Iron, as a topic, encompasses its roles and behavior across diverse scientific domains, including its coordination chemistry, redox properties, and biological functions. Central to many metalloproteins, iron cycles between Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ states, enabling electron transfer, oxygen transport, and catalysis in systems such as hemoglobin, cytochromes, and iron–sulfur clusters. In materials science, iron’s allotropic transformations, magnetic ordering, and alloy formation underlie the properties of steels and other ferrous materials. In geoscience, iron participates in redox-sensitive mineral formation and biogeochemical cycling, influencing atmospheric composition, nutrient availability, and environmental redox gradients across terrestrial and marine systems.
How much of the essential trace element iron remains available for marine life in the ocean depends critically on the diversity of organic molecules in seawater, according to new research published in Nature Communications ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2026
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Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have identified simple rules that explain how complex protein structures assemble correctly and remain functional over time, despite having many theoretically possible configurations. ...
Evolution
Apr 14, 2026
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34
Scientists have found a new type of iron-storing protein in a mixture of microbes containing methane-degraders. This discovery underscores the importance of characterizing proteins from microbes that cannot be isolated, thereby ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2026
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7
After more than a decade of research, scientists have discovered the natural mechanism behind a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis. The work, described in the current issue of Cell, points toward an entirely new ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 3, 2026
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109
Plants fix 258 billion tons of CO2 in their chloroplasts through photosynthesis every year. For these cell organelles to work properly, they require certain minerals—particularly ions of the metals iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2026
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17
Researchers at the University of Hamburg, the University of Toulouse, and the DESY and ESRF research institutes have observed for the first time in real time how iron-sulfur nanostructures form in solutions. Using time-resolved ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 28, 2026
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21
Iron (Fe) is a vital micronutrient for plants, which is required for processes such as photosynthesis and enzyme activity. Plants must carefully manage iron levels to maintain health and productivity. They activate iron uptake ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2026
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14
Around the world, phytoplankton in the upper ocean help to cycle key nutrients and regulate Earth's climate by absorbing carbon dioxide. These photosynthesizing organisms rely on dissolved iron as an essential micronutrient, ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 11, 2025
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20
Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for the healthy growth of plants, including many staple crops like rice. Its deficiency remains a common agricultural problem that slashes crop yields, as it leads to impaired photosynthesis, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 3, 2025
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11
At European XFEL, researchers have observed in detail how the vital iron protein ferritin makes its way in highly dense environments—with implications for medicine and nanotechnology.
Biotechnology
Dec 2, 2025
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20
