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Dr Maria Helena Braga | High-performing Cathodes for Lithium-ion Batteries
Materials called NMCs are widely used as the positively charged electrodes – or ‘cathodes’ – in lithium-ion batteries, making them key components in everyday devices ranging from smartphones to electric cars. One type of nickel-rich NMC, called NMC955, is currently being developed as a promising new cathode material, owing to its exceptionally high energy density. Although the high nickel content of NMC955 helps reduce the need for cobalt, improving its environmental impact, it also causes structural and thermal stability issues that lead to safety concerns and reduced electrochemical performance. As a result, batteries with this cathode material can lose up to 15% of their charge capacity after just one charge-discharge cycle.
Dr Ursula Vincent | Detecting Trace Antibiotics in Livestock Feed to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is one of the most urgent public health threats today, and animal farming plays a significant role. For decades, livestock in the EU were routinely given medicated feed containing low doses of antibiotics – not to treat infections but to prevent them. This preventative daily dosing greatly contributed to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To combat this, the EU first introduced new rules in 2006 where antibiotics in feed can only be used with a veterinary prescription to treat diagnosed infections. Since May of 2025, the cross-contamination of antibiotics from medicated feed to non-medicated feed has also become strictly regulated. Even with these regulations, non-medicated feed can still become contaminated.
Greenland’s Ancient Warm Period Reveals Future Climate Risks
Studying Earth’s past environments is critical for predicting the impacts of human-driven climate change. By looking at how the Arctic responded to warm periods millions of years ago, scientists can make more accurate predictions about what lies ahead. A groundbreaking study led by Drs. Gina Moseley, Gabriella Koltai and Jonathan Baker at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, has revealed Greenland’s dramatically different past.
Dr Ruth Kastner | A Quantum Defeat of Maxwell’s Demon
“Maxwell’s Demon” is a thought experiment first imagined by James Clerk Maxwell in 1867. Maxwell suggested that a microscopic being – the “Demon” – could violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The Second Law demands that in a closed system, the overall level of disorder, or entropy, can only increase over time. In Maxwell’s thought experiment, a closed box filled with gas is divided into two chambers, and the “Demon” can sort fast-moving gas molecules into one chamber and slow-moving molecules into the other, decreasing the entropy of the gas. If this were possible, one could extract useful work from the gas without any energy input.
Dr Benjamin Blanz | Protecting Fish Stocks with Smarter Risk Management
Fisheries are a vital source of food, livelihoods, and cultural identity for many communities across the globe. Unfortunately, fish stocks are collapsing, despite management plans designed to ensure sustainability based on rigorous stock assessments. These collapses devastate ecosystems and the communities that rely on them, raising an urgent need to balance competing demands for fish with preserving stocks for the future. Dr Benjamin Blanz at the University of Hamburg and his collaborators are taking a new approach to this challenge.
Dr Simon Hoeg | Understanding the Future of Pre-Alpine Water in a Changing Climate
In the Pre-Alpine valleys of Switzerland, the water that flows through streams doesn’t all come from the same source. Some of this water might be today’s rain, while some is yesterday’s snowmelt. Another significant proportion has been moving underground for weeks, filtering through soils, forests, and rocks before making its way into streams and rivers. Understanding these different water sources and their varying proportions helps us to understand how rivers respond to the effects of climate change, and how reliable our water supplies will be in the future. This is the focus of an important new study by Dr Simon Hoeg of Panorama Water Research.
The GEMS Project: Harvesting Geothermal Energy from Abandoned Mines
Geothermal power is a rapidly developing form of renewable energy, where heat is harvested directly from the Earth’s crust. One potentially abundant source of this energy is water in disused coal mines, which absorbs heat from the surrounding rock. There are thousands of these mines throughout Britain. With the right approach, Durham Energy Institute estimates that there is enough energy within them to meet the heating demands of every building lying over the coalfields. If achieved, this goal would not only be a significant step towards decarbonising the British economy; it could also provide immense benefits to disadvantaged former mining communities in the region.
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Dr. Hubert Untersteiner | A Smart and Safe Method to Assess Pesticide Risks to Aquatic Life
Imagine rivers and lakes, vital for life, threatened by invisible dangers: pesticides. How do we accurately assess their risk to aquatic ecosystems without endless, costly, and ethically challenging animal tests? Scientists are increasingly finding answers in powerful computer models. A new study carried out by Dr. Hubert Untersteiner and colleagues from the University of Ulster shows how combining two types of computer-modelling tools can improve predictions of pesticide toxicity in aquatic environments. The two methods they combined are Quantitative Structure–Activity Relationship (or QSAR), and Species Sensitivity Distribution (or SSD).
Miguel-Ángel Climent – Jaime Ramis | Identifying Cracks in Corroding Reinforced Concrete Using Ultrasound
Reinforced concrete is a cheap and versatile material that combines the high compressive strength of concrete with the ability to resist stress provided by embedded steel bars. While reinforced concrete can be highly durable, exposure to harsh environments can reduce its lifetime. One of the main threats is the corrosion of the steel bars, which causes solid oxides to build up. As these oxides build up, they put pressure on the concrete, causing cracks to form and grow. Over time, pieces of the outer concrete layer can flake off or separate. As the steel corrodes, it no longer sticks well to the surrounding concrete, and the metal bars become thinner. If left untreated, this can weaken the structure.
The PROSPECT Mission: Uncovering the Moon’s Natural Resources
Space agencies around the world are more motivated than ever to return to the Moon. Their renewed interest is driven by scientific interest and a potential treasure trove of natural resources. Many researchers are considering how water resources on the Moon’s surface could support life-sustaining systems, or be a source of hydrogen and oxygen propellant for future missions. In recent years, scientists have accumulated a tantalising body of evidence for abundant water ice on the Moon: with data suggesting that certain regions could harbour far more than previously thought. However, questions remain over how much is really present, what form it takes, and where it originated.
Dr Ross Jansen-van Vuuren | Heavy Hydrogen, Light Footprint: Recyclable Catalysts Shake Up Deuterium Chemistry
Deuterium-labelled organic compounds are special molecules where hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium – a heavier form of hydrogen. These compounds are important in medicine as they are often safer and more effective than their hydrogen-based counterparts. They are also used in medical imaging, where they help doctors to track how drugs move through the body. Additionally, they are used to increase the stability and operational lifetime of many functional materials such as light-emitters – found in light-emitting diodes – and fluorescent dyes. Despite their usefulness, methods for making deuterium-labelled compounds involve wasteful and inefficient processes, prompting scientists to search for greener, more sustainable alternatives.
Dr Jörg Enderlein | Building 3D Images of the Biomolecular World
Over the past two decades, advances in super-resolution microscopy have sparked a revolution in imaging: offering researchers clear glimpses of biological structures just a few nanometres in size. The ability to visualise 3D structures at this scale is critical for understanding how drugs interact with proteins, and how diseases such as cancer progress at a molecular level. As such, better 3D imaging tools could accelerate the development of new drugs, guide more targeted therapies, and deepen our understanding of fundamental cellular processes.
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