NSF News

From the early telescopes made hundreds of years ago by Galileo to the sophisticated astronomical observatories of today, people have built increasingly innovative tools to probe and measure the cosmos. Soon, researchers at two new institutes funded…

The U.S. National Science Foundation has invested over $2.1 million in eight projects through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR). This investment, in collaboration with NASA, aims to strengthen research…

As continental landmasses rose above sea level to meet wind and rain effects around 3 billion years ago, they underwent a series of geologic processes that helped them stabilize and endure until now, according to an NSF-supported study published in…

This week, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan continued making significant strides toward fostering innovation and collaboration. On Tuesday, Panchanathan participated in the Quantum World Congress. He spoke about how the U.S. is poised to lead the…

Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation, in partnership with Ericsson, Intel Corporation, Micron Technology and Samsung, announced $42.4 million in grants for its Future of Semiconductors (NSF FuSe2) competition. The investment will fuel…

Astronomy has always relied on light to convey information about the universe. But capturing photons — such as those from visible light or radio waves — is no longer the only technique scientists have for studying astronomical phenomena. Neutrinos…

There's hardly a more ubiquitous substance than plastic. It's everywhere in the environment, from soil to air to water, and it's in our bodies. According to the U.N. Environment Programme, humans produce more than 430 million tons of plastic annually…

Warming ocean waters have led to mass coral bleaching events in Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and are threatening the future of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now, researchers funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation report in…

Researchers at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory have successfully mapped the magnetic fields of the sun's atmospheric corona using the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world's most powerful solar telescope…

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded $10.5 million for Ideas Lab projects to assess and address research capacity needs, increase access to research facilities and build human capital at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs…

A new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows direct evidence of Greenland being ice-free within the last 1.1 million years. This NSF-funded study analyzed sediment drilled through the Greenland Ice Sheet at NSF…

Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Micron Foundation announced an investment in four projects to advance STEM education training to foster a more robust microelectronics workforce. The investment, made possible through a Dear…

Water is essential for all forms of life — humans included — and understanding the quality of available water is critical to knowing where to drink, swim, fish and otherwise make use of the resource. A new analysis, published in Frontiers in Ecology…

This week, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan met with representatives from Australia, including Doug Hilton, CEO of @CSIRO, Dharmini Robertson, U.S. and Canada science counselor at CSIRO, and Geoff Mason, Australian ambassador to the U.S. The…

Researchers have developed a new way to see organs within a body by rendering overlying tissues transparent to visible light. The counterintuitive process—a topical application of food-safe dye—was reversible in tests with animal subjects, and may…

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a unique region of Antarctica, nearly devoid of snow and ice. An atmospheric river event in March 2022 led to record warm temperatures over much of Antarctica. This extreme event was uniquely noted in the McMurdo Dry…

Researchers at Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environment Science have discovered new implications for the Arctic carbon cycle in the face of climate change. Their paper published in Communications Biology shows how differing plant…

Artificial Intelligence is transforming research, education, manufacturing and everyday life. To prepare the next generation of talent for a diverse, well-trained AI workforce, the U.S. National Science Foundation directorates for Computer and…

A research team at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William & Mary has uncovered a new species of Antarctic fish, which could reshape how scientists view biodiversity in the Southern Ocean. The newly discovered species Akarotaxis gouldae…

This week, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan engaged with leaders and innovators at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University (OSU), focusing on the future of workforce development, the economic impact of public research universities…