Newswise — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —When Sandia scientists Ryan Davis and Nathan Bays set out to find a better way to absorb and degrade PFAS in water sources, they kept running into the same issue: Detecting the chemicals in samples took too long.

So, they came up with their own solution.

They’ve developed a faster, cheaper way to test for PFAS.

The problem of PFAS and solving it

PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are commonly called forever chemicals because they don’t break down naturally in the environment. They can move through soil and water and build up in wildlife and humans.

Ryan, a chemist, has spent years developing technologies that can eliminate PFAS on both large and small scales. But that research has been time-consuming. Depending on the concentration, it can take hours to days to detect PFAS in a single sample.

“A common complaint of ours and others who are doing PFAS analysis is that it’s slow and can be costly depending on the technology,” Ryan said.

Traditional testing processes requires repetitive extraction, concentration and processing.

 It starts with a liter or more of liquid, suspected to contain PFAS. The liquid is forced through a cartridge to extract the PFAS. The collected PFAS is then added to a smaller volume of water, and the process is repeated with new cartridges until enough PFAS concentrated for detection.  

The process is not only time-consuming but also costly. Cartridges can cost several hundred dollars apiece.

That process not only slows research and development but puts testing out of reach for the average person.

“We want a technology that can be broadly accessible, not only for researchers but for the broader public and government,” Ryan said. “It will allow regulators to track PFAS in the environment, and for people to test their own tap water.”  

A new way to detect PFAS

Ryan and Sandia postdoctoral researcher Nathan Bays have developed that technology.

The pair stumbled onto the approach while experimenting with a mass spectrometer and a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI. The process uses electrically charged droplets sprayed at the surface of an adsorbent that ionizes only the target chemical, not the adsorbent itself.

 Bays and Ryan said the results were unexpected.

“We had toyed with the idea of using DESI to confirm the presence of PFAS on adsorbent materials,” Ryan said. “When we did some preliminary testing, not only did we confirm the presence of PFAS, but we noticed that we got results well beyond our standard analysis.”

“At this point, it became very clear we had an opportunity to push further on this work,” Bays said. “One step at a time, we went from just being able to see PFAS at parts-per-million—to levels at parts-per-billion, and finally low parts-per-trillion.”

Ryan and Bays’ technique starts with an adsorbent about the size of a Rice Krispy. The adsorbent is placed in a solution for testing. Three minutes later, it is removed and placed in front of a mass spectrometer where it is sprayed with electrically charged droplets. The droplets remove PFAS from the adsorbent and carry it into the mass spectrometer, where it is analyzed for PFAS concentration and type.

The entire process can take as little as five minutes.

“It’s one of those outcomes that wasn’t exactly planned as we had initially envisioned it,” Ryan said. “It was surprising to see the concentration of PFAS so clearly. That may be why it hadn’t been done before. It was just unexpected.”

The pair has published details of the process in hopes it can be commercialized for widespread use. They also hope it can be developed to tackle other environmental pollutants besides PFAS and used for environmental analytics and testing such as off- gassing measurements tied to Sandia’s nuclear deterrence work.   

“It could help researchers understand the system’s environment and the off-gassing of chemicals in certain work,” Ryan said. “While our first phase worked with liquid, our more recent work has delved into the gas phase.”

Why they do it

Both Ryan and Nathan are passionate about this technology and PFAS remediation. Developing the new test is just a small part of the broader work they do aimed at reducing PFAS pollution.

“I’ve been working on this specific project since I joined Sandia two and a half years ago,” Nathan said. “My whole career has evolved around environmental remediation, so this was a natural fit. I’m a big outdoors person. My wife and I like to go out in nature, and we don’t like to see our world be polluted like this.”

One of the biggest focuses of PFAS remediation has been at U.S. Air Force bases, where soil and groundwater have been impacted by the long-term use of firefighting foam.

Ryan’s big goal, however, is to give people more power over their health. “More and more research shows that PFAS can have negative outcomes at even low concentrations, so detecting at those low concentrations is key,” Ryan said. “We don’t want families to worry about whether they can afford groceries this week or test their water for safety.”

