Natural compounds from plants and animals have long been used in drug development, but mushrooms remain underexplored despite their rich chemical potential. Now, researchers from Japan have successfully developed the first method to synthesize inaoside A, a compound derived from the edible mushroom Laetiporus cremeiporus. This achievement will help better understand more of its bioactive properties and pave the way for similar mushroom-derived compounds in pharmaceuticals and functional foods.

Singapore’s participation in GNOME — the first Southeast Asian country to do so — represents an important step for local quantum research, contributing to global efforts to explore one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark matter.

In nature, phenomena involving multiple fluctuations often arise interactively. At the ASDEX Upgrade^*1 experimental device in Germany, two plasma fluctuations driven by energetic particles have been observed in conjunction. Assistant Professor Hao Wang and Professor Yasushi Todo of the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), in collaboration with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany, successfully reproduced the coupled generation of the two fluctuations using a simulation code developed at NIFS and performed on a supercomputer. Through detailed analysis, they clarified that as the first fluctuation grew, the distribution function^*2 of the energetic particles was significantly deformed, which caused the second fluctuation to occur in conjunction. Energetic particles and fluctuations are deeply involved in maintaining the high-temperature plasma necessary for the realization of fusion energy. This achievement will greatly contribute to research in these areas.

DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is converted into mechanical motion by biasing the Brownian motion. The DNA-nanoparticle motor uses the "burnt-bridge" Brownian ratchet mechanism. In this type of movement, the motor is being propelled by the degradation (or "burning") of the bonds (or "bridges") it crosses along the substrate, essentially biasing its motion forward.

These nano-sized motors are highly programmable and can be designed for use in molecular computation, diagnostics, and transport. Despite their genius, DNA-nanoparticle motors don't have the speed of their biological counterparts, the motor protein, which is where the issue lies. This is where researchers come in to analyze, optimize, and rebuild a faster artificial motor using single-particle tracking experiment and geometry-based kinetic simulation.

Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest topics in condensed matter physics today. They’re a bit strange: their surfaces conduct electricity, yet their interiors do not, instead acting as insulators. Physicists consider TIs the materials of the future because they host fascinating new quantum phases of matter and have promising technological applications in electronics and quantum computing. Scientists are just now beginning to uncover connections between TIs and magnetism that could unlock new uses for these exotic materials.

Experiments from the Caltech lab of Chiara Daraio, G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, have yielded a fascinating new type of matter, neither granular nor crystalline, that responds to some stresses as a fluid would and to others like a solid. The new material, known as PAM (for polycatenated architected materials) could have uses in areas ranging from helmets and other protective gear to biomedical devices and robotics.

A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa has developed innovative methods to enhance frequency conversion of terahertz (THz) waves in graphene-based structures, unlocking new potential for faster, more efficient technologies in wireless communication and signal processing.