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‘Goldilocks size’ rhodium clusters advance reusable heterogeneous catalysts for hydroformylation

Recent research has demonstrated that a rhodium (Rh) cluster of an optimal, intermediate size—neither too small nor too large—exhibits the highest catalytic activity in hydroformylation reactions. Similar to the concept of finding the “just right” balance, the study identifies this so-called “Goldilocks size” as crucial for maximizing catalyst efficiency. The study is published in the journal ACS Catalysis and was featured as the cover story.

Led by Professor Kwangjin An from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Jeong Woo Han from Seoul National University, the research demonstrates that when Rh exists as a cluster —comprising about 10 atoms—it outperforms both single-atom and nanoparticle forms in reaction speed and activity.

Hydroformylation is a vital industrial process used for producing raw materials for plastics, detergents, and other chemicals. Currently, many Rh catalysts are homogeneous—dissolved in liquids—which complicates separation and recycling. This challenge has driven efforts to develop solid, heterogeneous Rh catalysts that are easier to recover and reuse.

From stellar engines to Dyson bubbles, alien megastructures could hold themselves together under the right conditions

New theoretical models have strengthened the case that immense, energy-harvesting structures orbiting their host stars could exist in principle in distant stellar systems. With the right engineering precautions, calculations published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, carried out by Colin McInnes at the University of Glasgow, show that both stellar engines and Dyson bubbles can become gravitationally stable, allowing them to tap into the vast amounts of energy emitted by their host stars.

For decades, astronomers have pondered the possibility of alien civilizations far more technologically advanced than our own. While these studies remain entirely speculative, many have converged on similar ideas for harvesting stellar energy: envisioning vast structures deployed around host stars.

If such structures could exist, they would provide civilizations with vastly more energy than any planet could offer—enough for ventures ranging from the terraforming of new worlds, to interstellar journeys spanning many generations.

Amazon Leo satellites exceed brightness limits, study finds

Seeing a satellite zip across the night sky can be a fascinating sight. However, what may be spectacular for people on the ground is becoming a major problem for astronomers. A new study published on the arXiv preprint server has found that satellites from Amazon’s mega Leo constellation (originally known as Project Kuiper) are bright enough to disrupt astronomical research.

Amazon launched the first satellites for its Project Kuiper in April 2025. Eventually, the constellation will comprise 3,232 satellites to provide high-speed internet across the globe. However, this connectivity can come at a cost.

NASA’s Juno measures thickness of Europa’s ice shell

Data from NASA’s Juno mission has provided new insights into the thickness and subsurface structure of the icy shell encasing Jupiter’s moon Europa. Using the spacecraft’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR), mission scientists determined that the shell averages about 18 miles (29 kilometers) thick in the region observed during Juno’s 2022 flyby of Europa. The Juno measurement is the first to discriminate between thin and thick shell models that have suggested the ice shell is anywhere from less than half a mile to tens of miles thick.

Slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, Europa is one of the solar system’s highest-priority science targets for investigating habitability. Evidence suggests that the ingredients for life may exist in the saltwater ocean that lies beneath its ice shell. Uncovering a variety of characteristics of the ice shell, including its thickness, provides crucial pieces of the puzzle for understanding the moon’s internal workings and the potential for the existence of a habitable environment.

The new estimate on the ice thickness in the near-surface icy crust was published on Dec. 17 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

3D material mimics graphene’s electron flow for green computing

University of Liverpool researchers have discovered a way to host some of the most significant properties of graphene in a three-dimensional (3D) material, potentially removing the hurdles for these properties to be used at scale in green computing. The work is published in the journal Matter.

Graphene is famous for being incredibly strong, lightweight, and an excellent conductor of electricity and its applications range from electronics to aerospace and medical technologies. However, its two-dimensional (2D) structure makes it mechanically fragile and limits its use in demanding environments and large-scale applications.

Molecular seal strengthens perovskite solar cells, while pushing efficiency to 26.6%

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are known for their impressive ability to convert sunlight into energy, their low production costs and their lightweight design. They may well be the rising stars of renewable energy, but they are not yet as common as traditional solar panels. PSCs are also notoriously fragile and can break when heated during manufacturing.

But these problems could soon be a thing of the past. For their study published in the journal Science, a team from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China has developed a new method that protects the cells from damage during fabrication.

Foundation AI models trained on physics, not words, are driving scientific discovery

While popular AI models such as ChatGPT are trained on language or photographs, new models created by researchers from the Polymathic AI collaboration are trained using real scientific datasets. The models are already using knowledge from one field to address seemingly completely different problems in another.

While most AI models—including ChatGPT—are trained on text and images, a multidisciplinary team, including researchers from the University of Cambridge, has something different in mind: AI trained on physics.

Synthetic ‘muscle’ with microfluidic blood vessels shows promise for soft robotics

Researchers are continuing to make progress on developing a new synthetic material that behaves like biological muscle, an advancement that could provide a path to soft robotics, prosthetic devices and advanced human-machine interfaces. Their research, recently published in Advanced Functional Materials, demonstrates a hydrogel-based actuator system that combines movement, control and fuel delivery in a single integrated platform.

Biological muscle is one of nature’s marvels, said Stephen Morin, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It can generate impressive force, move quickly and adapt to many different tasks. It is also remarkable in its flexibility in terms of energy use and can draw on sugars, fats and other chemical stores, converting them into usable energy exactly when and where they are needed to make muscles move.

A synthetic version of muscle is one of the Holy Grails of material science.

Thinking on different wavelengths: New approach to circuit design introduces next-level quantum computing

Quantum computing represents a potential breakthrough technology that could far surpass the technical limitations of modern-day computing systems for some tasks. However, putting together practical, large-scale quantum computers remains challenging, particularly because of the complex and delicate techniques involved.

In some quantum computing systems, single ions (charged atoms such as strontium) are trapped and exposed to electromagnetic fields including laser light to produce certain effects, used to perform calculations. Such circuits require many different wavelengths of light to be introduced into different positions of the device, meaning that numerous laser beams have to be properly arranged and delivered to the designated area. In these cases, the practical limitations of delivering many different beams of light around within a limited space become a difficulty.

To address this, researchers from The University of Osaka investigated unique ways to deliver light in a limited space. Their work revealed a power-efficient nanophotonic circuit with optical fibers attached to waveguides to deliver six different laser beams to their destinations. The findings have been published in APL Quantum.

Raman sensors with push-pull alkyne tags amplify weak signals to track cell chemistry

Seeing chemistry unfold inside living cells is one of the biggest challenges of modern bioimaging. Raman microscopy offers a powerful way to meet this challenge by reading the unique vibrational signatures of molecules. However, cells are extraordinarily complex environments filled with thousands of biomolecules.

To make specific molecules stand out, researchers often attach small chemical probes, such as alkyne tags, that produce signals in a so-called cell-silent spectral window where native cellular components do not scatter light. This allows Raman microscopes to selectively detect the tagged molecules against an otherwise crowded molecular background. Despite this advantage, the widespread adoption of Raman microscopy in biology has been limited by one fundamental problem: Raman signals are extremely weak.

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