Federal regulators announced Sunday that an E. coli outbreak that infected at least seven people in three states have been traced to a raw cheddar cheese product.

Many of the affected individuals are children, ages 3 or younger, across California, Texas and Florida, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Of the seven reported cases, five were in California, one in Florida and another in Texas.

“The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections,” the FDA said. 

“As of March 14, 2026, a total of 7 confirmed infections have been reported from three states.”

Officials said investigators have traced the outbreak to California producer RAW FARM, a family-owned company recognized as the nation’s largest producer of raw dairy products.

The FDA noted that RAW FARM declined to issue a voluntary recall of its shredded raw cheddar cheese product despite the agency’s recommendation.

In response, the dairy farm denied the allegations on its social media page Monday, claiming that the health agency made “false allegations” against the brand and that no tests have confirmed a positive match for the E. coli strain.

“We disagree 100% with the allegations made by the FDA and CDC,” the company said.

“All of our products have been CONFIRMED to be negative for all harmful bacteria, including Ecoli 0157-H7. FDA has found NO Raw Farm products to be tested positive for Ecoli in the marketplace.”

“Inaccurate statements made by the FDA and CDC linking our brand to an outbreak is egregious and extreme harassment towards our brand,” it added. 

The FDA confirmed that no RAW FARM–brand cheddar cheese products have yet tested positive for E. coli, but said state partners have begun collecting product samples.

They added that investigators were able to track the infections using epidemiological data, a scientific method that analyzes the distribution, patterns, and causes of health-related events.

“Epidemiologic evidence indicates that RAW FARM-brand raw cheddar cheese products made by RAW FARM, LLC are the likely source of this outbreak,” the agency said.

Of the three individuals who were interviewed, all reported eating RAW FARM–brand cheese, federal regulators said, adding that local officials are working to gather additional information for the other four cases.

Newswise — Kieyarrah Dennis can wear a lot of hats. In fact, versatility has shaped her personal and academic pursuits.

Her adaptability blossomed during her elementary years at a community-focused bilingual school in Milwaukee. Later, it drove her to earn a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and history as an undergraduate student at the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota.

“I knew that biochemistry was a broad enough scientific track that I could use it as a foundation to do anything,” she said. “And I want to do it all.”

In 2021, Dennis joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences as a PhD student — propelled by a love of water and bugs.

She now specializes in expanding our understanding of antibiotic-resistant organisms so that the field of medicine can better equip people to survive bacterial infections. Her research advocates for more diverse treatments against the pathogens we are exposed to in our water systems and other public spaces.

“I’ve taken antibiotics,” Dennis said, “but I didn’t think about the fact that treatments could or could not work based on what organism you’re sick with and whatever resistance mechanisms they pick up.”

Following ‘creepy crawlers’

Dennis’ biochemistry studies for her bachelor’s degree planted the seeds for her work as a grad student today. “I was just thinking about parasites,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in creepy crawlers.”

Charged with writing a mock proposal for research, her capstone explored the development of a vaccine against a disease spread by freshwater parasites. The process introduced Dennis to disease transmission routes, dynamic food chains and freshwater environments, including public parks and green spaces.

Dennis was fascinated and hooked, and she started as a freshwater sciences grad student at UWM less than a month after graduation. “I drove home, rested for maybe eight days, then started here,” she said.

Probing antibiotic resistance

Over the past four years, Dennis has plunged into the complexities of how certain pathogens — such as E. coli, which is prevalent in bodies of freshwater and beyond — evolve and adapt to resist antibiotic treatment.

The issues of antibiotic resistance and multidrug-resistant organisms have grown significantly since the 1980s, which has prompted concern and significant funding to prevent a future where antibiotics no longer work.

For Dennis, some days her research looks like microscopic sequencing of gene families in the lab. Other days, it requires donning her history hat, while contemplating anthropology, sociology and other disciplines.

