Speedy electrons for brilliant laser light: Research paves the way for compact, inexpensive free-electron lasers
Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the worl…
Getting photons into shape for reliable quantum communication
The vast majority of modern quantum technologies—from quantum cryptography to the quantum internet to the quantum computer—rely on one essential element: the transmission of photo…
Physicists help uncover 'spooky' quantum effect in the Large Hadron Collider
Physicists at the University of Oxford have helped confirm that one of the strangest phenomena in physics—quantum entanglement—occurs even among some of the heaviest and most flee…
Ultracold cesium atoms reveal Bethe strings predicted nearly a century ago
In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike …
A 1,000-fold longer charge lifetime helps organic catalyst produce solar hydrogen faster
Researchers from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from the Technica…
Unified framework shows thermoelectric performance depends on more than the material itself
Thermoelectric materials can directly convert heat into electricity, making them promising for recovering waste heat from factories, vehicles and other sources. They can also tran…
Physicists turn classical light into a quantum machine for information processing
Quantum computers promise to tackle problems that are extraordinarily difficult for today's computers. But there is a major obstacle: quantum systems are notoriously fragile. Nois…
Bridging interfacial water structure and reactivity in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution at TiO₂ interfaces
Hydrogen (H2) evolution via photocatalytic water splitting is an environmentally friendly and sustainable technology for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Although interfacial …
How one RNA nucleotide switch activates fluorescent dyes
RhoBAST is a tiny RNA molecule that activates fluorescent dyes, enabling researchers to track RNA molecules in living cells with super-resolution. An international collaboration, …
Smart, self-healing packaging uses AI to detect food spoilage in real time
Packaging already tells us where food comes from, when it was made, what's in it and how many calories it contains. But researchers see a future where packaging can "see," in real…
Compost microbe yields enzyme that tackles polyurethane foam and nylon
Researchers from Aarhus University and the Danish Technological Institute have taken a new approach in the search for enzymes capable of breaking down some of the most difficult t…
Unusual bonds reorganize structure and magnetism in vanadium material
While chemical bonds usually determine the structure and properties of a material, bonds between neighboring metal atoms can also change as temperature or other conditions change.…
AI extracts interpretable constitutive laws directly from solid-mechanics data
Researchers at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), Ningbo, have developed a graph-based approach that directly extracts concise, accurate constitutive equations from solid-…
Electrical pulses convert PFAS waste into valuable silver fluoride
Fluorinated waste, like that found in firefighting aqueous film-forming foam, can act as a significant environmental pollutant. Recently, James Tour's lab at Rice University devel…
Breaking down shoe foam by genetically tweaking a microbe found in compost
Your favorite pair of tennies, kicks or trainers may soon become a little more sustainable. In a study published Sept. 11 in the journal Chem Catalysis, researchers developed a ne…
Blue light breaks long-standing chemistry rule, unlocking 3D drug building blocks
For more than a century, pharmaceutical companies have relied on flat structures called aromatic rings, which can help drugs bind to target sites in the body. They include benzene…
Ultra-cold quantum sensors cut X-ray uncertainty, improving nuclear material assessments
To monitor the amount and type of nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities, scientists look for a special signal—the unique pattern of gamma rays emitted by specifi…
Under pressure: How a deep-sea protein adapts to an extreme environment
Life in the deep sea is under immense pressure—literally. Such extreme conditions can disrupt the delicate structures of proteins essential to life. Yet somehow, the proteins in d…
Fully recyclable hydrogel begins healing itself within minutes
Imagine this. You pick up a contact lens from its container and—yikes!—it falls on the bathroom floor. Before you know it, your cat pounces, claws out. By the time you wrestle it …
What small insects can tell us about ancient textiles
Anna Sheinberg, Ph.D. candidate in chemistry, is working with fellow researchers in Trinity College's Chemistry Department and at the Nasher Museum of Art to uncover new informati…
Tightly guided atoms could enable low-power quantum navigation when GPS fails
Within tiny halos of light clinging to a vanishingly thin wisp of optical fiber, scientist Jongmin Lee guides atoms like marbles through a narrow pipe. Rock the fiber and the atom…
First PLP-dependent enzyme that influences bacterial protein production discovered
Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology's (SMART) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group, alongside collaborators from Massa…
New pulse-train method aims to improve precision in quantum control
Quantum technologies are poised to transform fields ranging from medicine and sensing to computing and communications by manipulating the energy states of atoms and molecules. The…
1,000 times faster operations bring reliable quantum computing a step closer
So far, quantum computers have been held back by their extreme sensitivity to errors and external disturbances. The longer a quantum operation takes, the greater the risk of compu…