SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
Buzz about tennis’s newest rising stars — like 15-year-old prodigy Coco Gauff, who beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon — can be so intimidating it can make their opponents play worse, according to new research from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. A study of more than 117,000 pro tennis matches and more than 5 million … Read more
MIT chemists have devised a way to synthesize polymers that can break down more readily in the body and in the environment. A chemical reaction called ring-opening metathesis polymerization, or ROMP, is handy for building novel polymers for various uses such as nanofabrication, high-performance resins, and delivering drugs or imaging agents. However, one downside to … Read more
Ruthless sportspeople often suspend their sense of right and wrong when they step onto the field of play – viewing sport as a different world where they jettison responsibility to act in a moral way, according to a new study. When athletes focus on the outcome of a game or race solely to earn a … Read more
Single-use plastics might have more inherent value than you think. Researchers have developed a new method for upcycling abundant, seemingly low-value plastics into high-quality liquid products, such as motor oils, lubricants, detergents and even cosmetics. The discovery also improves on current recycling methods that result in cheap, low-quality plastic products. The catalytic method serves a … Read more
More than 150 top international scientists are calling on the world to take urgent action on nitrogen pollution, to tackle the widespread harm it is causing to humans, wildlife and the planet. The scientists highlight that “the present environmental crisis is much more than a carbon problem” and are asking all countries “to wake up … Read more
Developing honeybee-friendly bio-insecticides from spider venom, responding to climate change using methane-utilising microorganisms, and measuring how animals with colour vision systems more complex than humans perceive colour are some of the projects that have netted more than $6.59 million in federal government funding. Eight University of Queensland researchers have been awarded Australian Research Council (ARC) … Read more
A molecule that protects plants from overexposure to harmful sunlight thanks to its flamenco-style twist could form the basis for a new longer-lasting sunscreen, chemists at the University of Warwick have found, in collaboration with colleagues in France and Spain. Research on the green molecule by the scientists has revealed that it absorbs ultraviolet light … Read more
Scientists have uncovered a root cause of the growth of needle-like structures – known as dendrites and whiskers – that plague lithium batteries, sometimes causing a short circuit, failure, or even a fire. The team, led by Chongmin Wang at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has shown that the presence of certain … Read more
New research from North Carolina State University shows that unique materials with distinct properties akin to those of gecko feet – the ability to stick to just about any surface – can be created by harnessing liquid-driven chaos to produce soft polymer microparticles with hierarchical branching on the micro- and nanoscale. The findings, described in … Read more
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have shown for the first time that a cheap catalyst can split water and generate hydrogen gas for hours on end in the harsh environment of a commercial device. The electrolyzer technology, which is based on a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), has … Read more