“You can’t solve this issue when you only look at a slice of where it occurs,” she said. “It’s out in the community. It’s in the hospitals. It’s in our food chain. It’s in the water.”

Bridging science and neighborhoods

With her lab hat on, Dennis immerses herself in the detailed genetics and mutation patterns of these microorganisms, as well as the freshwater environments that drive the evolution of the pathogens. Her findings will help develop new solutions to protect us from them.

Recently, though, she also discovered a love for public health. She hopes to educate communities about these issues in our world, bringing the science to everyday people.

“There’s usually a disconnect between the people doing the actual research and the people doing advocacy or the application of research,” she said. “I would like to do both.”

Newswise — New forms of fentanyl are created every day. For law enforcement, that poses a challenge: how do you identify a chemical you’ve never seen before?

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) aim to answer that question with a machine learning model that can distinguish opioids from other chemicals with an accuracy over 95% in a laboratory setting. The foundation for this new technique was published in Analytical Methods.

To identify synthetic opioids like fentanyl now, chemists try to match their signature to a library of a few hundred known samples. But studies suggest there could be thousands of unknown forms, some more dangerous than others. Recognizing those new versions requires a reference-free identification system: a way to catch an opioid even if it does not exist in a chemical database yet.

“When law enforcement finds a new clandestine drug operation, those labs often produce never-before-seen fentanyl derivatives. We can’t just go check a database, and we can’t just go back to who made it and ask how they did it,” said LLNL computational mathematician and author Colin Ponce. “And law enforcement needs to identify the samples they find quickly because there’s going to be another sample tomorrow. I think that’s a little bit of a unique situation.”

Machine learning might seem like a natural fit to identify novel or unknown opioids. And it is — to an extent. The method works best with large data sets, which are difficult to generate for toxic substances like synthetic opioids. 

To even get a machine learning algorithm off the ground, the team had to create the chemical data. They did so with LLNL’s mass spectrometry capabilities coupled to an autosampler, which enabled them to measure hundreds of samples under the same experimental conditions. This minimized variables for the machine learning algorithms. 

“In the world of AI, data is gold, and if you don’t have good data, then you’re not going to generate accurate machine learning models,” said LLNL chemist and author Carolyn Fisher. “Good data is something that we can control and generate at LLNL.” 

With that data in hand, they tried different machine learning techniques as they homed in on the best method: a random forest model. 

“When a model like this eventually gets into the hands of a user, the output has to be interpretable and trustworthy,” said LLNL scientist and author Kourosh Arasteh. “We explored machine learning methods ranging from simple regression and random forests to more complex neural network approaches to balance interpretability with performance.” 

The random forest approach runs through a collection of decision trees. Each tree asks a series of questions about the data and, based on each answer, lands on a prediction: opioid or not. Together, they vote on the final classification.

“Our 650 samples are not the same as having 300,000 samples. On the machine learning side, we needed to make sure that we were designing techniques that that were appropriate for that kind of scale,” said Ponce.

This study trained and tested the algorithm with analytically pure samples. These ideal chemicals contain no contaminants or impurities.

“The challenge is that nothing is analytically pure in the real world,” said Fisher. “The next step is to add in background noise and have the AI understand what it should care about during a classification task.”

Fisher and Ponce emphasized that this work would have been impossible without collaboration across the disciplines of data science and chemistry. The two are friends outside of work, and this study, a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, emerged from a series of organic conversations between them.

“To me, this project really captures what LLNL does best,” said fellow author and LLNL software engineer Steven Magana-Zook. “When you get chemists and data scientists working side by side, you end up with results that neither group could get on their own. That kind of cross-disciplinary work is exactly what makes this place so strong.”

That approach, while essential to the work, initially proved to be an obstacle. The team faced rejection of this manuscript from two journals — reviewers in chemistry didn’t fully grasp the machine learning aspects and experts on the computational side felt uncertain about the chemistry.

“I don’t think people talk about failure enough. It’s so common in science. We fail so much more than we succeed,” said Fisher. “But we keep iterating and improving. I’m proud of our resilience.” 

