How does a cloud stay cool under direct sunlight––or seem to vanish in infrared? In nature, phenomena like white cumulus clouds, gray storm systems, and even the hollow hairs of polar bears offer remarkable lessons in balancing temperature, color and invisibility. Inspired by these atmospheric marvels, researchers have now created a nanoscale “cloud” metasurface capable of dynamically switching between white and gray states—cooling or heating on demand––all while evading thermal detection.

A research team from the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) has addressed a 40-year-old quantum puzzle, unlocking a new pathway to creating next-generation electronic devices that operate without losing energy or wasting electricity.

Published in Advanced Materials, the study is the work of UOW researchers led by Distinguished Professor Xiaolin Wang and Dr. M Nadeem, with Ph.D. candidate Syeda Amina Shabbir and Dr. Frank Fei Yun.

It introduces a new design concept to realize the elusive and highly sought-after quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect.

The original goal of the study was to get this asymmetry to a point of perfect isolation—that is, where there is zero interaction in one direction. They successfully achieved this goal by demonstrating a giant optical isolation effect, where the propagation of light in one direction was a million times easier than in the opposite direction.

But while exploring their test devices, the engineers encountered a surprise. Their approach was so efficient that they could even get past the isolation point to where the sign of the coupling simply flipped and the phase became direction dependent. This was something that had not been seen before in time modulated coupling and is an easy path to photonic gyration.

Going forward, the Illinois researchers will work to expand their findings. They are working with their partners specializing in condensed matter to explore how longer and more elaborate chains of resonators with this kind of tunable couplings could answer fundamental questions on topological physics. Simultaneously, from an engineering standpoint, they aim to create a pure gyrator which is a universal building block of many nonreciprocal devices.

Join us for an exclusive 1-hour conversation with Dr. Eriona Hysolli, the visionary scientist bridging de-extinction technology and the future of human reproduction. Recognized by Time100 Next for her groundbreaking work reviving the woolly mammoth, Dr. Hysolli brings a unique perspective to reproductive biotechnology that you won’t find anywhere else.

In this informal Q&A session, we’ll explore how cutting-edge technologies originally developed for species conservation are now revolutionizing human fertility treatments. Dr. Hysolli will share insights on:
The latest breakthroughs in synthetic embryos and artificial wombs.
How in vitro gametogenesis could transform infertility treatment.
Lessons from mammoth de-extinction that apply to human reproductive health.
The intersection of genome engineering and fertility solutions.
Near-term commercial applications in reproductive biotechnology.

Drawing from her pioneering work at Yale, George Church’s lab at Harvard, and as Head of Biological Sciences at Colossal Biosciences, Dr. Hysolli offers a rare glimpse into technologies that could redefine human reproduction within the next decade.

The session will feature a moderated discussion followed by audience Q&A. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, healthcare professional, or simply fascinated by the future of fertility, this conversation will provide essential insights into one of biotechnology’s most promising frontiers.

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A research team affiliated with UNIST has introduced a cutting-edge modular artificial leaf that simultaneously meets high efficiency, long-term stability, and scalability requirements—marking a major step forward in green hydrogen production technology essential for achieving carbon neutrality.

Jointly led by Professors Jae Sung Lee, Sang Il Seok, and Ji-Wook Jang from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, this innovative system mimics natural leaves by producing hydrogen solely from sunlight and water, without requiring external power sources or emitting carbon dioxide during the process—a clean hydrogen production method. The study is published in Nature Communications.

Unlike conventional photovoltaic-electrochemical (PV-EC) systems, which generate electricity before producing hydrogen, this direct solar-to-chemical conversion approach reduces losses associated with electrical resistance and minimizes installation footprint. However, prior challenges related to low efficiency, durability, and scalability hindered commercial deployment.

A new study, published in Nature Nanotechnology and featured on the journal’s front cover this month, has uncovered insights into the tiny structures that could take solar energy to the next level.

Researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) have found that dynamic nanodomains within lead halide perovskites—materials at the forefront of solar cell innovation—hold a key to boosting their efficiency and stability. The findings reveal the nature of these microscopic structures, and how they impact the way electrons are energized by light and transported through the material, offering insights into more efficient solar cells.

The study was led by Milos Dubajic and Professor Sam Stranks from the Optoelectronic Materials and Device Spectroscopy Group at CEB, in collaboration with an international network, with key contributions from Imperial College London, UNSW Sydney, Colorado State University, ANSTO Sydney, and synchrotron facilities in Australia, the UK, and Germany.

Blink and you might miss it, but if you keep your eye on the monitors in professor Sebastian Will’s lab, you’ll catch a series of single-second flashes that light up the screen. Each flash is an atom of strontium, a naturally occurring alkaline-earth metal, being briefly captured and held in place by “tweezers” made of laser light. “We can see single atoms,” says graduate student Aaron Holman. “Seeing those never gets old.”

The lab saw its first atom at the end of 2022, after two years of constructing the experimental setup—a complicated and carefully calibrated series of atomic sources, vacuum chambers, magnets, electronics, and lasers that trap individual atoms and place them into custom arrangements—from scratch.

Holman, currently a 5th-year Ph.D. student in Physics, helped build the “TweeSr” project, as it’s referred to in the lab, from the ground up. A pure atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physicist at heart, he’s now working on ways to turn fundamental research on how atoms, molecules, and light interact into new technologies with collaborators at Columbia Engineering. He’s also heading toward bigger scales as part of a quantum network that is currently under construction.

The problem concerns the mathematical properties of solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations, a system of partial differential equations that describe the motion of a fluid in space. Solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations are used in many practical applications. However, theoretical understanding of the solutions to these equations is incomplete. In particular, solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations often include turbulence, which remains one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics, despite its immense importance in science and engineering.

A successful collaboration involving a trio of research institutions has yielded a roadmap toward an economically viable process for using enzymes to recycle plastics.

The researchers, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and the University of Portsmouth in England, previously partnered on the biological engineering of improved PETase enzymes that can break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET). With its low manufacturing cost and excellent material properties, PET is used extensively in single-use packaging, soda bottles, and textiles.

The new study, published in Nature Chemical Engineering, combines previous fundamental research with advanced chemical engineering, process development, and techno-economic analysis to lay the blueprints for enzyme-based PET recycling at an industrial scale.

Researchers led by John T. Wilson, Vanderbilt University associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering, have developed a new approach using a molecularly designed nanobody platform that seeks to make immunotherapy more effective in the treatment of cancer.

The research, “Potentiating Cancer Immunotherapies with Modular Albumin-Hitchhiking Nanobody-STING Agonist Conjugates,” is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment, but few patients benefit from the treatment, according to researchers. However, Wilson and his Immunoengineering Lab at Vanderbilt, along with collaborators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, SOMBS, and the College of Arts and Sciences, aim to solve this problem.