Magnetic Skyrmions Can Form Through Magnetoelastic Coupling Alone, New Theory Shows
Physicists at KAIST have shown that magnetoelastic coupling, a ubiquitous interaction in magnetic materials, can alone generate alternating skyrmion‑antiskyrmion arrays. Their theoretical model proves that neither crystal inversion asymmetry nor strong spin‑orbit coupling is required for these topological spin textures to form. The mechanism hinges on a cooperative instability where spin tilting and lattice strain emerge simultaneously, destabilizing the uniform magnetic ground state. The finding expands the pool of candidate materials, including two‑dimensional magnets, for future high‑density, low‑power spintronic memory devices.
AI Model Uses 3D Lipid Structures to Improve mRNA Nanoparticle Delivery
Researchers at China’s National Center for Nanoscience and Technology have developed an AI‑driven platform that screens ionizable lipids based on their three‑dimensional conformations. The model identified a novel lipid, P1, which delivers mRNA 14.8 times more efficiently than the clinically...
MXene Nanosheet Catalytic Membranes Cut Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment Costs
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have engineered MXene nanosheet‑based catalytic membranes that degrade antibiotics in pharmaceutical wastewater, integrating them with a membrane bioreactor to cut treatment costs by more than 30 % versus conventional methods. The membranes embed Fe₃O₄,...
Spray-On Fabric Coating Lightens the Environmental Load From Laundry
Researchers have created a spray‑on fabric coating that lets clothes be washed with water alone, eliminating the need for detergents. The bilayer coating, applied in five thin cycles, repels stains and reduces water, energy, and time use by more than...
Challenging a 300-Year-Old Law of Friction
Researchers at the University of Konstanz demonstrated a new type of sliding friction that arises without mechanical contact, driven solely by collective magnetic dynamics. By varying the separation between two magnetic layers, they showed friction peaks at intermediate distances where...
Machine Learning Maps Nanodiamond Nanofluid Performance on Wavy Surfaces
Researchers at Harbin Institute of Technology used a hybrid numerical‑simulation and neural‑network framework to map how nanodiamond aggregation, magnetic field strength, and surface waviness affect convective heat transfer. Aggregated nanodiamond particles lifted the Nusselt number by up to 30 % but...
Laser Process Creates Silicon-Graphene Battery Anodes that Barely Lose Charge
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have unveiled a single‑step laser technique that fabricates prelithiated silicon‑graphene anodes under ambient conditions. The process embeds lithium directly into silicon nanoparticles within a graphene matrix, eliminating binders, conductive additives, and multi‑step chemistries. Resulting electrodes...
Clean Wastewater of Stubborn Antibiotics with Hybrid Nanocomposite
Researchers at National Taiwan University have unveiled a hybrid nanocomposite that merges graphene oxide, biochar, and titanium dioxide to tackle antibiotic residues in wastewater. The material leverages both adsorption and UV‑activated photocatalysis, achieving over 95% removal of veterinary antibiotics such...
![World’s First Pollen-Based Sunscreen (Derived From Camellia Flower) Is as Effective as Sunscreens with Minerals (Titanium Dioxide [TiO₂] and Zinc...](https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/images/thumbnails/468efafa539139c1fc8535c78ad080e7.webp?width=1200&resize=contain&quality=75)
World’s First Pollen-Based Sunscreen (Derived From Camellia Flower) Is as Effective as Sunscreens with Minerals (Titanium Dioxide [TiO₂] and Zinc...
Materials scientists at Nanyang Technological University have created the world’s first sunscreen made from Camellia flower pollen. Laboratory tests show the pollen microgel blocks UV rays with SPF 30, comparable to titanium dioxide and zinc oxide formulations, while also keeping skin...
Dual-Gate Vertical Transistor Enables Stable Nanoscale 3D Chip Stacking
Researchers at DGIST unveiled a dual-modulated vertically stacked transistor featuring a graphene top gate and a micro‑hole bottom gate, achieving off‑state leakage as low as 10⁻¹² A. The design eliminates the need for expensive ultra‑precision alignment and operates at low temperatures,...
Dislocations Induce Ordered Polar Topologies in Antiferroelectric Thin Films
Researchers have shown that crystal dislocations in antiferroelectric PbZrO₃ thin films act as nucleation sites for ordered polar anti‑hedgehog lattices. Using atomic‑resolution TEM and phase‑field modeling, they demonstrated that electrostrictive and flexoelectric coupling at dislocation cores generates local electric fields...
