Nanoscale photocatalysts are small, man-made particles that harvest energy from sunlight to produce liquid fuels and other useful chemicals. A new imaging solution developed at Washington University in St. Louis reveals the significance of a particular structural feature — clusters of oxygen vacancies — in achieving high photocatalytic activity.

William B. McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, led one of three new studies that together provide a far more complete picture of the composition and origin of Arrokoth. The new research published in Science points to the resolution of a longstanding scientific controversy about how such primitive planetary building blocks called planetesimals were formed.

Using aerosols as ground truth, researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a deep learning method that accurately simulates chaotic trajectories — from the spread of poisonous gas to the path of foraging animals.

Heralded as a genetically modified crop with the potential to save millions of lives, Golden Rice has just been approved as safe for human and animal consumption by regulators in the Philippines. But a new study by Glenn Davis Stone, professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental studies in Arts & Sciences, finds that most families affected by Vitamin A deficiency can’t grow Golden Rice themselves, and most commercial farmers won’t grow it either.

A collaboration between the McKelvey School of Engineering and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital uncovers the underlying rules that, when broken, contribute to neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS.

Bhupal Dev, assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, proposes a new way to leverage data from ultra-high energy neutrinos from large neutrino telescopes such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

Presolar grains — tiny bits of solid interstellar material formed before the sun was born — are sometimes found in primitive meteorites. But a noble gas analysis from physicists in Arts & Sciences reveals evidence of presolar grains in part of a meteorite where they are not expected to be found.

Joe Scherrer, director of the Cybersecurity Strategic Initiative at Washington University and a former cybersecurity innovator with the U.S. Air Force, says the cyberattack on Jeff Bezos is nothing unusual, and these kinds of attacks are becoming more common. But there are things you can do to stay safe.

Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis found that the hazards of switching disinfectants in water systems — increased lead levels — can be mitigated if the change is done correctly.

Hard plant foods like seeds and nuts may have made up a larger part of early human ancestors’ diet than currently presumed, according to a new experimental study of modern tooth enamel from anthropologists in Arts & Sciences.