In science and engineering, researchers report their findings in the primary literature: journal articles and conference papers (and patents). New research articles are searchable on the publisher websites, and you can set up alerts to get notified--by email or RSS feeds--when new articles are posted. However, the key entry point into the scientific literature are the databases that index journal articles, as well as patents and proceedings depending on the database. You can also save database searches to get alerts of new, relevant articles.
Articles may also get shared and publicized through social media, university press releases, trade magazines like Chemical and Engineering News, and depending on the significance or potential interest in that research outside the scientific community, popular news outlets. But as the research enters the science news cycle, the claims or conclusions made in the article may get reinterpreted for different audiences.
Research articles are read and, over time, may be cited in other research articles, often in the introduction or literature review section. They may also be cited in review articles that summarize the most recent research developments, and later books and encyclopedia articles.
