The Latest Breaking News from the National Science Foundation

BALTIMORE -- On a cold morning in a Remsen Hall chemistry lab at the Johns Hopkins University, five undergraduates laughed and chatted as they mixed together amino acids and catalysts, trying to better understand the origins of life.

It’s easy to feel pessimistic when scientists around the world are warning that climate change has advanced so far, it’s now inevitable that societies will either transform themselves or be transformed. But as two of the authors of a recent international climate report, we also see reason for optimism.

For short-lived spring wildflowers such as wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) and Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), timing is everything. These fleeting plants, known as ephemerals, grow in temperate forests around the world, leafing out and flowering early in spring before the trees towering above them leaf out. Emerge too early, and…

The legacy of Arecibo's nearly 60 years of astronomy research is strong, even after its loss in a dramatic 2020 collapse.