Silicon Nanotube Arrays Deliver mRNA Into Human Stem Cells While Preserving Pluripotency
A team from Monash and Deakin Universities demonstrated that silicon nanotube arrays can deliver functional mRNA into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) with transfection efficiencies between 55% and 64%. By redesigning nanotube geometry, using low‑molecular‑weight poly‑D‑lysine, and adjusting the...
Hydrogen-Controlled AI Semiconductor Enables Learning and Memory in Two-Terminal Device
Researchers at DGIST have demonstrated the first AI semiconductor that uses electrically controlled hydrogen‑ion migration to perform both computation and memory in a vertical two‑terminal device. The hydrogen‑based resistive switching replaces traditional oxygen‑vacancy mechanisms, delivering uniform, stable operation over more...
AI Decodes the Rules Behind Self-Assembling Protein Nanoribbons
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used the machine‑learning tool AtomAI to analyze atomic force microscopy images of designed protein nanoribbons on mica. The study discovered that a thin water layer on the mineral surface, not the underlying potassium lattice,...
Magnetic Microbots Turn Nanodiamonds Into Steerable Quantum Sensors
Researchers have mounted nitrogen‑vacancy nanodiamonds on helically shaped magnetic microbots, creating Mobile Quantum Sensors that can be steered through fluid without optical power. The magnetic actuation eliminates heating and preserves the fragile NV spin states, enabling coherent Rabi oscillations while...
Sub-Nanometer Pores in Carbon Nanoreactors Trap Chlorine and Boost Li-Cl2 Battery Performance
Researchers have engineered hollow carbon nanoreactors with sub‑nanometer wall pores that physically trap chlorine‑electrolyte complexes inside Li‑Cl₂ battery cathodes. The 0.8 nm pores block 0.86 nm complexes while allowing lithium and chloride ions to pass, creating confined reaction chambers. This architecture delivers...
Atomic Ratio Tuning in Catalysts Controls Carbon Nanofiber Production From CO2
Researchers reported a two‑stage tandem system that converts CO₂ and water into carbon nanofibers at 450 °C and ambient pressure. By varying the palladium‑to‑copper atomic ratio in a Pd‑Cu electrocatalyst, they tuned the syngas composition, achieving a peak CO partial current...
Gold Nanoclusters Could Help in Identifying Diseases
Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä used GPU‑accelerated simulations on the LUMI supercomputer to explore how chiral gold nanoclusters bind small chiral biomolecules. Nearly 100 cluster‑biomolecule pairings and 300 simulation runs revealed that only specific combinations trigger a measurable change...
How Invisible Electric Fields Drive Device Luminescence
Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University employed electroluminescence‑detected magnetic resonance (ELDMR) to directly observe fleeting electron‑hole pairs inside operating polymer light‑emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). Their measurements showed that mobile‑ion migration continuously reshapes the internal electric field, and that a lower, more...
How Orbital Overlap Dictates Molecular Conductance
Researchers at National Taiwan University introduced single‑atom bismuth and lead layers on gold electrodes to isolate the electronic contribution of the metal‑molecule interface. By measuring the interfacial hopping integral, they linked orbital overlap and molecular tilt directly to single‑molecule conductance....
Functionalized Nanoparticles Could Open the Door to Swallowable Insulin Pills
Researchers have grafted the permeation enhancer 1‑phenylpiperazine onto safe silica nanoparticles, creating a hybrid that boosts intestinal insulin absorption while eliminating toxicity. In obese, insulin‑resistant mice, oral insulin delivered with these functionalized particles lowered blood glucose for 8‑10 hours, outperforming...
A Dynamic Twist of Light's 'Handedness'
Harvard SEAS engineers have unveiled a MEMS‑integrated twisted bilayer photonic crystal chip that can dynamically adjust its twist angle and inter‑layer spacing to control optical chirality. The reconfigurable device selectively transmits left‑ or right‑handed circularly polarized light, achieving near‑perfect discrimination...
MXenes Move Closer to Real World Use in Energy Storage and Medicine
A Swiss research initiative, TailorX, has advanced the synthesis, modeling, and sustainable production of MXenes, a versatile class of 2‑D transition‑metal carbides and nitrides. The team built a high‑purity library of MAX‑phase precursors, deployed AI models to predict MXene structures...
Graphene Oxide Destroys Bacteria without Harming Human Tissue
Researchers have demonstrated that graphene oxide (GO) selectively kills bacteria by forming hydrogen bonds with a phospholipid, POPG, found only in bacterial membranes. The study shows that GO’s oxygen‑rich surface is essential for this activity, achieving over 99% suppression of...
