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A kind of umbilical cord between different quantum states can be found in some materials. Researchers at TU Wien have now shown that this “umbilical cord” is generic to many materials.

It is a basic principle of quantum theory: sometimes certain physical quantities can only assume very specific values; all the values in between are simply not permitted by physics. This fact plays a decisive role in the behavior of materials. Certain energy ranges are possible for the electrons of the material, while others are not. Among other things, this explains the difference between electrically conductive metals and non-conductive insulators.

Sometimes, however, surprising connections can arise between permitted ranges, through which electrons can switch from one range to the other. One such unusual transition region was discovered in 2007 in certain copper-containing materials, known as cuprates.

Continue reading “A self-assembled bilayer could enhance the thermal stability of perovskite solar cells” | >

Simon Fraser University, the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the University of Bologna have conducted an isotope study on the dietary patterns of Mesolithic and Neolithic humans at Franchthi Cave, Greece. The report confirms a terrestrial-based diet with negligible consumption of marine resources during these periods.

Franchthi Cave, overlooking the Bay of Koilada in the Peloponnese, is one of Greece’s most significant prehistoric sites, spanning nearly 40,000 years of occupation. The site is stunningly beautiful, with a high vaulted arch at the cave entrance inviting visitors into an otherworldly space.

Excavated between 1967 and 1979, it provides a continuous record from the Upper Paleolithic through the Neolithic. The Mesolithic to Neolithic transition is characterized across Europe by the emergence of agriculture and a shift in dietary reliance from marine to terrestrial resources, especially in . Previous isotope studies of Franchthi suggested minimal marine input despite its coastal location.

Continue reading “Turf over surf: Isotope analysis reveals prehistoric Greek dietary practices” | >

When used correctly, font selection usually goes unnoticed, blending seamlessly with content and reader. When the One Times Square Billboard used a retired Microsoft Word default Calibri font to usher in 2025’s “Happy New Year” message, it was immediately met with sarcastic scorn and delightful derision for the uninspired choice (at least by people who pay attention to such things). Had the font faux pas been the branding rollout of a new app, product, or company, the consequences might have been more severe.

Hanyang University researchers in Korea have attempted to take the intuition and subjective judgment out of the art of font selection. Using computational tools and network analysis to develop an objective framework for font selection and pairing in design, the researchers aim to establish foundational principles for applying typography in visual communication.

Font choice plays a critical role in visual communication, shaping readability, emotional resonance, and overall design balance across mediums. According to the researchers, designers have traditionally relied on subjective rules for font pairing, such as mixing Serif and Sans-Serif or creating contrast. These rules are difficult to formalize and often apply to only a narrow subset of fonts.

Continue reading “Not sure what font to choose? Typography study helps find the right type” | >

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered a new superconducting material. They combined iron, nickel, and zirconium, to create a new transition metal zirconide with different ratios of iron to nickel. The findings are published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

While both iron zirconide and nickel zirconide are not superconducting, the newly prepared mixtures are exhibiting a “dome-shaped” phase diagram typical of so-called “unconventional superconductors,” a promising avenue for developing high temperature superconducting materials which can be more widely deployed in society.

Superconductors already play an active role in cutting-edge technologies, from in and maglev systems to superconducting cables for power transmission. However, they generally rely on cooling to temperatures of around four Kelvin, a key roadblock in wider deployment of the technology.

Continue reading “Student project discovers superconductor with hallmark of unconventional superconductivity” | >

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is developing a tokamak device called SPARC. The company aims to demonstrate the critical fusion energy milestone of producing more output power than input power for the first time in a device that can scale up to commercial power plant size. However, this achievement is only possible if the plasma doesn’t melt the device.

Researchers from CFS and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have collaborated on fusion boundary research through a series of projects, including ORNL Strategic Partnership Projects and Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects, work under the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE), and other work in partnership with General Atomics.

Throughout this collaboration, ORNL has developed simulation capabilities required to address critical and time-sensitive design issues for the SPARC .

Continue reading “Controlling plasma heat in a fusion energy power plant: ‘Louvers’ on fusion device should exhaust gases as hot as a star” | >

Watch any match at this year’s Australian Open and you’ll see balls curving in the air or bouncing higher or lower than expected. Players such as Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are particularly masterful at the art.

The secret? It’s all about spin.

Continue reading “Spin has transformed modern-day tennis—here’s the physics behind it” | >

Researchers at the John Innes Centre have identified a biological mechanism that helps plant roots create a more hospitable environment for beneficial soil microbes. This breakthrough has the potential to promote more sustainable farming practices by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.

Most major crops currently rely on nitrate and phosphate fertilizers, but excessive fertilizer use can have harmful environmental consequences. By leveraging the natural, mutually beneficial relationships between plant roots and soil microbes to improve nutrient uptake, it may be possible to significantly cut down on the use of inorganic fertilizers.

Researchers in the group of Dr Myriam Charpentier discovered a mutation in a gene in the legume Medicago truncatula that reprogrammes the signaling capacity of the plant so that it enhances partnerships with nitrogen fixing bacteria called rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) which supply roots with phosphorus.

Continue reading “Fundamental Biological Discovery Could Revolutionize Fertilizer Use in Farming” | >

MIT researchers are developing techniques to make quantum gates, the basic operations of a quantum computer, as fast as possible in order to reduce the impact of decoherence. However, as gates get faster, another type of error, arising from counter-rotating dynamics, can be introduced because of the way qubits are controlled using electromagnetic waves.

Single-qubit gates are usually implemented with a resonant pulse, which induces Rabi oscillations between the qubit states. When the pulses are too fast, however, “Rabi gates” are not so consistent, due to unwanted errors from counter-rotating effects. The faster the gate, the more the counter-rotating error is manifest. For low-frequency qubits such as fluxonium, counter-rotating errors limit the fidelity of fast gates.

“Getting rid of these errors was a fun challenge for us,” says Rower. “Initially, Leon had the idea to utilize circularly polarized microwave drives, analogous to circularly polarized light, but realized by controlling the relative phase of charge and flux drives of a superconducting qubit. Such a circularly polarized drive would ideally be immune to counter-rotating errors.”

Continue reading “Breaking Quantum Limits: MIT’s Fluxonium Qubits Achieve Unprecedented Precision” | >