Energy and Resources News

November 21, 2025

Top Headlines

Century-old Catalysis Puzzle Cracked by Measuring a Fraction of an Electron

Nov. 21, 2025 Scientists have directly measured the minuscule electron sharing that makes precious-metal catalysts so effective. Their new technique, IET, reveals how molecules bind and react on metal surfaces with unprecedented clarity. The insights promise ...

A Compact Fusion Machine Just Hit Gigapascal Pressures

Nov. 20, 2025 Operating a new device named the Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3, or FuZE-3, Zap Energy has now achieved plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, comparable to the pressures found deep below ...

Nearly 47 Million Americans Live Near Hidden Fossil Fuel Sites

Nov. 20, 2025 A nationwide analysis has uncovered how sprawling fossil fuel infrastructure sits surprisingly close to millions of American homes. The research shows that 46.6 million people live within about a mile of wells, refineries, pipelines, storage sites, ...

Floating Device Turns Raindrops Into Electricity

Nov. 15, 2025 A new floating droplet electricity generator is redefining how rain can be harvested as a clean power source by using water itself as both structural support and an electrode. This nature-integrated design dramatically reduces weight and cost ...

Scientists Just Found a Material That Beats Diamond at Its Own Game

Nov. 12, 2025 Boron arsenide has dethroned diamond as the best heat conductor, thanks to refined crystal purity and improved synthesis methods. This discovery could transform next-generation electronics by combining record-breaking thermal conductivity with ...

Entangled Spins Give Diamonds a Quantum Advantage

Nov. 11, 2025 UC Santa Barbara physicists have engineered entangled spin systems in diamond that surpass classical sensing limits through quantum squeezing. Their breakthrough enables next-generation quantum sensors that are powerful, compact, and ready for ...

Turning CO2 Into Clean Fuel Faster and Cheaper

Nov. 5, 2025 A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of carbon-neutral synthetic ...

Breakthrough Links Magnetism and Electricity for Faster Tech

Nov. 5, 2025 Engineers at the University of Delaware have uncovered a way to bridge magnetism and electricity through magnons—tiny waves that carry information without electrical current. These magnetic waves can generate measurable electric signals within ...

This Artificial Leaf Turns Pollution Into Power

Nov. 2, 2025 Cambridge researchers have engineered a solar-powered “artificial leaf” that mimics photosynthesis to make valuable chemicals sustainably. Their biohybrid device combines organic semiconductors and enzymes to convert CO₂ and sunlight into ...

Cheaper Than Lithium, Just as Powerful — Sodium Batteries Are Finally Catching Up

Oct. 17, 2025 Researchers discovered how to stabilize a high-performance sodium compound, giving sodium-based solid-state batteries the power and stability they’ve long lacked. The new material conducts ions far ...

Scientists Grow Metal Instead of 3D Printing It — And It’s 20x Stronger

Oct. 10, 2025 Scientists at EPFL have reimagined 3D printing by turning simple hydrogels into tough metals and ceramics. Their process allows multiple infusions of metal salts that form dense, high-strength structures without the porosity of earlier methods. ...

A Strange Quantum Metal Just Rewrote the Rules of Electricity

Oct. 8, 2025 In a remarkable leap for quantum physics, researchers in Japan have uncovered how weak magnetic fields can reverse tiny electrical currents in kagome metals—quantum materials with a woven atomic structure that frustrates electrons into forming ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:10am EST

MIT Ultrasonic Tech Pulls Drinking Water from Air in Minutes

Nov. 20, 2025 MIT engineers have created an ultrasonic device that rapidly frees water from materials designed to absorb moisture from the air. Instead of waiting hours for heat to evaporate the trapped water, the ...

NASA's Webb Finds Life’s Building Blocks Frozen in a Galaxy Next Door

Nov. 12, 2025 Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered a trove of complex organic molecules frozen in ice around a young star in a neighboring galaxy — including the first-ever detection ...

CERN Creates Cosmic “fireballs” That Could Reveal the Universe’s Hidden Magnetism

Nov. 7, 2025 Using CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron, researchers generated plasma fireballs to simulate blazar jets. The beams stayed stable, suggesting plasma ...

Are Room-Temperature Superconductors Finally Within Reach?

Oct. 31, 2025 Penn State scientists have devised a new method to predict superconducting materials that could work at higher temperatures. Their model bridges classical superconductivity theory with quantum ...

Scientists Just Found a Way to Grow Diamonds Without Heat or Pressure

Oct. 29, 2025 A University of Tokyo team has turned organic molecules into nanodiamonds using electron beams, overturning decades of assumptions about beam damage. Their discovery could transform materials science ...

Gold Flakes Expose the Secret Forces Binding Our World Together

Oct. 23, 2025 Chalmers researchers have developed a simple, light-based platform to study the mysterious “invisible glue” that binds materials at the nanoscale. Gold flakes floating in salt water reveal how ...

Scientists Unlock a 100-Year-Old Quantum Secret to Supercharge Solar Power

Oct. 15, 2025 Scientists at the University of Cambridge have uncovered a surprising quantum effect inside an organic material, something once thought impossible outside metals. The team found that a special ...

MIT Scientists Find Metals Hold Secret Atomic Patterns

Oct. 14, 2025 MIT researchers found that metals retain hidden atomic patterns once believed to vanish during manufacturing. These patterns arise from microscopic dislocations that guide atoms into preferred ...

When Sunshine Became Cheaper Than Coal

Oct. 7, 2025 Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power worldwide, driving a massive shift toward renewables. Falling battery prices and innovations in solar materials are making clean energy more reliable ...

