Scientists in Scotland have shown that a type of laser already similar to the one currently used in routine eye surgery could one day help surgeons remove unwanted tissues, such as tumours, with unprecedented accuracy.

A new study by researchers and students at the University of Plymouth has shown that living walls – structures housing flowers and plants fitted to the outside of new and old buildings – can significantly enhance the biodiversity within urban environments

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have developed a method which gives access to the valuable raw materials formate and hydrogen from the waste product glycerol. Formates are the salts of formic acid and are widely used in the chemical industry, while hydrogen can serve, for example, as an energy carrier to power vehicles. The new method can be operated with sustainable electricity and does not produce CO₂. The results of the research have been recently published by the team in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

Initially stacked benzene layers increase their fluorescent color change drastically when exposed to pressure, suggesting new ways to create the pressure sensors used in the mechanical and medical industries.

This study introduces a custom-designed NV quantum sensing based microscopy for high-sensitivity microscopic magnetic imaging (MMI) of individual Chang'e-5 lunar regolith grains, achieving the first direct observation of surface magnetic field distributions at the single-particle scale. Overcoming the limitations of traditional orbital magnetometry (kilometer-scale) and macroscopic bulk rock-magnetic measurements (e.g., VSM), our approach realizes the separation and identification of magnetic signals at the micro- to nanoscale. Results indicate that native irons in basalt clasts exhibits weak and directionally uniform magnetism, suggesting it records the lunar paleomagnetic field during magma cooling; in contrast, carriers such as nanophase iron and Fe-Ni alloys in breccia grains, as well as crack-associated magnetic “stripe” features, display distinct magnetic signals reflecting the influence of multiple geological processes, including meteorite impacts and space weathering. Overall, this study advances lunar magnetic detection to the single-particle microscopic level, providing direct evidence for understanding the origin of lunar magnetic anomalies and the magnetic field evolution history, offering a new microscopic perspective for lunar and planetary science.

This study presents a metamaterial-inspired design to develop negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) structural electrodes using a directional freezing 3D printing-assisted strategy. This approach incorporates both macroscopic NPR structures and microscopic directional porous structures, which enhances ion transport, improves compressibility and provides impact resistance, effectively preventing package bulges during compression. Consequently, the electrodes demonstrate a high 50% compressible deformation and recover their original state even after 50 cycles of 25% compression. The 3D-printed lithium iron phosphate cathodes deliver a high average specific capacity of 153 mAh/g over 100 cycles and exhibit outstanding rate capability. Furthermore, the assembled full cell maintains both excellent compressibility and impact-buffered resistance, highlighting its potential applications. This innovative design of NPR metamaterial-structured electrodes provides a universal platform for developing the next generation of impact-buffered, compressible structural batteries.