The pixels in phone screens and other OLED displays appear to provide a uniform glow, but a team of University of Michigan Engineering researchers has discovered the light actually originates from nanoscale hotspots, some of which flicker. 

In the journal Chaos, researchers use nonlinear dynamics to calculate the dose of medication required to treat eczema, exploring why flare-ups happen and how to improve treatment outcomes. They divided their mathematical approach into two regimes: suppressing an active flare-up and keeping the condition in remission. The. In the first phase, the amount of medication required — as determined by the skin’s permeability and the patient’s immune response — scales proportionally and predictably, but in the second phase, the relationship is highly nonlinear.

AIP and APS are honored to award Charles Thorn with the 2026 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics. Thorn is being recognized for “fundamental contributions to elementary particle physics, primarily the theory of strong interactions and the development of string theory.” This annual award recognizes significant contributions within the field of mathematical physics and was presented at the APS Global Physics Summit in Denver on March 16.