping a career in electron microscopy
Nature Reviews Chemistry - Ahead of his 60th birthday, Paul A. Midgley, Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, discussed his life in science.
Seth Cohen to become new dean of UC Irvine's School of Physical Sciences
Renowned leader in advanced chemistry research will assume new role Aug. 1
Bridging Classrooms and Cutting-Edge Science
Kat Bay ’16, a University of La Verne chemistry alumna, now manages the Teaching with Schrödinger program (Courtesy Kat Bay). The ULV alumna now helps professors and students around the world explore chemistry through advanced computational tools When Kat Bay reflects on her journey from undergraduate chemistry major to manager of the Teaching with Schrödinger program, […]
New Grant to Grow Interdisciplinary Biochemistry Master’s Program
Dontae Mosley wasn’t sure graduate school was within his reach due to financial constraints, but thanks to the Interdisciplinary Biochemistry Master’s Program, he was able to pursue his master’s degree and launch his career in the biotech industry. Now, more biochemistry graduate students will have the same opportunity through a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
Thompson Scholars Program preparing future pre-health professionals for early success at UTC
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is offering incoming and transfer students an opportunity to strengthen their math and chemistry skills before the fall semester begins through the Thompson Scholars Program, a selective summer bridge experience designed for students pursuing professional health care careers.
THOR AI solves a 100-year-old physics problem in seconds
A new AI framework called THOR is transforming how scientists calculate the behavior of atoms inside materials. Instead of relying on slow simulations that take weeks of supercomputer time, the system uses tensor network mathematics and machine-learning models to solve the problem directly. The approach can compute key thermodynamic properties hundreds of times faster while preserving accuracy. Researchers say this could accelerate discoveries in materials science, physics, and chemistry.
Scientists confirm existence of molecule long believed to occur in oxidation
In the journal Science Advances, scientists in Sweden and the U.S. report the first-ever direct observation of a type of short-lived molecule that has shaped decades of thinking in atmospheric chemistry, ...
Ward Melville, Great Neck teams win LI Science Bowl
The contest tested teams' knowledge on science disciplines including biology, chemistry and physics.
Breakout Ventures raises $114M fund to back AI science startups
Breakout Ventures is finding growing success by backing early-stage startups in scientific fields such as biology and chemistry.
Ocean warming may supercharge a tiny microbe that controls marine nutrients
As deep-sea waters warm, scientists expected trouble for the microbes that help keep ocean chemistry in balance. Instead, researchers found that Nitrosopumilus maritimus can adapt to warmer, iron-limited conditions by using iron more efficiently. Because these microbes control key nitrogen reactions that support marine life, their adaptability could help sustain ocean productivity. In a warming world, they may play an even bigger role in shaping marine nutrient cycles.
UA Little Rock to Host Hands-On Workshop on the Science of Art Conservation
Students and faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will have the opportunity to explore how chemistry helps preserve works of art during a hands-on conservation science workshop ... UA Little Rock to Host Hands-On Workshop on the Science of Art Conservation
Scientists may have discovered a brand-new mineral on Mars
Scientists studying Mars may have uncovered a brand-new mineral hidden in the planet’s ancient sulfate deposits. By combining laboratory experiments with orbital data, researchers identified an unusual iron sulfate—ferric hydroxysulfate—forming in layered deposits near the massive Valles Marineris canyon system. The mineral likely formed when sulfate-rich deposits left behind by ancient water were later heated by volcanic or geothermal activity, transforming their chemistry.
Scientists Map the Hidden Chemistry of Solar-Powered Catalysts
A new computational approach reveals how subtle structural changes in polyheptazine imides can dramatically influence their ability to convert sunlight into chemical energy. Photocatalysis offers a promising way to convert abundant sunlight into useful chemical energy. Among the materials attract
New iron nanomaterial wipes out cancer cells without harming healthy tissue
Scientists at Oregon State University have engineered a powerful new nanomaterial that zeroes in on cancer cells and destroys them from the inside out. Designed to exploit cancer’s unique chemistry—its acidity and high hydrogen peroxide levels—the tiny iron-based structure sparks not one but two intense chemical reactions, flooding tumors with cell-damaging oxygen molecules. This dual attack overwhelms cancer cells with oxidative stress while sparing healthy tissue.