In a step forward for soft robotics and biomedical devices, Rice University engineers have uncovered a powerful new way to boost the strength and durability of silicone-based soft devices without changing the materials themselves. Their study, published in a special issue of Science Advances, focuses on printed and musculoskeletal robotics and offers a predictive framework that connects silicone curing conditions with adhesion strength, enabling dramatic improvements in performance for both molded and 3D-printed elastomer components.
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Where did all the antimatter go? This mismatch in how subatomic particles behave could hold a clue
The first-known observations of matter–antimatter asymmetry in a decaying composite subatomic particle that belongs to the baryon class are reported from the LHCb experiment located at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This effect, known as charge–parity (CP) violation, has been theoretically predicted, but hitherto escaped observation in baryons. The experimental verification of this asymmetry violation in baryons, published in Nature this week, is important as baryons make up most of the matter in the observable universe.
Cosmological models suggest that matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts at the Big Bang, but in the present-day universe matter seems to dominate antimatter. This imbalance is thought to be driven by differences in the behavior of matter and antimatter: a violation of symmetry known as CP violation.
This effect has been predicted by the Standard Model of physics and observed experimentally in subatomic particles called mesons more than 60 years ago, but never previously observed in baryons. As opposed to mesons, which are formed by two quarks, baryons are formed by three quarks—particles that make up most of matter such as neutrons and protons are baryons.
Robots now grow and repair themselves by consuming parts from other machines
Today’s robots are stuck—their bodies are usually closed systems that can neither grow nor self-repair, nor adapt to their environment. Now, scientists at Columbia University have developed robots that can physically “grow,” “heal,” and improve themselves by integrating material from their environment or from other robots.
Described in a new study published in Science Advances, this process, called “Robot Metabolism,” enables machines to absorb and reuse parts from other robots or their surroundings.
“True autonomy means robots must not only think for themselves but also physically sustain themselves,” explains Philippe Martin Wyder, lead author and researcher at Columbia Engineering and the University of Washington. “Just as biological life absorbs and integrates resources, these robots grow, adapt, and repair using materials from their environment or from other robots.”
The magic of magnons: Material properties changed non-thermally using light and magnons
“The result was a huge surprise for us. No theory has ever predicted it,” says Davide Bossini.
Not only does the process work—it also has spectacular effects. By driving high-frequency magnon pairs via laser pulses, the physicists succeeded in changing the frequencies and amplitudes of other magnons—and thus the magnetic properties of the material—in a non-thermal way.
“Every solid has its own set of frequencies: electronic transitions, lattice vibrations, magnetic excitations. Every material resonates in its own way,” explains Bossini. It is precisely this set of frequencies that can be influenced through the new process.
Rabi-like splitting observed under electrical control in artificial magnets
Rabi-like splitting is one of the key concepts in modern quantum technology. Fully understanding it can help us advance our knowledge in quantum information processing. Assistant Professor Aakanksha Sud (Tohoku University), Dr. Kei Yamamoto (JAEA), Professor Shigemi Mizukami (Tohoku University), and collaborators discovered that Rabi-like splitting could be achieved using nonlinear coupling, which remarkably preserves the symmetries of the system. This result opens up various possibilities to deepen our understanding of nonlinear dynamics and coupling phenomena in artificial control.
The findings were published in Physical Review Letters on June 20, 2025.
In quantum physics, when there is a coupling between two harmonic oscillators with an ideal oscillation frequency, the oscillation frequency splits to two different frequencies in the coupled system. The difference in these two frequencies is referred to as Rabi splitting.
