International Academic Excellence Awards

  A silent ecological invasion is unfolding across vast regions of the world, driven by “ Lantana camara ”, an aggressive invasive weed now entrenched across tropical, subtropical and warm temperate zones. Easily recognised by its brightly coloured, bouquet-like flowers and strong scent, the plant has spread across millions of hectares, posing serious threats to biodiversity, agriculture and forest ecosystems. A Plant Built to Dominate Lantana camara spreads rapidly due to a combination of biological advantages. It releases chemicals into the soil that suppress the growth of neighbouring plants, a process known as allelopathy. Its leaves, flowers and berries are toxic to livestock, yet attractive to birds, insects and monkeys that disperse its seeds over long distances. Deep, spreading roots extract scarce water and nutrients, while a resin-coated leaf surface reduces moisture loss, allowing the plant to thrive in drought-prone and degraded soils. From Ornamental Shrub to Global Me...

  How does nearly two metres of DNA fit inside a cell nucleus just a few micrometres wide and how does that same packing decide which genes a cell can use? A new study published in “Science” offers a striking answer: even a difference of just a few DNA “letters” in spacing can fundamentally change how our genome behaves. Why DNA Packing Matters Beyond Storage Inside human cells, DNA is not loose or floating freely. Instead, it is wrapped around bead-like proteins called histones, forming repeating units known as nucleosomes. These nucleosomes are connected by short stretches of exposed DNA, together forming a complex structure called chromatin. This arrangement does more than save space. Chromatin’s physical organisation determines whether genes are accessible to the cellular machinery that reads them, or tightly packed and effectively switched off. Loosely organised regions tend to be active; densely packed regions are usually silent. How cells control this balance has been a cen...

  Colorado's Climax Mine, which produces produces approximately 30 million pounds of molybdenum every year, was among the U.S. mining operations evaluated in the critical minerals analysis published today in the journal Science. Credit: Colorado School of Mines The United States may already be producing most of the critical minerals it needs, but much of that material is currently going unused. A new statistical study led by Elizabeth Holley and her research team shows that valuable minerals could be recovered as byproducts from active U.S. metal mines, sharply reducing the nation's reliance on foreign imports. Critical mineral byproducts are elements that occur naturally alongside metals like copper, gold, zinc, or nickel. These secondary minerals are not the main target of mining operations, so they are often separated out and discarded during processing. According to the researchers, recovering even small amounts of these overlooked materials could have a major impact on U....

  Researchers have discovered signs of shallow water ice on Mars in a region ideal for human exploration. The ice could support future missions—and possibly preserve evidence of ancient life. Credit: Shutterstock Before humans can make the long trip to another world, scientists must identify a safe and practical place to land. New research led by a University of Mississippi scientist suggests one region on Mars may meet many of the requirements for future human missions. Erica Luzzi, a planetary geologist and postdoctoral researcher with the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, led a study that uncovered signs of water ice located just below the Martian surface. The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, points to a possible local water supply that astronauts could rely on during extended stays on Mars. "If we're going to send humans to Mars, you need H2O and not just for drinking, but for propellant and all manner of applications," Luzz...

Astronomers at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have pieced together the dramatic history of a distant red giant by studying subtle changes in its light. Tiny fluctuations in brightness reveal that the star may have collided and merged with another star long ago, a violent event that likely left it spinning much faster than normal. Today, this unusual star circles a quiet black hole in a system known as Gaia BH2. Using observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the team detected faint vibrations known as "starquakes" moving through the red giant, which is the companion to the black hole. Gaia BH2 itself was first identified in 2023 by the European Space Agency's Gaia mission. Much like earthquakes help scientists explore Earth's interior, these stellar tremors allowed astronomers to probe deep inside the star and precisely measure properties of its core. "Just like seismologists use earthquakes to study Eart...

