Metasurface‐Enhanced Thermal Photodetector Operating at Gigahertz Frequencies Ultrafast response speeds from a pyroelectric photodetector are achieved by coupling a plasmonic nanogap cavity metasurface to an aluminum-nitride pyroelectric layer. The metasurface converts light i...

Moore Inventor Fellow Maiken Mikkelsen (Duke University) has helped develop an ultrathin photodetector that traps light with nanoscale silver structures and operates far faster than typical thermal detectors.
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Accepting applications

SCIENCE FUNDING: We're inviting researchers who create and engineer new quantum and hybrid materials to apply for fully unconstrained, 6-year research grants supporting ambitious, high-risk work at the frontiers of quantum materials science. ➡️ www.moore.org/initiative-a... #ScienceGrants

Modernizing Academic Appointment & Advancement logo

🚨🚨🚨 Six universities will receive $250K each through the Modernizing Academic Appointment & Advancement (MA3) Challenge to pilot bold reforms in faculty hiring, evaluation, promotion, and tenure systems.

Today @orca-open.bsky.social is excited to announce the inaugural MA3 awardees. [1/5]

Moore Inventor Fellow Maiken Mikkelsen at Duke University developed an ultrathin thermal photodetector that traps light using nanoscale silver structures — it detects light across the spectrum and operates far faster than typical thermal detectors. advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Many organizations are beginning to consider what future investment in green chemistry could look like. While adoption remains uneven, survey findings show that 75% of leaders across R&D and technology support increased investment in green chemistry research and innovation. na2.hubs.ly/H04kFZQ0

Group photo from a grantee convening we hosted in December 2025 for Moore Quantum Imaging, Sensing, and Metrology Meeting.

What happens when researchers from different disciplines get in the same room? Our program associate, Rebecca Ju, shares reflections from a recent Moore Foundation convening and how these gatherings can help turn individual discoveries into shared scientific momentum. www.moore.org/article-deta...

We are accepting applications for Materials Synthesis Investigators and Moore Synthesis Fellows. If your work aims to uncover, control, or explore emergent quantum phenomena through materials innovation, we encourage you to apply. ➡️ www.moore.org/initiative-a...

Accepting applications

SCIENCE FUNDING: We're inviting researchers who create and engineer new quantum and hybrid materials to apply for fully unconstrained, 6-year research grants supporting ambitious, high-risk work at the frontiers of quantum materials science. ➡️ www.moore.org/initiative-a... #ScienceGrants

MAAP #238: Gold Mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Southern Sector – Morona Santiago Province - MAAP This is the third in a series of reports documenting the expansion of gold mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Previous reports (MAAP #227 and MAAP #230) analyzed the progress of this activity in the nor...

Satellite analysis shows gold mining in Ecuador’s Morona Santiago province doubled between 2020–2024 and continued expanding through 2025. MAAP’s monitoring helps track deforestation and mining activity across the Amazon.
www.maapprogram.org/mining-ecuad...

New research from Moore Inventor Fellow Grace Han (UC Santa Barbara) shows how a bio-inspired molecule can capture sunlight, store it in chemical bonds and release it later as heat — advancing molecular solar thermal energy storage. science.ucsb.edu/news/bottlin...

Season 11 of The Climate Conversation podcast is officially underway!

EESI sat down with Genny Biggs, who oversees the Wildfire Resilience Initiative at @moorefound.bsky.social. Sound on 📢 to hear her explain the importance of ecologically beneficial fire.

🎧 Full episode: ow.ly/3lma50YlUle

Sustaining innovation requires steady investment in people, ideas and institutions. Our latest newsletter highlights opportunities in green chemistry and quantum materials research, the value of interdisciplinary inquiry & efforts to maintain the scientific talent pipeline. mailchi.mp/moore/feb2026

Now open: Materials Synthesis Investigators and Fellows call from the Moore Foundation’s Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative. 6 year, fully unconstrained grants support researchers creating new quantum and hybrid materials. Apply now. #MoorePhysics epiqs.smapply.io/prog/2026_sy...

Expansion Microscopy Has Transformed How We See the Cellular World | Quanta Magazine How physically magnifying objects using a key ingredient in diapers has opened an unprecedented view of the microbial world.

Funded through our Science Program, this technique expands the scientific toolkit in ways that can reshape what researchers are able to ask and answer. New research – #ExpansionMicroscopy enlarges cells up to 60x by embedding them in a water-absorbing gel www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...

Durable conservation moves more like the tortoise than the hare. Andes-Amazon Initiative program officer Maria DiGiano rethinks innovation in conservation. Not as speed alone but as the patient work of building governance, trust and lasting stewardship over generations www.moore.org/article-deta...

Seeking synthesis, experimental and theory investigators to advance the frontiers of quantum materials science www.moore.org/article-deta...