Lighting the Way for Electric Vehicles by Using Streetlamps as Chargers

Oct. 5, 2025 A Penn State research team found that streetlights could double as affordable EV charging stations. After installing 23 units in Kansas City, they discovered these chargers were faster, cheaper, and ...

The Accidental Discovery That Forged the Iron Age

Sep. 28, 2025 Ancient copper smelters may have accidentally set the stage for the Iron Age. At a 3,000-year-old workshop in Georgia, researchers discovered that metalworkers were using iron oxide not to smelt iron ...

Toxic Waste Could Become the Next Clean Energy Breakthrough

Sep. 26, 2025 Bio-tar, once seen as a toxic waste, can be transformed into bio-carbon with applications in clean energy and environmental protection. This innovation could reduce emissions, create profits, and ...

This Ultra-Thin Solar Tech Could Power Everything from Phones to Skyscrapers

Oct. 1, 2025 A team in Sweden has unraveled the hidden structure of a promising solar material using machine learning and advanced simulations. Their findings could unlock durable, ultra-efficient solar cells for ...

Scientists Brew “quantum Ink” to Power Next-Gen Night Vision

Sep. 25, 2025 Toxic metals are pushing infrared detector makers into a corner, but NYU Tandon researchers have developed a cleaner solution using colloidal quantum dots. These detectors are made like “inks,” ...

The Shocking Reason Arctic Rivers Are Turning Rusty Orange

Sep. 22, 2025 Researchers found that ice can trigger stronger chemical reactions than liquid water, dissolving iron minerals in extreme cold. Freeze-thaw cycles amplify the effect, releasing iron into rivers and ...

The Surprising New Particle That Could Finally Explain Dark Matter

Sep. 25, 2025 Physicists are eyeing charged gravitinos—ultra-heavy, stable particles from supergravity theory—as possible Dark Matter candidates. Unlike axions or WIMPs, these particles carry electric charge ...

This Stunning X-Ray Advance Could Help Detect Cancer Earlier

Sep. 20, 2025 Sandia scientists developed a new type of X-ray that uses patterned multi-metal targets to create colorized, high-resolution images. The technology promises sharper scans, better material detection, ...

The Invisible Plastic Threat You Can Finally See

Sep. 10, 2025 Researchers in Germany and Australia have created a simple but powerful tool to detect nanoplastics—tiny, invisible particles that can slip through skin and even the blood-brain barrier. Using an ...

Tiny Gold Quantum Needles With Astonishing Powers Discovered

Sep. 5, 2025 Scientists at the University of Tokyo have unveiled “gold quantum needles,” a newly discovered nanocluster structure formed under unusual synthesis conditions. Unlike typical spherical clusters, ...

Scientists Crack a 50-Year Solar Mystery With a Scorching Discovery

Sep. 17, 2025 Scientists from the University of St Andrews have discovered that ions in solar flares can reach scorching temperatures more than 60 million degrees—6.5 times hotter than previously believed. This ...

A Simple Metal Could Solve the World’s Plastic Recycling Problem

Sep. 3, 2025 Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a groundbreaking nickel-based catalyst that could transform the way the world recycles plastic. Instead of requiring tedious sorting, the catalyst ...

This Tiny Iron Catalyst Could Transform the Future of Clean Energy

Aug. 27, 2025 Hydrogen fuel cells could power cars, devices, and homes with nothing but water as a byproduct—but platinum’s cost holds them back. Chinese researchers have now unveiled a breakthrough iron-based ...

Scientists Crack Indole’s Toughest Bond With Copper, Unlocking New Medicines

Aug. 26, 2025 Scientists have cracked one of chemistry’s toughest challenges with indoles, using copper to unlock a spot once thought too stubborn to change. The discovery could pave the way for easier, cheaper ...

America Is Throwing Away the Minerals That Could Power Its Future

Sep. 18, 2025 America already mines all the critical minerals it needs for energy, defense, and technology, but most are being wasted as mine tailings. Researchers discovered that minerals like cobalt, germanium, ...

Tiny Reactor Boosts Fusion With a Sponge-Like Trick

Aug. 23, 2025 Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown that a small bench-top reactor can enhance nuclear fusion rates by electrochemically loading a metal with deuterium fuel. Unlike massive ...

A Tiny Chip May Have Solved One of Clean Energy’s Biggest Problems

Aug. 28, 2025 In just one afternoon, scientists used a nanoparticle “megalibrary” to find a catalyst that matches or exceeds iridium’s performance in hydrogen fuel production, at a fraction of the ...

Why Recycling ‘dead’ Batteries Could Save Billions and Slash Pollution

Aug. 19, 2025 Lithium battery recycling offers a powerful solution to rising demand, with discarded batteries still holding most of their valuable materials. Compared to mining, recycling slashes emissions and ...

Scientists Supercharge Solar Power 15x With Black Metal Tech

Aug. 24, 2025 A Rochester team engineered a new type of solar thermoelectric generator that produces 15 times more power than earlier versions. By enhancing heat absorption and dissipation rather than tweaking ...

From Lead to Gold in a Flash at the Large Hadron Collider

Aug. 11, 2025 At the Large Hadron Collider, scientists from the University of Kansas achieved a fleeting form of modern-day alchemy — turning lead into gold for just a fraction of a second. Using ...

Scientists Just Recreated the Universe’s First Molecule and Solved a 13-Billion-Year-Old Puzzle

Aug. 3, 2025 Long before stars lit up the sky, the universe was a hot, dense place where simple chemistry quietly set the stage for everything to come. Scientists have now recreated the first molecule ever to ...