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An international collaboration has shown that additive manufacturing offers a realistic way to build large-scale plastic scintillator detectors for particle physics experiments.

A new strategy for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries is based on a hydrometallurgical process in neutral solution. This allows for the extraction of lithium and other valuable metals in an environmentally friendly, highly efficient, and inexpensive way. The leaching efficiency is improved by a solid-solid reduction mechanism, known as the battery effect, as well as the addition of the amino acid glycine.

Researchers have discovered that water generates an electrical charge up to 10 times greater than previously understood when it moves across a surface. The team observed when a water droplet became stuck on a tiny bump or rough spot, the force built up until it 'jumped or slipped' past an obstacle, creating an irreversible charge that had not been reported before. The new understanding of this phenomenon paves the way for surface design with controlled electrification, with potential applications ranging from improving safety in fuel-holding systems to boosting energy storage and charging rates.

Zeolites, crystalline materials widely used in the petrochemical industry, serve as pivotal catalysts in the production of fine chemicals, with aluminium being the source of active sites within zeolite structures. A research team has revealed the precise location of aluminium atoms in the zeolite framework. This discovery could facilitate the design of more efficient and stable catalysts, aimed at increasing the yield of petrochemical products, achieving efficient renewable energy storage, and controlling air pollution. This advancement will further promote the application of zeolites in relevant fields.

A new study using the largest network of microphones to track birds in the United States is providing crucial insights for managing and restoring fire-prone forests across California's Sierra Nevada region.

Researchers have developed cost-effective and efficient water-splitting catalysts to be used in the eco-friendly production of hydrogen. Catalyst performance surprisingly increases over time.

A new study presents a compelling new model for the formation of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes -- planets that are 1 to 4 times the size of Earth and among the most common in our galaxy. Using advanced simulations, the researchers propose that these planets emerge from distinct rings of planetesimals, providing fresh insight into planetary evolution beyond our solar system.

Researchers combine acoustic monitoring with a neural network to identify fish activity on coral reefs by sound. They trained the network to sort through the deluge of acoustic data automatically, analyzing audio recordings in real time. Their algorithm can match the accuracy of human experts in deciphering acoustical trends on a reef, but it can do so more than 25 times faster, and it could change the way ocean monitoring and research is conducted.

Researchers combine acoustic monitoring with a neural network to identify fish activity on coral reefs by sound. They trained the network to sort through the deluge of acoustic data automatically, analyzing audio recordings in real time. Their algorithm can match the accuracy of human experts in deciphering acoustical trends on a reef, but it can do so more than 25 times faster, and it could change the way ocean monitoring and research is conducted.

A new study has introduced a powerful tool for analyzing satellite imagery of boreal forests (also known as 'Taiga' in North America), offering unprecedented insights into the health and dynamics of these crucial ecosystems.

Current methods to recycle plastics often use expensive catalysts, harsh conditions and produce toxic byproducts. New process converts PET plastic into monomer building blocks, which can be recycled into new PET products or upcycled into higher value materials. In experiments, method recovered 94% of monomers from PET in just four hours, without harmful byproducts.

The discovery of the dwarf galaxy Andromeda XXXV --located roughly 3 million light-years away and the smallest yet found in the Andromeda system -- is forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies evolve in different cosmic environments and survive different epochs of the universe.

Scientists have discovered 'berkelocene,' the first organometallic molecule to be characterized containing the heavy element berkelium. The breakthrough disrupts long-held theories about the chemistry of the elements that follow uranium in the periodic table.

Linguists, psychologists and experts in cultural evolution are discovering why we tell stories, how ancient the oldest ones are and why some tales run and run

A patch of old oak trees in the UK is helping scientists to predict how the world’s forests will respond to higher levels of carbon dioxide, a crucial question for our future climate

The weather is warming, the crocuses are starting to poke their leaves above ground, and you know what that means. It’s Protest Season again on American campuses!

The poster below appeared on the University of Chicago Students for Justice in Palestine (spuchicago), University of Chicago United, and Faculty for Justice in Palestine sites.  It announces a pro-Palestinian protest at noon today on our Quad, sponsored by these organizations and, as you can see on the poster, also by the American Association of University professors (AAUP). The text accompanying the poster:

sjpuchicago On Saturday night, the federal government abducted Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil from his home, in collaboration with Columbia University. He is currently being held in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. Join us at noon this Tuesday to stand in solidarity with Mahmoud and rally against the Trump administration’s fascist escalations against the student movement! We demand that UChicago refuse collaboration with DHS/ICE and that UChicago admin and DA Eileen Burke drop all disciplinary proceedings and charges against Student A and Mamayan.