The team’s persistence paid off. Looking ahead, they aim to further develop their algorithm using real-world samples with higher background signals. 

Other LLNL coauthors include Roald Leif, Alex Vu, Mark Dreyer, Brian Mayer and Audrey Williams.

Newswise — After high-profile water crises like the one in Flint, Michigan, some Americans distrust the safety of tap water, choosing to purchase drinking water from freestanding water vending machines or kiosks. Yet this more expensive water may contain different pollutants than local tap water, according to a study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers report that water sampled from 20 kiosks in six states sometimes contained lead at levels above public health recommendations.

“Currently, water kiosks are not regulated the same as tap water; their water is not tested for lead or other metals,” says Samantha Zuhlke, a corresponding author of this study. “Updating water kiosk regulations can improve their quality and help consumers make informed decisions about the water they are drinking.”

Water kiosks are privately owned vending machines that are often marketed as being safer than tap water, commanding prices of $0.25-$0.35 per gallon (compared to less than 2 cents per gallon for tap water in most U.S. cities). Kiosk operators generally treat local tap water with purification techniques such as filtration, ultraviolet light or reverse osmosis (RO) to remove potentially harmful contaminants such as lead, microbes, residual disinfectants, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But water vending machines in the U.S. are poorly regulated. So, a team of researchers led by Zuhlke and David Cwiertny conducted a comprehensive comparison of the chemical and microbial characteristics of kiosk water and tap water from municipalities close to the monitored kiosks.

The team collected water samples from 20 kiosks operated by four different manufacturers across Iowa and in the surrounding states of Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Most of the kiosks advertised treatment of their water by RO, a process that uses pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane, purifying the water and leaving most contaminants caught behind the membrane. For comparison, the researchers collected tap water samples from community sources within a mile of each kiosk.

They analyzed all samples and found no evidence of microbial contamination in any sample. They also found that RO treatment in kiosks effectively removed most PFAS from the sourced tap water. However, this benefit was offset by concerning levels of lead in some RO-purified kiosk water samples — nearly twice the concentration recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The researchers traced the lead to the corrosion of brass plumbing in the kiosks following RO treatment. Although the plumbing components are marketed as “lead-free,” small amounts of the metal can leach under the low-pH and low-alkalinity conditions of RO-treated water, they say. Replacing the internal metal pieces with other materials could eliminate lead in dispensed water.

“This work adds to growing evidence that allowable levels of lead in ‘lead-free’ plumbing can still be problematic sources of lead in drinking water when such plumbing is exposed to certain types of water, like that generated after RO treatment,” Cwiertny says.

The authors acknowledge funding from the University of Iowa’s Center for Social Science Innovation and the Office of Undergraduate Research. This work was conducted through the University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, which receives support through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The paper’s abstract will be available on Feb. 11 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here:   

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Newswise — The Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) hosted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 15, 2025, gathering Senior Fellows from across the globe to mark the Institute’s 10^th anniversary and engage in discussions centered on strategic advancements in research and international collaboration. Under the leadership of Chairman Professor Serge Haroche, the meeting commenced with a heart-warming welcome to the new appointed HKIAS Senior Fellows: Professor Françoise Combes, Professor Étienne Ghys, Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, Professor Alessio Figalli and Professor Sylvie Méléard. The Executive Director, Professor Shuk Han Cheng, presented a comprehensive review of the recent initiatives undertaken by City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and HKIAS, highlighting current news, activities, collaborative interactions with faculty members between CityUHK and the home institutions of our Senior Fellows and the significant achievements of Senior Fellows to underscore a decade of excellence.

As a key component of the HKIAS 10^th anniversary celebration activities, HKIAS organised a series of distinguished lectures and round table discussion. These activities, which showcased the cutting-edge research contributions of our Senior Fellows across multitude of disciplines, were supported partially by the Kwang Hua Educational Foundation. Their reception among students and faculty at CityUHK and various academic institutions across Hong Kong highlighted a profound interest and active engagement within the academic community. 