  Scientists have discovered that the brain can restore lost visual connections after injury by rewiring itself in an unexpected way. Credit: Shutterstock For decades, neuroscientists have taught that neurons do not regenerate once they are damaged or destroyed. This belief has shaped how brain injuries are understood and treated. Yet people often regain at least some lost abilities after trauma, raising an important question: if neurons do not grow back, how does recovery happen? A new JNeurosci paper offers insight into this puzzle. Athanasios Alexandris and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University used mice to study what happens inside the visual system after traumatic brain injury. The visual system includes cells in the eye that send information to the brain, allowing animals and humans to see. Damage to this system can disrupt communication between the eye and the brain, leading to vision problems. Surviving Cells Rebuild Eye to Brain Connections After injury, the researchers ...

  Glaciers across the planet are shrinking at an accelerating pace. In some parts of the world, they are expected to disappear entirely. When scientists focus on the number of individual glaciers that are vanishing, rather than total ice volume, they find that the Alps could reach their highest rate of glacier loss between 2033 and 2041. How severe this period becomes depends on how much global temperatures rise. During this window, more glaciers could disappear than at any other time on record. On a global scale, the peak in glacier losses is expected roughly a decade later, with annual losses rising from about 2,000 to as many as 4,000 glaciers. Alpine glaciers face near total collapse The outlook for the Alps is especially severe. If current climate policies lead to a global temperature increase of +2.7 °C, projections suggest that by 2100 only around 110 glaciers would remain in Central Europe. This would represent just 3 per cent of today's total. Under a +4 °C warming scenar...

  Scientists just flipped quantum satellite communication upside down—sending entanglement up from Earth could power a future quantum internet. Credit: Shutterstock Quantum satellites are best known for sending entangled particles of light from orbit down to ground stations, a method used to create extremely secure communication links. New research now shows that the process can also work in reverse, with quantum signals sent from Earth up to a satellite, an approach long considered impractical. This finding removes several major limitations facing today's quantum satellite systems. Equipment on the ground can draw on far more power, is simpler to service, and can produce much stronger signals. These advantages could be critical for building future networks that link quantum computers through satellites acting as relays. Study Details and Recent Milestones The research, titled "Quantum entanglement distribution via uplink satellite channels," by Professor Simon Devitt, P...

  Schematic of an active cell membrane. In a typical active biological process , active proteins (shown in a variety of colors) in a cell membrane (shown in blue) interact with various biological components, such as the ATP molecules (shown in white and red). These interactions of active proteins generate active noise (fluctuation) force within a cell membrane, mechanically affecting the out-of-plane displacement of a cell membrane. Due to the flexoelectric coupling of a cell membrane, changes in out-of-plane displacement induce changes in the transmembrane voltage of a cell membrane, resulting in energy harvesting, active transport of ions, and the generation of electric current across the cell membrane.  Scientists have developed a new theoretical explanation for how living cells might generate electricity on their own. At the center of the idea is the cell membrane, the thin, flexible layer that surrounds every living cell and controls what enters and leaves it. Rather than...

  A team used AI to uncover one crucial interaction that herpes viruses need to infect cells. Changing just one amino acid was enough to block the virus entirely. Washington State University scientists have identified a way to interfere with a key viral protein, stopping viruses from entering cells where they can trigger disease. The finding points to a potential new direction for antiviral therapies in the future. The study, published in the journal Nanoscale, focused on uncovering and blocking a specific molecular interaction that herpes viruses rely on to gain access to cells. The work brought together researchers from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology. "Viruses are very smart," said Jin Liu, corresponding author of the study and a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. "The whole process of invading cells is very complex, and there are a lot of interactions. Not al...

  For many people living with long COVID, ongoing issues such as breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog remain difficult to explain. A team of prominent microbiologists now believes they may have uncovered an important clue. Their view is that, for some individuals, long COVID symptoms could stem from additional infections that occur alongside SARS-CoV-2. A review published in eLife by 17 experts, including researchers at Rutgers Health, suggests that co-infections acquired before or during a bout of COVID may help drive long-lasting symptoms. "This is an aspect of long COVID that is not talked about a lot," said Maria Laura Gennaro, a microbiologist at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who chaired the Microbiology Task Force for the National Institutes of Health's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery initiative, a large-scale study of long COVID. Growing Evidence That Other Pathogens May Play a Role Long COVID has affected up to 400 million people worldwide and can ...