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New chip lets robots see in 4D by tracking distance and speed simultaneously

Current vision systems for robots and drones rely on 3D sensors that, although powerful, do not always keep up with the fast-paced, unpredictable movement of the real world. These systems often struggle to measure speed instantly or are too bulky and expensive for everyday use. Now, in a paper published in the journal Nature, scientists report how they have developed a 4D imaging sensor on a chip that creates 3D maps of an environment while simultaneously tracking the speed of moving objects.

The researchers built a focal plane array (FPA), a physical grid of 61,952 stationary pixels etched onto a single silicon chip. Each one is a tiny sensor that emits laser light toward a scene and detects the reflected signal.

To “see” its surroundings, laser light from an external source is fed into the chip. This light is routed across the chip through a network of optical switches that sequentially direct it to groups of pixels. Each pixel then uses a technique called FMCW LiDAR to measure the returning signal, which is later processed to determine distance and speed. In many LiDAR systems, one set of pixels sends the light, and another receives it, but here, all pixels both send and receive, making the system much more compact.

Real-time protein quality control keeps cells healthy

Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a biochemical technique that captures fleeting “handshakes” between newly made proteins and the cellular helpers. These short interactions are important because they can determine whether a protein turns out healthy and useful or is faulty and in need of removal. The research has been published in the journal Molecular Cell.

Cells produce vast numbers of proteins to sustain life. But building a protein is not only about assembling a chain of amino acids in the right order. As the protein chain is being produced, it must begin folding into the correct three-dimensional shape and avoid attaching to the wrong partners.

When folding goes wrong, misfolded proteins can become sticky, clump together, and disrupt cellular health. Cells reduce this risk by running “quality checks” even while proteins are still being made. However, identifying the key players in this early surveillance has been challenging because their interactions with newly forming protein chains are brief and easily missed.

Bacterial strain breaks decades-old bottleneck in chemotherapy drug manufacturing

An international team of researchers has achieved a breakthrough in the production of doxorubicin, a vital chemotherapy agent. The study identifies and resolves molecular “bottlenecks” that have limited the natural production of this drug for over 50 years. The research is published in Nature Communications.

Doxorubicin is a chemotherapy drug that was first approved for medical use in the 1970s. It is a cornerstone in treating various cancers, including breast cancer, bladder cancer, lymphomas and carcinomas, with over one million patients receiving the treatment annually. However, bacteria naturally produce this important drug very inefficiently. Consequently, the pharmaceutical industry has relied on expensive, multi-step semi-synthetic processes.

“We have uncovered several independent factors that limit the formation of doxorubicin,” says researcher Keith Yamada, Ph.D., from the University of Turku in Finland, a lead scientist on the study.

Comprehensive digital materials ecosystem can perform ‘sanity check’ to guide design

There is a near-infinite number of material candidates out there—and simply not enough time to hunker down in the lab and test them all. Thankfully, researchers have a variety of tools (such as AI) at their disposal to streamline what would otherwise be a time-consuming process of trial-and-error.

To create an efficient materials design workflow, a team of researchers at Tohoku University is suggesting not just one tool—but a whole toolbox that works together as a cohesive kit. The work is published in the journal Chemical Science.

This comprehensive system is called a “digital materials ecosystem” because it integrates multiple processes together instead of treating them as disconnected steps. For example, the ecosystem is capable of not only predicting how certain materials will react, but also orchestrating multi-step scientific workflows including searching for evidence, screening candidates, and deciding what to test next.

Inside the light: How invisible electric fields drive device luminescence

Fleeting electron-hole pairs are giving scientists a new window into optimizing light-emitting devices (LEDs). Using quantum magnetic resonance, Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have discovered how shifting internal electric fields dictate whether these devices shine brightly or dimly. Their study is published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.

Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) are simple, flexible, and low-cost thin-film devices that generate light from an electric current. Unlike conventional organic LEDs, LECs contain just a single active layer—an organic semiconductor blended with mobile ions—sandwiched between two electrodes. This structural simplicity makes them promising tools for next-generation light-emitting technologies.

Inside that apparently simple structure, however, things aren’t so simple after all.

Physicists observe rare nuclear isomer in ytterbium-150 for first time

Nuclear isomers are crucial probes for studying the structure of nuclei. Unlike chemical isomers—which have the same chemical formula but different arrangements of atoms—nuclear isomers are nuclei that exist in a long-lived and relatively stable excited state.

Normally, an atomic nucleus resides in its lowest-energy state, known as the ground state. Under external perturbations, such as nucleus-nucleus collisions, however, a nucleus can be excited to a higher-energy state.

While most excited nuclear states are extremely short-lived and rapidly decay back to the ground state, some nuclei remain “trapped” in an excited state for a remarkably long time. Such isomeric states help reveal the structure of the nucleus due to its high sensitivity to the underlying shell structure as well as to changes in single-particle levels.

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