Astronomers have discovered a “black hole star,” an extremely bright red spot in the early universe that appears to be a new type of astrophysical object. It resembles an enormous star, but its energy production is closer to what a black hole might generate.

Published (DOI: 10.1016/j.esen.2026.100077) online on May 26, 2026, in eScience Energy, the article presents nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as an integrated experimental framework for understanding how liquid electrolytes organize, move, and become heterogeneous before interfacial chemistry begins.

New research finds that men who consume higher amounts of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have significantly greater risks of prostate cancer. Analyzing nationally representative data from 17,024 U.S. men, researchers found a 29% higher risk among those in the three highest UPF-consumption groups and a 30% higher risk among those in the two highest groups. After adjusting for key factors, elevated risk remained significant, ranging from 24% to 31%.

Magnesium supplements are gaining popularity to treat conditions such as insomnia, migraines, and constipation. Most magnesium salts are extracted from rocks by crushing and heating them, which requires a lot of energy. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have developed bismuth electrodes that selectively pull magnesium ions from seawater, another abundant source of the element. They say their electrochemical approach could be more sustainable and less expensive than current methods. 

Smartwatches, phones, and even some drones rely on lightweight, rechargeable energy storage systems. Once those devices wear out, many end up as electronic waste. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have developed a compact supercapacitor that can be quickly disassembled into reusable components. They used the devices to power a glider's propeller and then took apart one supercapacitor and sequentially reused parts in two new ones that performed as well as the original device. 

Scientists in China have developed a compact quasi-BIC laser that emits an ultrahigh-purity linearly polarized light. Using dispersion-assisted polarization engineering, the device achieves a polarization extinction ratio of ~300:1 in a 20 by 20 lattice while maintaining single-mode operation and good beam quality.

For five days in April of 2025, record-breaking winds swept through China, with speeds surpassing 45 meters per second in some areas. That’s roughly the same wind speed of a category 2 hurricane. However, a hurricane breezes through in a matter of hours. What caused this extreme wind event — that resulted in five deaths and caused more than $154 million in economic losses, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management — to persist at such strength for so long and across so much of the country?

Sodium-ion batteries have garnered significant attention as vital energy storage solutions owing to their cost-effectiveness and high energy density, yet tracking their interface ion kinetics and achieving precise state of charge (SoC) quantification remain challenging. Scientists from China have demonstrated an implantable multiresonant fiber-optic grating sensor to address these issues. This operando tool rapidly decodes the dynamic nanoscale ion transport at the electrode-electrolyte interface and achieves highly accurate SoC quantification by integrating the optical signal, offering a powerful platform for next-generation battery diagnostics and design.