Lignins – the complex molecules that make plants sturdy and allow them to grow tall – are not as random as once thought. A new international study led by Prof. Edouard Pesquet at Stockholm University uncovers how lignins’ chemistry and structure vary between cell types to meet plants’ physiological needs. The paper, published as a Tansley Review in the journal New Phytologist, highlights how this molecular diversity has been key to plants’ success on land.

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have developed a polymer that adopts a coiled spring configuration at low temperatures and unfolds again upon heating. Furthermore, the molecule can break down into smaller molecules under certain conditions.

It sounds bizarre, but they exist: crystals made of rotating objects. Physicists from Aachen, Düsseldorf, Mainz and Wayne State (Detroit, USA) have jointly studied these exotic objects and their properties. They easily break into individual fragments, have odd grain boundaries and evidence defects that can be controlled in a targeted fashion. In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers outline how several new properties of such “transverse interaction” systems can be predicted by applying a comprehensive theory.

A perspective article published in Psychedelics examines how psychedelic substances fundamentally alter time perception, from seconds stretching into hours to complete timelessness. Dr. Xiaohui Wang from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, synthesizes current understanding of these temporal phenomena. Their analysis identifies critical neural mechanisms and proposes therapeutic applications for mental health conditions where disrupted time perception plays a central role.

A Japanese research team has mathematically revealed why crack tips sharpen during rapid fracture in rubber. The study demonstrates that this phenomenon is caused solely by the material’s viscoelasticity, not by previously assumed nonlinear effects. They also validated the long-standing viscoelastic trumpet theory, proposed by Nobel Laureate Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, using fundamental equations of continuum mechanics. This work establishes a theoretical foundation for fracture control and durability improvement of a wide range of polymer materials from tires to medical devices.

A collaborative research team led by the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new “sandwiched” MoOx/Ag/MoOx (MAM) buffer layer to improve the performance and scalability of semi-transparent CsPbI₃/TOPCon tandem solar cells. The MAM buffer layer enhances light transmittance and charge carrier transport while effectively protecting underlying layers from sputtering damage. This innovation enabled semi-transparent CsPbI₃ solar cells to achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.86% (0.50 cm²) and corresponding 4-T CsPbI₃/TOPCon tandem cells to reach 26.55% PCE. Significantly, the technology was successfully scaled to larger-area minimodules, achieving 16.67% and 26.41% PCE for CsPbI₃ and 4-T tandem minimodules (6.62 cm²), respectively—marking the first reported minimodule demonstration for this architecture. This work provides a scalable and efficient buffer layer strategy, paving the way for next-generation, high-efficiency perovskite-based photovoltaic systems.

Micro display is one of the important components of AR glasses. Micro-QLED is emerging as promising AR display technology due to its wide luminance range, facile fabrication of high-resolution and full-color patterns. Scientist from Beijing Institute of Technology reported the fabrication of color-converted Micro-QLED which provides a simple and low-cost route to achieve full-color micro display.