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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Nov-2026 02:17 ET (3-Nov-2026 07:17 GMT/UTC)

A world-first lens brings neutrons into sharper focus

Paul Scherrer Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have developed the world’s first achromatic lens for neutron imaging. The lens overcomes a longstanding obstacle in the field: focusing neutrons of different wavelengths well enough to form a sharp, magnified image. With the lens, researchers can now image thick samples and follow processes inside bulky equipment such as furnaces, cryostats or pressure cells.

Journal: Nature Communications

New knowledge synthesis for policy: Ecological characterization of peatlands and coastal lagoons in Europe

Pensoft Publishers
Reports and Proceedings

A report developed through the EU Science Service for Biodiversity identifies hydrological regime as the key determinant of ecosystem condition in both inland peatlands and coastal lagoons and warns that degradation of these habitat types can turn long-term carbon sinks into net sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Funder: Horizon Europe

How an emerging class of tick-borne viruses escape human immune defenses

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Warmer temperatures bring out ticks that spread diseases such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But another class of emerging tick-borne pathogens — nairoviruses — is on the rise. Some nairoviruses cause high fevers and reduce organ function in people exposed to certain tick’s bites. In ACS Infectious Diseases, researchers report how these viruses evade the human immune system. The findings could be used to help develop a surveillance system to monitor these viruses.

Journal: ACS Infectious Diseases

Ultrafine particles in the air: Global study attributes nearly two million premature deaths a year

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ultrafine particles (UFPs) –smaller than 100 nanometres and invisible to the naked eye – contribute substantially to illness and mortality worldwide. That is the finding of an international study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and The Cyprus Institute, with cardiologists from Mainz University Medical Center among the co-authors. The researchers estimate that around 1.99 million deaths per year worldwide are attributable to exposure to ultrafine particles. That accounts for about five percent of all deaths from non-communicable diseases. Roughly half of these are due to cardiovascular disease. The researchers therefore advocate for binding limit values. The study appears in the journal Cardiovascular Research (Oxford University Press, the journal of the European Society of Cardiology).

Journal: Cardiovascular Research
Funder: EU-Horizon-Europe

Highly sensitive SWCNT-based pyroelectric phototransistors enable broadband room-temperature infrared detection

Editorial Office of Opto-Electronic Journals Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology have built an infrared detector that works at room temperature, removing the bulky cooling that conventional high-sensitivity sensors require. By placing a sparse network of single-walled carbon nanotubes onto a polar face of a pyroelectric lithium niobate crystal, the team created a phototransistor that responds across a broad infrared band and reaches specific detectivities beyond comparable graphene devices, approaching the theoretical limit for thermal photodetectors.

Journal: Opto-Electronic Advances
Funder: RSF grant

Damage growth in metals under shear loading

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The resistance of material against mechanical loads is a decisive factor for component safety – such as in aircraft. Working in an international team, researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have found a previously unknown damage mechanism in metals: Contamination in the form of stiff particles can make the volume of voids grow up to sixfold when exposed to deformation by shear loading. The results of the study are particularly relevant to the ductility and safety of materials in recycling processes. Publication in the International Journal of Plasticity. (DOI: 10.1016/j.ijplas.2026.104724)

Journal: International Journal of Plasticity

A second look to aim better

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men worldwide. However, planning personalized radiotherapy in the advanced stages of the disease still requires more precise tools. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now tested a novel approach. A combination of two diagnostic imaging techniques could pave the way for personalized radiotherapy. The results of the study, funded by the Wilhelm Sander Foundation, have been published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6c00161).

Journal: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

Dual-frequency fiber-array photoacoustic computed tomography: see the whole brain clearly and centimeters deep

Light Publishing Center, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics And Physics, CAS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Photoacoustic computed tomography can provide rich optical contrast over extended penetration depth of biological tissues. However, its capability of multi-scale multi-contrast structural and functional imaging is limited by the inherent size-dependent sensitivity, narrow bandwidth and high material rigidity of the state-of-the-art piezoelectric transducer arrays. The team from Jinan University has proposed a novel sheet-like focusing dual-frequency fiber ultrasound transducer, avoiding the use of multiple transducers to simultaneously capture photoacoustic signals of different frequencies. This design enables deep penetration, high resolution, and precise functional imaging at the entire brain scale and also screening for malignant brain tumors.

Journal: Light: Science & Applications
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Fundamental and Applied Fundamental Research Project

Plasma agriculture makes strides towards super-seeding conventional methods

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers review the latest results and understanding of mechanisms behind this new field of research where seeds show higher yields and resilience following flash treatment in low-temperature plasma.

Journal: Journal of Advanced Research
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Core-to-Core Program “Data Driven Plasma Science”, Plasma Bio Consortium, Center for Low-temperature Plasma Sciences, Nagoya University