Graphic data card displaying wildfire's toll on water through the years, across Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Alberta, Canada.

Screenshot of the article published on moore.org: Investments in wildfire resilience are essential for water safety and security

"Across the West and beyond, catastrophic wildfires are directly threatening watersheds and water supplies that sustain our lives and livelihoods. The questions is no longer whether landscapes will burn, but how, where, and with what consequences." #WildfireResilience www.moore.org/article-deta...

Long before water reaches the faucet, it is shaped by the environment. Marion Wittmann, Wildfire Resilience Initiative program officer in collaboration with Walton Family Foundation, share thoughts about water and how it ties people to the natural world #Philanthropy www.moore.org/article-deta...

We will launch 3 investigator calls in 2026 to support materials synthesis, experimental, and theory researchers through the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative. 6 year, fully unconstrained grants will support bold, high-risk ideas in quantum materials. #MoorePhysics

Science is driven by the people who conduct research. To sustain the scientific enterprise, we invested $55 million to support postdoctoral fellowships across 30 universities. 🔬🌟 moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=strengthening-the-u.s.-scientific-talent-pipeline-through-postdoctoral-fellowships

Terahertz microscope reveals the motion of superconducting electrons Scientists developed a terahertz microscope that compresses terahertz light down to microscopic dimensions. This pinpoint of terahertz light can resolve quantum details in materials that were previous...

A new terahertz microscope let physicists observe terahertz “jiggles” in a superconducting fluid inside bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide. Nature paper from Moore Foundation grantee Nuh Gedik opens new paths for understanding emergent quantum matter. #MoorePhysics news.mit.edu/2026/teraher...

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells - BMC Biology Background Cercozoa are single-celled eukaryotes (protists) and are part of the supergroup Rhizaria. Cercozoans have vastly different morphologies and are defined by their phylogenetic affinity. While...

...expanding taxon sampling of the environment by more than 300% and resulting in identification of multiple previously unknown major eukaryotic lineages. 2/2

Read the study: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#aquaticsymbiosis #evolution #discoveryscience #sciencephilanthropy

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells - BMC Biology Background Cercozoa are single-celled eukaryotes (protists) and are part of the supergroup Rhizaria. Cercozoans have vastly different morphologies and are defined by their phylogenetic affinity. While...

New study co-authored by Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative Investigator Dr. Patrick Keeling used single-cell gene expression analysis to broadly sample uncultured Cercozoa (part of the supergroup Rhizaria)... 1/2 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#aquaticsymbiosis #evolution #discoveryscience

Screenshot of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation January 2026 newsletter: Convening and collaboration. [text + group photo of Experimental Physics Investigators]

Our latest newsletter looks at how bringing people together across disciplines, institutions, and perspectives helps sustain long-term progress — from stewarding landscapes to how Bay Area science museums are engaging communities, and why convenings matter.
mailchi.mp/moore/jan2026
#philanthropy

Probing quantum mechanics with nanoparticle matter-wave interferometry - Nature Quantum interference of sodium nanoparticles, which can each contain more than 7,000 atoms at masses greater than 170,000 Da, is demonstrated.

Research from grantee Markus Arndt shows that quantum wave-like behavior persists even in metallic nanoparticles made of thousands of atoms—placing strong new constraints on theories that quantum mechanics breaks down at larger scales www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@univie.ac.at #SciencePhilanthropy

Learn about the future of the Arctic Ocean and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the @moorefound.bsky.social

Wed, Feb 11 / 6 PM in downtown San Francisco

Free program; details & tickets; www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...

Interested in working in nonprofit and foundation law? Applications are open for the 2026–2027 Nonprofit Law Fellowship with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
🔗 ncpl.law.nyu.edu/gordon-and-b...

#NonprofitLaw #FoundationLaw #LegalFellowship #JDJobs #CareersInPhilanthropy

📚💻The Computer History Museum launched OpenCHM, a new digital portal expanding public access to its computing history collections. OpenCHM helps connect learners, researchers and the public to the people and ideas behind modern technology. computerhistory.org/press-releas... #ScienceMuseums

Our new 2026 report on #greenchemistry shows R&D and technology leaders see it as a driver of long-term economic growth and competitiveness. Read more: www.moore.org/article-deta....

Doug McConnell, interpreter of Northern California, has died, aged 80 Doug McConnell spent much of his adult life doing something that sounds simple and is not: he helped people look closely at the places where they lived. For decades he turned Northern California’s ope...

Remembering Doug McConnell — a storyteller who loved nature and the people who care for it. Doug helped preserve the Moore Foundation’s early history and captured stories across the Bay Area and the world. We're grateful for his legacy. news.mongabay.com/2026/01/doug...