NSF News

A new, biodegradable ultrasound far more powerful than previous devices could make brain cancers more treatable, University of Connecticut researchers report in Science Advances. The study was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. When…

Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth's early history using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions that existed in early…

The U.S. National Science Foundation joined national funding organizations from five European countries for the signing of a memorandum of understanding announcing a new partnership initiative. The new memorandum outlines a research initiative called…

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced 16 finalists for the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) competition, spanning a range of key technology areas and societal and economic challenges highlighted in the "CHIPS and…

A team led by University of Minnesota scientists and engineers has discovered a new method for tuning the thermal conductivity of materials to control heat flow "on the fly." Their tuning range is the highest ever recorded among one-step processes in…

For the nearly half of Americans with hypertension, it's a potential death sentence; it increases the risk of stroke and chronic heart failure. While it's relatively easy to prevent or moderate if caught early — eat well, exercise more, consume less…

The U.S. National Science Foundation CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service program is renewing funding for seven academic institutions, providing more than $24 million over the next four years. These awards build on a prior investment of $29 million…

South America's Andes Mountains, the world's longest mountain range and home to some of the planet's highest peaks, feature hundreds of hot springs. Driven by plate tectonics and fueled by hot rock and fluids, their thermal discharges vary widely in…

As Earth's climate continues to warm, extreme and anomalous weather events are becoming more common. But predicting and analyzing the effects of what is, by definition, an anomaly can be tricky. Scientists say museum specimens can help. In the first…

The U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) signed a memorandum of understanding to officially enable cross-agency coordination on regional innovation programs. "Innovation and collaboration go hand in…

Each cell comes with a finite set of instructions encoded in its DNA. Life, however, is unpredictable, and when circumstances change, animals need flexibility to acclimate. Now, U.S. National Science Foundation-supported research led by Joshua…

This week, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan welcomed Chief Scientist of Israel's Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology Avi Domb. Discussions centered on shared priorities and strengthening and scaling the innovation capacity of both…

The U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have finalized an agreement to provide continued public access to historical and new digital elevation models created…

While searching for the origins of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB), an international team of astrophysicists may have stumbled upon a new way stars might be destroyed. Although most GRBs originate from exploding massive stars or neutron-star mergers…

A Penn State-led team of researchers has literally put pencil to paper to create an accessible, affordable, waterproof and wearable sensor to monitor multiple vital signs. The team published the details of the pencil-on-paper sensor in Chemical…

Drawing inspiration from nature, Penn State scientists have developed a new device that produces images by mimicking the red, green and blue photoreceptors and the neural network found in human eyes. The research findings, reported in Science…

As new environmental regulations are rolling out to mitigate the industry-retired long-chain chemicals known as PFAS in drinking water, there are concerns regarding a new breed of these "forever chemicals" called short-chain PFAS. PFAS is an…

Health officials warn that drug resistance could wipe out recent progress against malaria, particularly in Africa and southeast Asia. Now, researchers looking for other ways to fight the mosquito-borne parasites that cause the disease have zeroed in…

This week, network operators and vendors, academia, federal agencies and public interest representatives gathered at the Federal Communications Commission for a workshop co-hosted by NSF and the FCC to discuss the opportunities and challenges of…

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced that 54 teams have been selected to advance to the Semi-Final Round of the Visionary Interdisciplinary Teams Advancing Learning (VITAL) Prize Challenge. The $6 million, multiphase challenge supports…