Dr. Tanja Stratmann has been awarded the prestigious Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Starting in 2026, Dr. Stratmann will spend five years researching the nitrogen cycle of living and fossil sponges at MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen.

Artificial intelligence is now part of our daily lives, with the subsequent pressing need for larger, more complex models. However, the demand for ever-increasing power and computing capacity is rising faster than the performance traditional computers can provide.

To overcome these limitations, research is moving towards innovative technologies such as physical neural networks, analogue circuits that directly exploit the laws of physics (properties of light beams, quantum phenomena) to process information. Their potential is at the heart of the study published by the prestigious journal Nature. It is the outcome of collaboration between several international institutes, including the Politecnico di Milano, the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute.

In this study, we propose a high quality-factor (Q-factor) optical cavity that offers a breakthrough solution to the intrinsic trade-off between optical chirality density and mode loss.

During his PhD at UMass, Nikhil Malvankar was laser-focused on quantum mechanics and the movement of electrons in superconductors. Now a professor at Yale, the native of Mumbai, India, has pivoted towards biology to explain how bacteria breathe deep underground without the aid of oxygen. 

To date, his lab at the Yale Microbial Sciences Institute has uncovered the evolutionary trick used by bacteria to breathe through tiny protein filaments, called nanowires, to dispose of excess electrons from the conversion of organic waste to electricity. The adaptation has enabled bacteria to send electrons over distances 100-times their size through what the scholars refer to as bacterial “snorkeling.”

Phase change emulsions (NPCEs) have significant potential for energy storage and temperature regulation due to their high energy density and efficient heat transfer. However, in most conventional NPCEs, performance under low-temperature and shear conditions is often compromised, leading to droplet coalescence and instability. A team of scientists has developed a high-energy ultrasonic regeneration strategy that enables real-time restoration of NPCE performance without interrupting the operation cycle. Their work was published in the journal Industrial Chemistry & Materials on July 28.

New research reveals that people who eat the most ultra-processed foods show significantly elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) – a key marker of inflammation and a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease. The risk is particularly pronounced among adults aged 50 to 59, smokers, and individuals with unhealthy body weights. Surprisingly, physical activity didn’t appear to offset this effect: researchers found no significant difference in hs-CRP levels between sedentary individuals and those meeting exercise guidelines.