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Researchers at the University of Minnesota froze pig kidneys to -238°F (-150°C) and successfully thawed them after a year of storage, reporting minimal damage to the organs' vital functions. The study demonstrates that organs can survive long-term deep-freeze storage without losing viability.
Progressive group Swing Left has spent the past year using an AI-based system during door-to-door canvassing, aiming to counter perceptions that Democratic politicians are out-of-touch elites. The effort has included campus outreach, such as canvassing at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, where organizers engage students directly at their dorms.
The US Department of Labor is investigating nine universities—including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Caltech, Arizona State, Brown, UC Davis and the University of Pittsburgh—over their use of J-1 visas for international postdoctoral researchers. Vice-President JD Vance announced the probe on October 8, saying it aims to curb visa fraud and prevent universities from using international researchers to undercut wages for American graduate students and researchers. Several universities confirmed receiving subpoenas and said they comply with visa regulations.
Researchers led by Iva Totomanova at Maastricht University reanalyzed data from a trial of 53 healthy adults who took 15-microgram doses of LSD or a placebo four times over two weeks. Among 48 participants, women who received LSD showed longer sustained attention and faster reaction times on cognitive tests than women given placebo, while no such effect appeared in men. The findings were presented on October 12 at the ECNP Congress in Munich.
A University of California climate scientist received her fifth public-records request this year seeking all correspondence about a study linking fossil-fuel emissions to climate damages, filed via a law firm for Iowa-based Patriots Foundation. Nature identified at least 30 such requests since 2024 sent to 13 public universities, affecting dozens of climate scientists, legal scholars and attorneys; Politico separately found over 100 records requests since 2021 tied to climate-damage lawsuits.
A study published this month in RAS Techniques and Instruments, led by Mark Hollands of Warwick University, reports that white dwarf stars can display unexpected colors such as green and pink, rather than the standard red-to-blue spectrum typical of most stars. Researchers attribute this to trace elements like sodium, calcium or carbon interacting with dense helium in the star's atmosphere as it cools, absorbing specific wavelengths of light.
Researchers from Columbia University, publishing in Nature, found that common consumer-grade microplastics are not chemically inert but instead generate reactive, high-energy radicals when exposed to water-rich environments like the human body. Study co-author Wei Min said this activity stems from the massive surface area created as plastic breaks into smaller fragments, and likely contributes to biological damage seen in animals and potentially humans.
Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University's Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science have launched the Preceptorship for AI-accelerated Software Engineering (PRAISE) program. It lets early-career Microsoft software engineers take CMU online courses in software engineering and AI while receiving structured mentorship from senior engineers at the company. One participant, Jace Watson, takes the courses remotely from Seattle while working full-time at Microsoft.
Research referenced by UC-affiliated Nobel laureates points to GLP-1 medications, widely known for diabetes and weight-loss treatment, showing effects on biological aging indicators. The findings come from work highlighted by University of California researchers discussing discoveries made within the UC system.
A new paper in Climate and Atmospheric Science by two University of Kansas researchers finds the rate of global warming roughly doubled between 2011-2025 compared with 1971-2025. Extrapolating that accelerated trend, the authors project the planet could cross the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2028, nearly a decade earlier than prior estimates.
Researchers from Columbia University and UC Berkeley found that microplastics, unlike larger plastic objects, become chemically reactive when exposed to water, spontaneously generating reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals. The study, published in Nature, shows this reaction occurs under ordinary environmental conditions without sunlight or other degradation triggers, and is attributed to the much larger surface area of smaller particles.
Langdao Silex, founded in 2024 by alumni of Tsinghua University's Gas Discharge Plasma Laboratory, showed off a prototype laser-produced plasma EUV light source called FlintNano LPP-OXXO at a Shanghai trade fair. The unit reportedly outputs over 15W with 90% domestically sourced components and can run continuously for more than 100 hours, but TrendForce reports commercialization is still three to five years away.