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A computational camera lens that can focus on everything all at once

Imagine snapping a photo where every detail, near and far, is perfectly sharp—from the flower petal right in front of you to the distant trees on the horizon. For over a century, camera designers have dreamed of achieving that level of clarity.

In a breakthrough that could transform photography, microscopy, and even , researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new kind of lens that can bring an entire scene into sharp focus at once—no matter how far away or close different parts of the scene are.

The team, consisting of Yingsi Qin, an electrical and Ph.D. student, Aswin Sankaranarayanan, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Matthew O’Toole, associate professor of computer science and robotics, recently presented their findings at the 2025 International Conference on Computer Vision and received a Best Paper Honorable Mention recognition.

Inexpensive materials transform waste carbon into energy-rich compounds

Turning waste carbon into useful products is a vital part of sustainable manufacturing. Recycling carbon dioxide creates carbon monoxide, which through electricity can be converted into energy-rich compounds. However, existing devices for this process use anion exchange membranes that break down over time when exposed to organic materials, making them less effective.

A team of researchers, led by Feng Jiao, the Lauren and Lee Fixel Distinguished Professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has found that inexpensive and robust materials, porous separators called diaphragms, can be viable alternatives to these membranes in the conversion process.

After testing various diaphragms, they found that some of them performed as well or better than polymer-based commercial membranes in various operating conditions.

Chasing and splashing molecules create resilient order from apparent chaos, study shows

In nature, ordered structures are essential to maintain both stability and functionality in living systems, as observed in repeating structures or the formation of complex molecules. Yet, the creation of this order is based on universal physical principles which eventually allow the creation of living matter and organic structures.

One of these principles is non-reciprocal interactions: one type of molecule is attracted by another which, on the contrary, is repelled. This phenomenon can give rise to interesting structures and .

Scientists from the department of Living Matter Physics at MPI-DS have now discovered that non-reciprocal interactions can also induce stable collective movement in living systems. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Plasma lens can focus attosecond pulses across different ranges of XUV light

A team of researchers from the Max Born Institute (MBI) in Berlin and DESY in Hamburg has demonstrated a plasma lens capable of focusing attosecond pulses. This breakthrough substantially increases the attosecond power available for experiments, opening up new opportunities for studying ultrafast electron dynamics. The results have now been published in Nature Photonics.

Attosecond pulses—bursts of light lasting only billionths of a billionth of a second—are essential tools for observing and controlling electronic motion in atoms, molecules, and solids. However, focusing these pulses, which lie in the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) or X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum, has proven highly challenging due to the lack of suitable optics.

Mirrors are commonly used, but they offer low reflectivity and degrade quickly. Lenses, though the most straightforward tool for focusing , are not suitable for focusing attosecond pulses, because they absorb the XUV light and stretch the attosecond pulses in time.

Paradox of rotating turbulence finally tamed with ‘hurricane-in-a-lab’

From stirring milk in your coffee to fearsome typhoon gales, rotating turbulent flows are everywhere. Yet, these spinning currents are as scientifically complex as they are banal. Describing, modeling, and predicting turbulent flows have important implications across many fields, from weather forecasting to studying the formation of planets in the accretion disk of nascent stars.

Two formulations are at the heart of the study of turbulence: Kolmogorov’s universal framework for small-scale turbulence, which describes how energy propagates and dissipates through increasingly small eddies; and Taylor-Couette (TC) flows, which are very simple to create yet exhibit extremely complex behaviors, thereby setting the benchmark for the study of the fundamental characteristics of complex flows.

For the past many decades, a central contradiction between these potent formulations has plagued the field. Despite extensive experimental research and despite being found universal to almost all turbulent flows, Kolmogorov’s framework has apparently failed to apply to turbulent TC flows.

Scientists reveal it is feasible to send quantum signals from Earth to a satellite

Quantum satellites currently beam entangled particles of light from space down to different ground stations for ultra-secure communications. New research shows it is also possible to send these signals upward, from Earth to a satellite; something once thought unfeasible.

This breakthrough overcomes significant barriers to current quantum communications. Ground station transmitters can access more power, are easier to maintain and could generate far stronger signals, enabling future quantum computer networks using satellite relays.

The study, “Quantum entanglement distribution via uplink satellite channels”, by Professor Simon Devitt, Professor Alexander Solntsev and a research team from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), is published in the journal Physical Review Research.

Asymmetric stress engineering advances current-carrying performance of iron-based superconducting wires

A collaborative research team led by Prof. Ma Yanwei from the Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has shattered records in the current-carrying performance of iron-based superconducting wires.

Their breakthrough, enabled by a novel strategy to engineer high-density flux pinning centers via an asymmetric stress field, is published in Advanced Materials.

The Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (CHMFL), the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of CAS, played a pivotal role in this achievement, with its water-cooled magnet WM5 providing critical experimental support for validating the wires.

“We Made the World’s Best Material” — How a Diamond Substitute Could Revolutionize Quantum Computing

Strontium titanate’s remarkable ability to perform at extremely low temperatures makes it a key material for next-generation cryogenic devices used in quantum computing and space exploration. Superconductivity and quantum computing have moved beyond theoretical research to capture the public’s im

Most Powerful Black-Hole Flare Ever Recorded Shone Like 10 Trillion Suns

In a flare of light that traveled for 10 billion years to reach us, astronomers have identified the most powerful and most distant blaze of energy ever recorded from a black hole, an eruption whose peak shone with the power of 10 trillion Suns.

The cause of this colossal event, says a team led by astrophysicist Matthew Graham of Caltech, was likely a supermassive black hole 500 million times the mass of the Sun devouring an unlucky star that flew a little too close to the powerful gravity well at the center of a distant galaxy. These black hole feasts are known as tidal disruption events (TDEs).

“The energetics show this object is very far away and very bright,” Graham says. “This is unlike any AGN [active galactic nucleus] we’ve ever seen.”

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