ALT Three scientists in formal attire hold awards in front of a sign that reads The Kavli Prize

ALT A scientist in formal attire speaks at a podium, while two other scientists in formal attire look on

ALT Ten scientists in formal attire hold awards in front of a sign that reads The Kavli Prize

ALT An aerial photo of a beach with lots of people sitting, laying or walking. The headline reads "What's hiding in the sand and surf?" A subhead reads "Microplastics are a growing threat around the world, but they're so tiny, they're hard to spot. A new beach-combing robot could help!"

ALT A diagram of a beach-roving robot. The caption reads "Using machine learning, a classifying device analyzes each spectrum and determines whether it is plastic and if so, what type. The data can be used to map the locations and types of microplastics along a section of beach."

ALT A photo of a young scientist wearing glasses. A quote reads "I think microplastics are our generation's asbestos or lead. We have good tests for lead and asbestos in the environment, but we don't have a way to assess the levels of microplastics. So as chemists, we need to develop new analytical techniques." Carlos R. Baiz, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry

ALT A black hole surrounded by a bright swirl of gas streaks through space with a trail of stars.

ALT A man stands with arms folded next to a short wall, looking out at the ocean. Photo credit: Tico Mendoza

ALT A man stands on the deck of a research vessel, working on a robotic submersible that looks like a large yellow box about the size of a small car. Photo credit: Chip Breier.

ALT A man leans against a railing on the deck of a research vessel. Behind him, a crane is lowering a robotic submersible that looks like a large yellow box about the size of a small car into the water. Photo credit: Chip Breier

ALT A man in a large greenhouse stands next to a tank of water with corals.

ALT An illustration showing the types of corals and their density in the Caribbean at three different times: Late Pleistocene to about 1978, 1980s and 2010s.

ALT A large mound of vibrant corals underwater

ALT Alt text: Cartoon of a microbe showing all its internal structures. Caption: Inferred subcellular organization in LECA, the last eukaryotic common ancestor, based on its estimated gene content. Credit: Cell illustration adapted from multiple graphics shared as open source by SwissBioPics.

ALT Portrait of Nataša Pavlović with short dark hair, wearing glasses and a dark shirt.

ALT A mosquito rests on the fabric of a scientist's shirt. Photo credit:

ALT The Arctic sky is thick with flying mosquitoes. Photo credit: Jesse Krause.

ALT The pant leg of a scientist is covered in mosquitoes. Photo credit: Jesse Krause.

ALT Mosquitoes land on the face of a stoic-looking bird. Photo credit: Jeff Kerby.

ALT A microscope image shows human cells. There are two blue spheres in the center, surrounded by a green structure, with orange dots scattered around the green structure. These human cells have been edited with the new retron-based gene editing technology. Orange dots mark successful gene edits. Green dots show a fluorescent protein tag on the surface of mitochondria. Image credit: You-Chiun Chang/University of Texas at Austin.

ALT Two Mexican honey wasps, which are bee-like insects with black bodies, yellow stripes on the lower abdomen and honey-colored wings. Photo credit: Alex Wild.

ALT In this screenshot from a computer simulation, two objects leaving behind a white trail spiral inward and collide against the black background of space. Image credit: Deborah Ferguson, Derek Davis, Rob Coyne, LVK Collaboration, MAYA Collaboration. Simulation performed with the National Science Foundation's TACC Frontera supercomputer.