“Mamayan” apparently refers to Mamayan Jabateh, one of two students put on indefinite involuntary leave from the U of C this January after being arrested charged with “aggravated battery of a peace officer and resisting/obstructing a peace officer”.  The demonstration was last October, and I described it here.

As I noted this morning, Mahmoud Khalil was a Syrian-born, pro-Palestinian grad student at Columbia University who engaged in many activist activities there but, as far as I can see, none of them illegal.  He’s married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant and holds a green card as well.  Nevertheless, he was snatched up by ICE and spirited away, apparently to Louisiana.

This looks to me like Trump pulling another illegal move to punish the kind of speech he doesn’t like. (Note that Ilya Shapiro argues otherwise at the City Journal.) Now make no mistake, I don’t like this kind of speech, either, and I know that the aim of most of these organizations (save the AAUP, which seems to be going bonkers) is to destroy American democracy and its professed values. But the test of free speech is whether you give the okay to legal speech even when it says things you detest, and so, given that this is a legal protest (which I suspect it is), here’s what I think right now.

1. As far as I know about the law, the snatching up and attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is unconscionable, a violation of the First Amendment. (There may be other things Khalil did that I don’t know.)  And right now a federal judge agrees: “On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government not to remove Mr. Khalil from the United States while the judge reviewed a petition challenging the legality of his detention. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers also filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to compel the federal government to transfer him back to New York.”
2. While I don’t particularly want to live another summer on a campus roiled by protests, with pro-Palestinians shouting through speakers, if the University deems this protest to be legal, then I can’t say it’s wrong.  That said, however, our administration has been very lax on protestors, both faculty and students, and as far as I know, despite at least five illegal pri-Palestinian protests, only the two students mentioned above hav been sanctioned. (SJP was given a toothless “warning by the University).
3. I do deplore the AAUP abandoning institutional neutrality, though one might argue that they are defending free speech here. But given their decision to stop opposing academic boycotts, an implicitly anti-Israel move, the AAUP may be taking political sides. If they are, they’re going the way of the ACLU and SPLC.

I do have a queasy feeling in my stomach, because I simply don’t want to live through another protest season like last year’s. Several of the protests, including the encampment, were illegal and disruptive, but little was done by our administration, although eventually, after a couple of warnings, University police did remove the encampment. But nobody was ever punished. J’accuse!  Legal demonstrations are okay, but many college administrations, including ours, don’t seem to have grasped that failure to punish those who participate in illegal demonstrations not only promote more of them, but erode the reputation of universities.

Here’s what will happen today.  Although I’d like to go and take pictures, one of my friends is giving a biology talk on evolution, and that takes precedence.

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Looking back in time can seem like a sci-fi fantasy. But the nature of the Universe allows us to do it if we have the right telescope. The JWST is the right telescope, and as part of its observations, it frequently examines ancient galaxies whose light is only reaching us now. One of those ancient galaxies is both bright and enriched with metals, both signs of maturity.

A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu is spreading south along the Antarctic Peninsula and could devastate populations of penguins and other seabirds

Stored blood quickly loses its effectiveness, so how can we improve the situation?

The post Innovations in Blood Transfusions Will Save Lives first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Today we have part 10 (three to go) of Robert Lang‘s photo series from his trip to Brazil’s Pantanal region last year,  His captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Readers’ Wildlife Photos: The Pantanal, Part X: Birds

Continuing our mid-2025 journey to the Pantanal in Brazil, by far the largest category of observation and photography was birds: we saw over 100 different species of birds (and this was not even a birding-specific trip, though the outfitter also organizes those for the truly hard core). Here we continue working our way through the alphabetarium of common names.

Rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus):

They build mud nests that look like small ovens; here’s one:

Savanna hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis):

Sayaca tanager (Thraupis sayaca):

Snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis). Usually, I’m using my big lens to try to bring in a distant bird, but sometimes they pop up so close that I can’t get them all in the frame even zoomed out. Especially when they’re flying transversely to the line of sight:

Social flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis):

Southern lapwing (Vanellus chilensis):

Southern screamer and chick (Chauna torquata):

Spot-breasted woodpecker (Colaptes punctigula):

Squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana):

More birds still to come.