The inherent dispersion of laser beams limits their effectiveness in precision applications. Researchers at Chiba University, with collaborators in the USA and India, developed a compact approach combining a Bessel lens and a flat multilevel diffractive lens to generate sharply defined, robust nondiffracting optical bottle beams. These beams feature alternating high-contrast regions and remain propagation-invariant over distances beyond 5 cm, enabling applications in advanced imaging, optical trapping, harmonic generation, micromachining, and high-fidelity quantum operations.

Researchers from the Biomedical Data Science Laboratory (BDSLab) at the ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València have developed a new method based on magnetic resonance imaging that enables objective quantification of the growth of the most aggressive brain tumours, particularly glioblastoma.

The study, published in the scientific journal Medical Physics, addresses one of the main clinical challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of this tumour: its high capacity to infiltrate healthy brain tissue.

In their work, the UPV's BDSLab team presents a new biomarker, the Dynamic Infiltration Rate (DIR), capable of identifying different patterns of tumour growth and independently predicting patient survival.

A University of Sydney quantum physicist has developed a new approach to quantum error correction - using lattice gauge theory - that could significantly reduce the number of physical qubits required to build large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

Sodium-ion batteries are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage, enabling lower-cost and safer energy storage systems. O3-type layered oxides are considered mainstream cathodes materials for practical sodium-ion batteries owing to their high theoretical capacity and scalable production, drawing wide attention from both academia and industry. Nevertheless, their limited capacity within 2.0–4.0 V restricts market competitiveness.

Raising the voltage causes lattice oxygen instability, irreversible phase transitions, and electrolyte decomposition, resulting in structural degradation and rapid performance fading, which blocks their commercial application.

To address these issues, a research team led by Prof. ZHANG Xian-Ming from Taiyuan University of Technology has recently proposed an integrated design concept based on solid-solution reactions and anionic redox chemistry. They successfully developed a low-cost, high-capacity, long-life, and air-stable 4.3 V-class O3-type layered oxide cathode material, NaNi_0.35Fe_0.2Mg_0.05Mn_0.3Ti_0.1O₂ (FMT), fundamentally addressing the two critical problems of irreversible P3→O1 phase transition and lattice oxygen release at high voltages.

The team’s findings were published in Science Bulletin .

A research team reports they have created an organic reaction called α-allylation with simple ketones and allyl alcohols. This work holds the potential for use in the development of next-generation catalysts.

A new study published in Carbon Research has uncovered the complex and contradictory role that dying aquatic plants play in the health of shallow lakes. Using controlled mesocosm experiments, a team of scientists tracked the full life cycle of the floating-leaved macrophyte Trapa bispinosa, revealing that its decline simultaneously poses a risk of eutrophication while enhancing the lake’s ability to sequester carbon through a process known as the microbial carbon pump (MCP).

The research demonstrates that as these plants decay, they release substantial amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into the water. This nutrient pulse can fuel algal blooms and create hypoxic (low-oxygen) "dead zones," posing a significant threat to water quality. However, this decay process also releases a flood of dissolved organic matter (DOM), the primary food source for aquatic microbes. The study found this isn't just a release of waste; it’s a fundamental shift in the lake’s carbon chemistry.