Anthropogenic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread and persistent pollutants that are increasingly subject to stringent regulatory thresholds in water resources. Current nonthermal defluorination strategies have limitations including incomplete mineralization, leaving behind short-chain PFAS byproducts and residual fluoride ions, thereby posing challenges to meeting water quality standards.

When individuals from two different species interbreed, hybrid organisms may emerge that display characteristics from both genetic lineages. While hybridization is a common natural phenomenon, it is often seen as a challenge in biodiversity conservation.

In the battle against climate change, researchers are looking for ways to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful products. They're studying nano-sized materials called catalysts that can accelerate the conversion process or make it more efficient. Nanomaterials are magnitudes smaller than the width of a human hair.

Since the first discovery of planets beyond the solar system in 1995, more than 6,000 exoplanets have been identified. Many of these planets have properties that differ significantly from the eight planets in our solar system. How are such diverse exoplanets formed and evolved, and which of them could potentially become Earth-like planets capable of supporting life?

Graphene is an extraordinary material—a sheet of interlocking carbon atoms just one atom thick that is stable and extremely conductive. This makes it useful in a range of areas, such as flexible electronic displays, highly precise sensors, powerful batteries, and efficient solar cells.

Two-dimensional nanomaterials only a few atoms thick are being explored for a range of critical applications in biomedicine, electronics, nanodevices, energy storage and other areas, especially to enhance performance in extreme environments and ultra-demanding conditions.

Imagine a clock that doesn't have electricity, but its hands and gears spin on their own for all eternity. In a new study, physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have used liquid crystals, the same materials that are in your phone display, to create such a clock—or, at least, as close as humans can get to that idea. The team's advancement is a new example of a "time crystal." That's the name for a curious phase of matter in which the pieces, such as atoms or other particles, exist in constant motion.

The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE), a major environmental upheaval occurring approximately 183 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, stands as one of the most severe perturbations to Earth's carbon cycle in geological history.

A research team led by Prof. Huang Diying from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has identified three species of Jurassic orthopterans—an insect group that includes grasshoppers, crickets and katydids—with forewing patterns nearly identical to the leaves of bennettitales, an extinct, cycad-like seed plant.

A study published in the journal Science Advances, indicates how the heating in North America can trigger remote effects in Asia—this could be further exacerbated by anthropogenic global warming and human modification of the North American land surface.