Catenanes are organic compounds with ring-like molecules that are mechanically interlocked. The mechanical locking system in such molecules is so robust that they can only be disentangled via covalent bond cleavage. A recent study has presented a new strategy for controlling the chirality—the property where a molecule has non-superimposable mirror images—of mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) like catenanes, without changing its overall shape via non-covalent means.

The researchers successfully demonstrated the synthesis of a compact catenane, BPHC⁴⁺ with tunable mechanical chirality, as reported in Nature Synthesis.

Unlike traditional chirality that originates from covalent bonds forming asymmetric centers, in MIMs the chirality can arise from the way parts of the molecule are mechanically linked and not the chirality of the individual rings that are interlocked together. This is known as mechanical chirality.

Scientists are aiming to create handbags, wallets and belts made from laboratory-grown dinosaur hide by the end of the year

Crystals—from sugar and table salt to snowflakes and diamonds—don’t always grow in a straightforward way. New York University researchers have captured this journey from amorphous blob to orderly structures in a new study published in Nature Communications.

In exploring how crystals form, the researchers also came across an unusual, rod-shaped crystal that hadn’t been identified before, naming it “Zangenite” for the NYU graduate student who discovered it.

Combinatorial Optimization problems can be solved by investigating the ground states of particular Ising models. Here, the authors developed a neuromorphic architecture to ensure asymptotic convergence to the ground state of an Ising problem and to consistently produce high-quality solutions.

CISA added Broadcom and Commvault vulnerabilities to KEV after confirming active exploitation.

Threat actors exploited Craft CMS zero-days CVE-2025–32432 and CVE-2024–58136, compromising 300 of 13,000 vulnerable servers.

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In recent years, a substantial number of established journals have received buyout offers from obscure entities, with some journals being acquired. Despite mounting circumstantial evidence of irregular behaviour exhibited by these journals post-acquisition, comprehensive analyses on this matter are lacking. To address this gap, this article examines the practices of Oxbridge Publishing House Ltd., a company registered in the UK in 2022. Through an analysis of publicly available documentation, it becomes apparent that this entity is part of a complex network of recently established companies. Since 2020 this network has acquired, with the help of intermediary firms, at least 36 scholarly journals originally published in countries such as Spain , United Kingdom , USA , India , Turkey , among others. Targeting journals indexed in prestigious scientific databases like Web of Science and Scopus, many of these journals see significant transformations upon acquisition, such as the introduction or substantial escalation of publication fees, often coupled with increases in publication volumes. This increase stems from a surge in contributions originating outside the journal’s original academic community. Their disregard for proper publishing standards is evident in their widespread use of fake DOIs or the appropriation of DOIs from unrelated documents. Drawing parallels to the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we refer to journals caught in this predicament as pod journals. This type of predatory publishing practice not only contributes to over-publication but also disenfranchises legitimate academic communities and poses a threat to academic bibliodiversity.