IBM and Lam Research Announce Collaboration to Advance Sub-1nm Logic Scaling
IBM and Lam Research have signed a five‑year partnership to push logic scaling below the 1 nm node. The collaboration will co‑develop novel materials, advanced etch and deposition processes, and High‑NA EUV lithography techniques to enable sub‑1 nm transistors. Leveraging IBM’s Albany...
Molecular Chainmail Made From Thousands of Interlocking DNA Rings
A team has created the first true “Olympic gel,” a material composed of over 16,000 distinct DNA plasmid rings that interlock mechanically rather than through covalent cross‑links. By employing a diversified lock‑and‑key design, each ring preferentially closes on itself, preventing...
Smart Ceramics Reveal a New Way to Control Heat Transfer, Boosting Thermal Conductivity Nearly Threefold
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ohio State University and Amphenol demonstrated that applying an electric field to relaxor‑based ferroelectric ceramics dramatically extends phonon lifetimes, boosting thermal conductivity by nearly threefold along the field direction. Using inelastic neutron‑scattering at the...
Metal Alloy that Shrinks when Heated Could Advance Precision Nanotechnology
Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University discovered that hydrogen‑treated cobalt zirconide contracts when heated due to a ferromagnetic phase transition, a mechanism distinct from the vibrational origin in its unhydrogenated form. The shrinkage occurs uniaxially and can be modulated by adjusting...
Eco-Friendly Cotton that Repels Water and Separates Oil
Researchers at INL have introduced a fluorine‑free technique that coats cotton with hydrophobic nanoparticles and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, creating a water‑repellent, stain‑resistant fabric. The treatment forms micro‑ and nanoscale textures that preserve breathability while allowing oil to pass, enabling efficient oil‑water separation....
MXene Smart Textiles Could Track Vitals, Kill Bacteria, and Harvest Solar Energy
Researchers at the University of Georgia reviewed MXene‑based smart textiles that can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature while providing antimicrobial protection and solar energy harvesting. MXenes, a two‑dimensional metal‑derived material, can be coated or printed onto fabrics, turning...
Gradient Wall Microbottle Resonator Enables Large Scale Optical Trapping
The research team introduced a gradient‑thickness microbottle resonator that confines optical fields inside its silica walls, allowing large‑scale nanoparticle trapping over a 195 µm axial range with less than 0.2 mW of laser power. By shaping the wall thickness, peak fields are...
Tiny Thermometers Offer On-Chip Temperature Monitoring for Processors
Researchers at Penn State have created a microscopic on‑chip thermometer using a novel two‑dimensional bimetallic thiophosphate material. The sensor measures just one square micrometer, can be placed thousands of times on a processor, and responds to temperature changes in 100 nanoseconds....
At the Heart of Quantum Matter: Geometry
Researchers from the University of Geneva, the University of Salerno and CNR‑SPIN have directly detected the quantum metric—a geometric property of electron wavefunctions—at the interface of strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate, as reported in Science (Aug 2025). The quantum metric, previously...
Vocxi Health and Forj Medical Partner to Miniaturise MyBreathPrint Device
Vocxi Health has teamed with Forj Medical to shrink its MyBreathPrint breath‑analysis system from a tabletop prototype to a handheld device the size of a deck of cards. The platform leverages graphene‑based nano sensors and AI‑driven algorithms to detect disease‑linked...
A Quantum Property Is Hiding in One of the Most Common Lab Nanoparticles
Researchers have uncovered a room‑temperature quantum‑spin response in widely used carbon quantum dots, showing that their photoluminescence changes under modest magnetic fields. By heating simple amino‑acid powders, the team produced 19 dot variants, 16 of which displayed measurable magneto‑photoluminescence at...
AI Solves a Key Barrier to Making Hydrogen Cars More Affordable
Korean researchers at KAIST and Seoul National University used artificial intelligence to redesign hydrogen fuel‑cell catalysts, discovering that zinc directs platinum and cobalt atoms into a high‑performance intermetallic structure. The AI‑predicted Zn‑mediated catalyst outperforms commercial platinum catalysts in activity and...
A Crystal that Changes Fluorescence Color and Moves when Heated
Chemists at National Taiwan University reported that a nonporous pentiptycene‑derived crystal can undergo a two‑step solid‑state transformation when gently heated. The first step creates gear‑like molecular rotations that open transient channels, allowing trapped dichloromethane to escape and shifting fluorescence from...
