The Oued Beht Archaeological Project has been awarded the 2025 Field Discovery Award by the Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF), one of the most prestigious international platforms for archaeological research, established by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The international team is co-directed by Giulio Lucarini (CNR-ISPC and ISMEO), Cyprian Broodbank (University of Cambridge), and Youssef Bokbot (INSAP)

The PRISM2025 award ceremony took place on Monday, December 15th, 2025, at the Rome headquarters of the National Research Council of Italy. The prize, promoted by the CNR Istituto di Struttura della Materia (Cnr-Ism), is awarded annually by an international jury to two outstanding researchers whose contributions over the past five years have had a significant impact in the field of materials science: the 12025 winners are Kin Fai Mak, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (PRISM Senior Award) and Wouter Van Gompel of the Hasselt University (PRISM Junior Award)

The Cnr Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (Cnr Iriss) took part in the Italy–Mongolia Business Forum that took place on 2 December 2025 at Villa Madama, Rome. This internationally significant initiative was dedicated to strengthening economic, industrial, and institutional relations between the two countries, with particular attention to sustainable development prospects and cooperation in strategic sectors

The fifth and final drilling campaign of the Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice project has just begun in Antarctica. At the remote field site of Little Dome C, 3,200 metres above sea level and with temperatures around –35°C, an international team of 15 scientists and logistics experts is engaged in drilling through the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet and retrieving duplicate ice samples collected during the previous season. These samples contain information on past climate conditions going back more than 1.2 million years. The project, led by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), is one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings in the field of palaeoclimatology 

In a major advance for quantum science, an international team of researchers has achieved the first-ever observation of Shapiro steps in ultracold atoms. This milestone offers a new window into quantum mechanics in real time and lays the groundwork for advanced quantum sensors and quantum simulation. The findings highlight how quantum effects at the microscopic level can influence and be harnessed in large-scale systems - an idea at the core of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. The experimental teams are from LENS, CNR-INO, the University of Florence and the UNAM in Mexico and one from the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau

Researchers from the Cnr-Imm in Rome and Cnr-Isof in Bologna, together with colleagues from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore (USA), have demonstrated that combining transparent nanomaterials with advanced light imaging techniques enables to explore in-vitro the native morphology of the brain cells

The 2025 edition of the Arctic Circle Assembly has just concluded in Reykjavík. As the leading international gathering dedicated to Arctic issues, the Assembly annually brings together governments, research institutions, NGOs, associations, and businesses to discuss the future of one of the most fragile and strategic regions in the world. Italy played a prominent role through several institutions, including the National Research Council, which via its Institute of Polar Sciences organized the panel 'Changing Arctic Systems: Scientific Insights and Sustainable Solutions'. “Our mission is to understand these changes and translate research into action for the sustainability of the planet", said Giuliana Panieri, Director of Cnr-Isp

The SISSA professor receives the 2026 Rahman Prize, the most prestigious international recognition for those who harness the power of supercomputers to uncover new laws of nature and apply them to cutting-edge technologies at the Cnr-Iom

Researcher coordinated by Italian CNR-IOM and from Universities of Trieste and Innsbruck, and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, have successfully synthesized a novel crystalline phase of diboron trioxide, a new material that holds considerable potential for applications. Published in Science, the study confirms experimentally the existence of a structure previously predicted only in theor

The European Commission is investing €5 million to launch Phortify, a Europe-wide photonics education and training network. Coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and involving 12 partners from 7 countries - including the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the National Research Cuoncil of Italy - the initiative aims to build a strong talent pipeline for Europe’s digital industries