13 October: Professor Serge Haroche, an esteemed Nobel laureate in Physics, unveiled the intricacies of laser and quantum physics. On the same day, Professor Pierre-Louis Lions, the 1994 recipient of the Fields Medal, engaged the audience with a discourse on the intersection of mathematics and artificial intelligence (AI).

14 October: Professor George Fu Gao, a world-renowned virologist, delivered an insightful lecture on AI-empowered vaccine and antibody development. Additionally, Professor Mu-ming Poo, a distinguished figure in neuroscience and brain-inspired technology illuminated the audience on brain science and its implications for AI development.

15 October: Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, President Emeritus of Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, led a Round Table Discussion on Additional Models of Research Grant Funding, with Mr David Foster, Executive Director of the Croucher Foundation, as the online guest speaker.

Throughout the AGM week, interdisciplinary meetings and networking events were integral to fostering mentorship opportunities and collaboration among HKIAS Senior Fellows, CityU Faculty members, emerging researchers and students from various disciplines.

These events reaffirmed HKIAS’s unwavering commitment to fostering global collaboration and scientific excellence over the past decade. As the Institute celebrated its 10^th anniversary, we look forward to organizing further initiatives that will enhance the international profile of the science and engineering community at CityUHK and explore new frontiers in research and collaboration.

For more details on the celebration events, please visit HKIAS past events.

Newswise — ALBANY, N.Y. (Jan. 22, 2026) — A major winter storm is expected to bring dangerously low temperatures and heavy snow through the weekend across a nearly 2,000-mile stretch of the United States, from the southern Plains to the Northeast. 

The storm is expected to develop on Friday, creating a hazardous mix of heavy snow and ice that could cause power outages for millions of Americans and make roads impassable. 

Allison Finch, lead meteorologist at the University at Albany’s State Weather Risk Communication Center, is closely monitoring the storm. She says snow, freezing rain, sleet, gusty winds and dangerously cold temperatures are all among the hazards expected. 

“From Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states, this storm looks to bring snow and a widespread swath of ice,” Finch said. “Ice is a very impactful hazard to begin with, but when it occurs in areas that doesn’t typically experience it as often, impacts can be exacerbated. Among the impacts is the likelihood of power outages. Anyone who loses a heat source may be impacted since temperatures are not expected to rebound quickly after the storm.” 

Finch points to two main factors fueling the storm — cold air from Canada and moisture moving up from the Gulf of Mexico. 

“A powerful Arctic air mass is sweeping across the U.S. late this week and into next week, bringing temperatures well below average,” Finch said. “At the same time, a large plume of moisture originating from warm ocean waters is being drawn into that Arctic air. When that moisture gets wrapped into the cold air mass, it provides the fuel needed for a widespread and potentially high-impact winter storm.”  

Launched in 2023, the State Weather Risk Communication Center is a first-of-its-kind partnership between UAlbany and the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services that leverages the University’s expertise in atmospheric sciences to help emergency managers prepare for and respond to severe weather events. 

The Center provides rapid, tailored, real-time weather information and custom weather services to New York state and local public-sector partners.  

Finch, along with other meteorologists at the State Weather Risk Communication Center, are available to share their insights on this weekend’s winter storm via phone or live/recorded interviews.    

For the latest conditions in New York, follow the NYS Mesonet, a statewide weather observation network operated by UAlbany, which provides real-time data from monitoring sites across the state. 

About the University at Albany:  

The University at Albany is one of the most diverse public research institutions in the nation and a national leader in educational equity and social mobility. As a Carnegie-classified R1 institution, UAlbany faculty and students are advancing our understanding of the world in fields such as artificial intelligence, atmospheric and environmental sciences, business, education, public health, social sciences, criminal justice, humanities, emergency preparedness, engineering, public administration, and social welfare. Our courses are taught by an accomplished roster of faculty experts with student success at the center of everything we do. Through our parallel commitments to academic excellence, scientific discovery and service to community, UAlbany molds bright, curious and engaged leaders and launches great careers.  

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