Nanophotonics Boost Quantum Emitter Links on a Chip
Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark and collaborators have unveiled an integrated nanophotonic platform that uses surface‑plasmon‑polariton (SPP) interference to mediate long‑range interactions between solid‑state quantum emitters on a chip. The design achieves a peak concurrence of 0.493, approaching...
Synthetic Hydrogel Helices Amplify Movement without Muscles or Motors
The team from POSTECH and the University of Tokyo introduced a photopolymerization method that creates hydrogel helices with built‑in density gradients, enabling autonomous winding and unwinding. By using a helically wrapped UV‑blocking tape and a dissolved ruthenium absorber, they generate...
Light Alone Programs and Reprograms a Crystal Surface to Guide Living Cells
Researchers at Italy’s National Research Council have created an all‑optical bio‑photovoltaic interface using iron‑doped lithium niobate crystals. By projecting patterned laser light, they inscribe reversible electric fields that trap, align, and deform fibroblast cells without any electrodes or wiring. Cells...
Femtosecond Laser Pulses Enable Ultrafast Broadband Optical Switching
Researchers at Waseda University used femtosecond laser pulses to raise the electronic temperature in an indium‑nitride (InN) film, triggering transient Pauli blocking that makes the material switch from opaque to transparent. The effect spans the visible to near‑infrared spectrum and...
Polar Bear Hair Inspires Graphene Fibers that Sense, Insulate, and Power Smart Clothing
Researchers in China have created hollow graphene aerogel fibers that replicate the hollow, porous structure of polar‑bear hair. The fibers achieve a record‑low thermal conductivity of 1.28 mW·(m·K)⁻¹ and an electrical conductivity of 1,457 S·m⁻¹ after high‑temperature annealing. Their architecture provides exceptional...
Electric Eel Biology Inspires Powerful Gel Battery
Researchers at Penn State have created a fully hydrogel‑based power source that mimics the ionic discharge of electric eels. By spin‑coating four 20 µm hydrogel layers, they achieved ultra‑thin electrocytes with dramatically lower internal resistance. The resulting gel battery delivers power...
Nanoplastics Can Interact with Salmonella to Affect Food Safety
Researchers at the University of Illinois discovered that polystyrene nanoplastics trigger Salmonella enterica to up‑regulate virulence genes and form thicker biofilms, potentially heightening food‑borne risk. The bacterial response is biphasic: an initial offensive surge followed by a defensive, energy‑conserving mode...
Liquid Metal Droplets Fuse Themselves Into Stretchable Circuits
Researchers at Qingdao University and China University of Petroleum discovered that liquid‑metal droplets can self‑sinter during ordinary solvent evaporation, using a Marangoni‑driven surface‑tension gradient between ethanol and toluene. The process creates a Janus film with a conductive liquid‑metal‑rich layer and...
Covalent Organic Frameworks Assembled Inside Tumor Cells Trigger Cancer Cell Death and Immune Activation
Researchers at the University of Macau have demonstrated the first in‑situ synthesis of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) inside lysosomes of cancer cells, using acidic pH‑driven imine condensation of TAPB and DMTP. The crystalline UMCOF1 particles rupture lysosomal membranes, liberating ferrous...
Atomic Precision Unlocks Smarter Oxygen Reduction Catalysts
Researchers at Tohoku University demonstrated that the exact nitrogen coordination around a single cobalt atom dramatically changes its oxygen‑reduction reaction (ORR) performance. By synthesizing Co‑Nx sites with x = 3, 4, and 5 on carbon nanotubes, they showed asymmetric Co‑N₃ delivers the highest overall activity,...
Boron Nitride Nanosheets Create Ceramic that Is Both Tough and Radar-Invisible
Researchers at Nanchang Hangkong University have created a dual‑phase silicon carbide ceramic reinforced with multilayer boron nitride nanosheets, delivering a 94.5% increase in flexural strength to 477 MPa and a 50% boost in fracture toughness. The composite, called DS@4MBNS, also achieves...
Printable Enzyme Ink Powers Next-Generation Wearable Biosensors
Researchers at Tokyo University of Science have created a water‑based enzyme ink that allows screen‑printing of both anode and cathode layers of enzymatic biofuel cells in a single step. The printed lactate/oxygen biofuel cell delivered a peak power density of...
Helium Nanodroplets Trapped for Minutes Unlock New Era in Nanoscale Physics
Researchers at the University of Innsbruck, supported by the University of Greifswald, have stored electrically charged helium nanodroplets in an ion trap for up to one minute—four orders of magnitude longer than the previous millisecond‑scale observations. The breakthrough leverages a...