An international team using the JWST has found photographic evidence that brings astronomers closer to solving a long-standing mystery about black holes.
For decades, astronomers have faced a puzzle at the centers of massive galaxies: how can a supermassive black hole keep feeding when its own powerful jets heat the surrounding gas that supplies it? New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, are bringing that process into much sharper view.
The images provide the clearest look yet at gaseous filaments linking a galaxy’s hot atmosphere to the rotating disk that supplies material to its central supermassive black hole.
Spin-orbit coupling (SOC), an interaction between an electron’s spin and its motion, plays a key role in creating topological insulators—unusual materials that are insulating in their interior but can conduct electricity along their surfaces.
Now, a new study published in Newton finds that increasing temperature weakens SOC in the topological insulator Bi2Se3, driving a transition to a normal insulating state. The findings suggest that temperature could serve as a new “knob” for controlling the topological properties of materials.
The research was led by Professor Sun Yiyang from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (SIC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The first author of the paper is Lu Lingyan, a Ph.D. candidate at SIC.
Seven years after the original 2019 report, the reported 3.6 liters per hour per square meter remains an interesting benchmark for understanding the potential of solar purification research. The lasting value of the work is not simply the numerical comparison with commercial solar stills but the broader principle behind it: materials can be engineered to make renewable-energy technologies more productive.
Detecting short-wave infrared (SWIR) light, a region of the electromagnetic spectrum just beyond the light visible to the human eye, could be advantageous for many real-world applications. For instance, it could enable more advanced systems for capturing images at night, as well as sophisticated medical imaging, environmental monitoring and industrial inspection technologies.
Despite their potential, most SWIR detection devices developed so far are based on expensive semiconducting materials that are often difficult to integrate with existing electronic hardware. This is because silicon, the most widely used semiconductor in the electronics industry, cannot absorb SWIR photons due to its wide band gap.
Researchers at Complutense University of Madrid have developed a silicon photodiode that can efficiently absorb SWIR light and is compatible with current electronics manufacturing processes. The new device, introduced in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, is based on silicon doped with a high concentration of tellurium (Te) atoms.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown that making extremely small changes to the structure of a material can dramatically improve its ability to respond to electrical signals. Published recently in Science Advances, the breakthrough could help create a new generation of wireless devices that can change frequency on demand, making communication systems more flexible and energy efficient.
The team focused on a ceramic material called strontium tantalate. By replacing a small number of atoms with slightly smaller calcium atoms, they created tiny distortions in the material’s structure. Although these changes occur at the atomic scale, they have a major effect on how the material behaves.
Scientists have developed a new acoustic levitation technique using an ultrasonic beam capable of levitating and moving small objects in midair over distances of up to 40 cm (16 inches), six times farther than previously achieved using conventional methods. The study, carried out by a research team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the University of Bristol, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Acoustic levitation is a technique that uses sound waves to suspend objects in midair without physical contact—meaning it has the potential to be beneficial for handling fragile materials, contamination-sensitive samples and hazardous substances.
Conventional acoustic levitation systems rely on sound waves generated within an enclosed space, but the new technique is the first time a single-sided design has demonstrated stable acoustic levitation in three dimensions.
Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, have uncovered that a class of nickel-based materials known as samarium (Sm)-based infinite-layer nickelates can regain their superconducting ability under strong magnetic fields. This behavior could open a promising pathway toward superconducting technologies that can operate under extreme magnetic conditions.
Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity without resistance, is typically destroyed by strong magnetic fields. However, a research team led by Professor Ariando from the Department of Physics at NUS, working with scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has shown that Sm-based infinite-layer nickelates defy this expectation.
In these nickelates, superconductivity is first suppressed at low magnetic fields of a few tesla, only to reappear as the field increases, persisting beyond 60 tesla (hundreds of thousands of times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field). This unusual behavior, known as reentrant superconductivity, has previously been observed only in materials with very low transition temperatures, limiting their practical relevance.