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Hybrid projector delivers super-resolution images across extended depth with 16-fold gain

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a novel image projection system that delivers super-resolution images over an extended depth of field. By combining a neural network-based digital encoder with a passive all-optical diffractive decoder, the system drastically compresses image data for efficient transmission of image information. This platform operates without extra power at the decoding stage, promising advancements for next-generation virtual and augmented reality displays.

The study is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

A research team led by Professors Aydogan Ozcan and Mona Jarrahi, along with UCLA graduate student Hanlong Chen, designed a system that divides the image projection workload into two parts.

Beyond 0 and 1: Ferrotoroidic material can store four magnetic states

Today’s computers store information using only two values: 0 and 1. But as electronic devices become smaller and reach their limits, scientists are searching for new ways to pack more information into the same space. One idea is to use magnetism. In some materials, atoms behave like tiny magnets that can arrange themselves in different patterns. If each pattern represents a different value, one memory element could store more than just two possibilities.

In a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers have found a material in which these atomic magnets can form four different magnetic states. They showed that these states can be controlled using electric and magnetic fields and remain stable once created.

Using neutron experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin, the scientists were able to observe each of the four magnetic states that were created by applying electric and magnetic fields. This discovery hints at a future where computers might store significantly more information than today’s binary technologies.

Laser processes to enable robust, miniaturized beam sources for quantum technology

In the HiPEQ project, a consortium of industry and research partners has developed new laser-based approaches to enable miniaturized, robust beam sources for quantum technology. Among others, the consortium also used lasers to grow novel optical insulator crystals. The project achieved significant progress from November 2021 to July 2025. Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen played a key role by co-developing the laser processes needed.

Currently, beam sources for quantum technology applications are often complex, large, and not robust enough for field use. What is needed, then, are miniaturized systems that are as versatile as possible. The BMFTR-funded project “HiPEQ—Highly Integrated PIC-Based ECDLs for Quantum Technology” has developed such a beam source.

Coordinated by TOPTICA, later a systems integrator, a consortium of industry and research partners has built prototypes of two miniaturized laser sources. With external dimensions of just 22 × 9 x 6 cm³, they provide enough space for all system components. The design can also be adapted to other wavelengths, making them suitable for a wide range of quantum technology applications.

This Common Houseplant Is Secretly Using Advanced Geometry

Scientists have discovered that the Chinese money plant hides a remarkable geometric system inside its leaves, revealing that nature may solve complex problems using mathematical rules similar to those found in computer science and city planning.

People often see meaningful shapes and patterns in random things. Maybe you have looked at clouds and spotted a sailboat, a seahorse, or even your great-aunt Rosemary. Scientists call this tendency “apophenia,” the human habit of finding patterns that are not really there. But in some cases, nature truly does follow hidden mathematical rules. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Associate Professor Saket Navlakha studies these kinds of patterns and recently uncovered one inside a familiar houseplant.

Hidden geometry in chinese money plants.

Your Eyes Could Reveal Your Risk of Osteoporosis, Study Finds

The eyes are a window into our deeper health.

As the only outward extension of the central nervous system, these sensory organs may reflect not only the state of our brain and blood vessels, but also our very bones.

Population studies in Singapore and the UK have now revealed that a person’s risk of osteoporosis may be associated with how quickly their eyes are aging.

Brain ‘Zaps’ From Contact Lenses May Help Ease Depression, Mouse Study Shows

Scientists in South Korea have developed experimental contact lenses designed to send electrical signals through the retina and into brain regions linked to mood. In mice, the technology appeared to improve depression-like behaviour.

The idea sounds futuristic: a contact lens that could one day help treat depression by stimulating the brain through the eye. The work is still at a very early stage, with findings so far limited to a single mouse study.

The eye is already one of the body’s most useful access points for medical technology.

NSA Releases Hundreds of Pages of Formerly Top Secret UMBRA UAP Records After Disclosure Foundation FOIA Appeal

The National Security Agency has produced hundreds of pages of historical UAP-related records following a Freedom of Information Act appeal by the Disclosure Foundation. Many of the records were previously classified “TOP SECRET UMBRA,” one of the most sensitive classification markings associated with signals intelligence.

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