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High-quality crystals enable new insights into structure–property relationships and multifunctionality

Researchers at Kumamoto University and Nagoya University have developed a new class of two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) using triptycene-based molecules, marking a breakthrough in the quest to understand and enhance the physical properties of these promising materials. The work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

It Shouldn’t Exist: Astronomers Discover a Planet Orbiting the “Wrong Way”

Most stars throughout the Universe are part of binary or multiple star systems. In these systems, a nearby companion star can make it difficult for planets to form and remain in stable orbits around just one of the stars.

A research team made up of international astrophysicists, led by Professor Man Hoi Lee from the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Physics, along with MPhil student Ho Wan Cheng, has confirmed a highly unusual planetary discovery.

They identified a planet orbiting in the opposite direction of its binary stars’ movement, known as a retrograde orbit, within the nu Octantis (nu Octantis) binary system. Their work also sheds light on how the evolution of binary stars may have influenced the planet’s origin. These results have been published in the journal Nature.

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