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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.”

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

In 1949, famed mathematician and physicist John von Neumann delivered a series of addresses at the University of Illinois, where he introduced the concept of “universal constructor.”

The theory was further detailed in the 1966 book, Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata, a collection of von Neumann’s writings compiled and completed by a colleague after his death.

In the years that followed, scientists engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) considered how advanced civilizations could rely on self-replicating probes to explore the galaxy.

Oldest Known Maya Monument Could Be a Map of The Universe

A monumental complex built by the Maya around 3,000 years ago was modeled on a map of the cosmos, new fieldwork has revealed.

A detailed survey of the Aguada Fénix site reveals that not only was the monument significantly larger than initial surveys suggested – laid out in the shape of a cross with axes measuring 9 and 7.5 kilometers (5.6 and 4.7 miles) – but it was also designed as a cosmogram, an architecture symbolizing the cosmos.

What’s even more remarkable about the structure is that the site contains none of the trappings of social inequality, such as elite residences or sculptures of rulers.

No Clear Cometary Tail in Post-Perihelion Images of 3I/ATLAS

On November 5, 2025, two new images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS were released. They show a compact source of light without a clear cometary tail. The coma is not very different in morphology than its appearance in the Hubble Space Telescope on July 21, 2025 (accessible here).

This is surprising in view of NASA’s JPL report here of a non-gravitational acceleration — normalized at a heliocentric value of 1 au:

1. A radial acceleration away from the Sun of 1.1x10^{-6} au per day squared.

Post Perihelion Data on 3I/ATLAS

Reports from the Minor Planet Center (here) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (here) just released new data on the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS following its perihelion passage on October 29, 2025. The new data covers the period between October 31 and November 4.

When compared to previous data obtained on October 5–8, it appears that 3I/ATLAS brightened by a factor of ~5 in the Green-band which is centered at a wavelength of 0.464 micrometers.

The value of the non-gravitational acceleration was reduced by a third relative to the value reported on October 29. This reduction is within the uncertainties. The net detection is now more robust, standing at a level of 3.7 standard deviations.

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