Why do harmful algal blooms devastate some estuaries while remaining short-lived in others? A new grant will enable researchers to investigate why blooms persist in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon but are less severe in a Georgia estuary. By uncovering the environmental and biological factors that fuel these blooms, the team aims to improve predictions, strengthen early warnings and help resource managers protect vulnerable ecosystems, wildlife and coastal economies.

Manipulating high-dimensional structured light is crucial for next-generation informatics, yet traditional systems remain bulky and lack reconfigurability. The research team led by Prof. Minming Zhang developed a fully tunable silicon-integrated meta-generator merging waveguide mode multiplexing with multi-channel coherent control. This chip achieves dynamic generation and full-surface coverage across multiple Poincaré spheres, successfully mapping on-chip modes to free-space structured fields for advanced optical communications and quantum technologies.

A team led by researchers from the University of Osaka has investigated the physical properties of a liquid membrane. Using vesicles whose membranes are made of a coacervate, a type of liquid, the team measured how these membranes bend. This liquid membrane was found to bend more easily than the lipid membranes that enclose cells. The findings deepen our understanding of soft, liquid-based membranes and may inform studies of protocells and other liquid compartments.