Researchers at the University of Bristol have made a breakthrough in the development of “life-like” synthetic materials which are able to move by themselves like worms. Scientists have been investigating a new class of materials called ‘active matter’, which could be used for various applications from drug delivery to self-healing materials.

A team led by Prof. Guo Guangcan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has demonstrated the ability to electrically manipulate the spin filling sequence in a bilayer graphene (BLG) quantum dot (QD). This achievement, published in Physical Review Letters, showcases the potential to control the spin degree of freedom in BLG, a material with promising applications in quantum computing and advanced electronics.

Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have synthesized a Bi₅^--ring, a molecule with five bismuth atoms, and stabilized it in a metal complex. Their discovery fills a gap in chemical knowledge and enables future applications in materials research, catalysis, and electronics. Their findings have been published in Nature Chemistry. (DOI: 10.1038/s41557-024-01713-8)

Researchers have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the power source.