Throughout the universe, supersonic shock waves propel cosmic rays and supernova particles to velocities near the speed of light. The most high-energy of these astrophysical shocks occur too far outside the solar system to be studied in detail and have long puzzled astrophysicists. Shocks closer to Earth can be detected by spacecraft, but they fly by too quickly to probe a wave’s formation.

The son of a market gardener and a schoolteacher, Paul Muldoon grew up near a village called The Moy on the border of Counties Armagh and Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The oldest of three children, he describes himself as “a bit of an eccentric child, a little bit of the family mascot” who was given privileges such as his own tiny room, where he spent hours as a teenager reading and writing poetry. After studying at Queen’s University, he worked in Belfast as a radio and television producer for the BBC and moved to the United States in 1987. His most recent book, “Selected Poems 1968-2014,” published in November 2016, draws from 12 previous books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Moy Sand and Gravel.” He has served as the poetry editor of The New Yorker since 2007.

Dogs’ ability to communicate and interact with humans is one the most astonishing differences between them and their wild cousins, wolves. A new study published today in the journal Science Advances identifies genetic changes that are linked to dogs’ human-directed social behaviors and suggests there is a common underlying genetic basis for hyper-social behavior in both dogs and humans.

On August 7, 2016, Xiyue Wang, a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of History at Princeton University, was detained and confined to Evin Prison in Tehran. Wang, an American citizen born in China, was in Iran solely for the purpose of studying Farsi and doing scholarly research in connection with his Ph.D. dissertation in his field, late 19th- and early 20th-century Eurasian history. In February, Wang was charged with two counts of espionage and in April was convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. An appeal is expected to be heard this summer.

Princeton University’s 2016-17 Annual Giving campaign raised $74,912,035, with 56.8 percent of undergraduate alumni participating. This historic achievement — Princeton’s first-ever Annual Giving campaign in excess of $70 million — represents strong performances across all of Princeton’s constituencies: undergraduate alumni, graduate alumni, parents and friends.

While at Princeton, Alisha Holland, a 2007 alumna, wrote her senior thesis on the political and legal responses of Central American nations to rampant gang-related violence, and traveled to El Salvador and Guatemala to conduct fieldwork.

Sims, who graduated from Princeton University June 6, was studying the effects of groundwater pollution on the health of Bermuda’s coral reefs, a topic that would become the focus of her senior thesis research. But her initial search for the points where freshwater from the island enters the sea had been fruitless. Finally, one of the graduate students helping Sims asked what she wanted to do next.

Finding an alternative vehicle fuel poses a difficult challenge: it has to be relatively cheap and able to reduce carbon emissions without using up valuable crop land or trees from forests.

Astrophysics inspires Princeton professor Jo Dunkley to ask questions about the universe and the fundamental laws that describe nature.

Peter Grant, the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, emeritus, and B. Rosemary Grant, senior research biologist, emeritus, ecology and evolutionary biology, have been named recipients of the Royal Medal in Biology. The Grants’ legendary explorations of the group of 18 bird species known as Darwin’s finches that populate the Galápagos island of Daphne Major — which is in an entirely natural state unaffected by humans — over four decades have produced an array of dazzling insights into evolutionary theory.

Eight faculty members were promoted effective July 1.

George Luchak, a professor of civil engineering emeritus who taught at Princeton for two decades, died June 6 at his Princeton home. He was 97. Luchak specialized in analyzing technical innovations, including the module that landed men on the moon in 1969.

The absence of a father — due to incarceration, death, separation or divorce — has adverse physical and behavioral consequences for a growing child. But little is known about the biological processes that underlie this link between father loss and child well-being.

Dogs’ ability to communicate and interact with humans is one the most astonishing differences between them and their wild cousins, wolves. A new study published today in the journal Science Advances identifies genetic changes that are linked to dogs’ human-directed social behaviors and suggests there is a common underlying genetic basis for hyper-social behavior in both dogs and humans.

An international team of researchers has found a way to determine whether a crystal is a topological insulator — and to predict crystal structures and chemical compositions in which new ones can arise. The results, published July 20 in the journal Nature, show that topological insulators are much more common in nature than currently believed.

Throughout the universe, supersonic shock waves propel cosmic rays and supernova particles to velocities near the speed of light. The most high-energy of these astrophysical shocks occur too far outside the solar system to be studied in detail and have long puzzled astrophysicists. Shocks closer to Earth can be detected by spacecraft, but they fly by too quickly to probe a wave’s formation.

On July 20, Sir David Cannadine, the Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University, started his four-year term as president of the British Academy.

Being exposed to and actively remembering violent episodes — even those that happened up to a decade before — hinders short-term memory and cognitive control, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Princeton University has signed a five-year renewal of its strategic partnership with Humboldt University in Berlin to support research and teaching collaboration spanning the disciplines.

Princeton University’s 2016-17 Annual Giving campaign raised $74,912,035, with 56.8 percent of undergraduate alumni participating. This historic achievement — Princeton’s first-ever Annual Giving campaign in excess of $70 million — represents strong performances across all of Princeton’s constituencies: undergraduate alumni, graduate alumni, parents and friends.