The Science White Paper of the Einstein Probe (EP) mission, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and jointly developed with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), has been published online in the Science China: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy. EP is an interdisciplinary mission focused on time-domain and X-ray astronomy. It aims to explore transient X-ray sources and explosive phenomena in the universe using its advanced observational instruments. The mission seeks to expand the frontiers of astronomical research by providing new insights into these dynamic cosmic events.

A new technique from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering builds inorganic and polymer battery electrolytes at the same time, in the same vessel. This “one-pot” in-situ method creates a controlled, homogenous blend, pairing the conductivity of the inorganic solids with the flexibility of the polymers.

Engineers have designed a tiny, low-weight and cordless robot that can act independently and with ultra-high precision in all directions in some of the most extreme conditions. The robot, which the designers call “Holonomic Beetle 3” (or HB-3)—as they were inspired by the movements and anatomy of the rhinoceros beetle—combines the use of piezoelectric actuators with autonomous technology to enable micro-scale manipulation tasks that were previously out of reach for robots.

In scenarios where two mirror-image molecules are possible, special catalysts are required to produce only the desired one. A research team from the Ruhr Explores Solvation RESOLV Cluster of Excellence at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim, Germany, is using salts that control the desired reaction via halogen bonds. Going forward, the salts can be adapted to different reactions as a modular system. The team headed by Professor Stefan Huber and Professor Benjamin List published their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society JACS on March, 3, 2025. 

A team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its partners have made significant advancements in random quantum circuit sampling with Zuchongzhi-3, a superconducting quantum computing prototype featuring 105 qubits and 182 couplers.

Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, observe the configuration of different dipeptides on graphite electrodes and the subsequent arrangement of catalytic hemin on them to get an idea of the factors affecting its catalytic activity.