A world team including Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VISTEC from Thailand, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universitat de Girona presents a computational framework for the organocatalytic cycloaddition of CO₂ to epoxides to form cyclic carbonates, key for the polymer industry. It identifies the rate-determining step and highlights the buried volume of epoxide oxygen as a key factor. Results align with experiments and support rational catalyst design beyond ascorbic acid, promoting predictive catalysis for efficient CO₂ utilization by machine learning tools. Their work was published in the journal Industrial Chemistry & Materials in May 2025.

Millions suffer from xerostomia, or dry mouth—a painful condition often caused by cancer treatments or autoimmune disease.

Seoul National University College of Engineering has announced that a joint research team led by Professor Hyobin Yoo from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Young-Woo Son (Korea Institute for Advanced Study) and Professor Changwon Park (Ewha Womans University), has successfully developed a two-dimensional (2D) quantum material platform through the superposition of moiré lattices. The research was published online on May 14 in Nature, the most prestigious journal in science and technology, under the title “Unconventional domain tessellations in moiré-of-moiré lattices.” The study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Young Researcher Program and SRC program, the POSCO Science Fellowship from the POSCO TJ Park Foundation, and the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. This study marks the first atomic-level identification of hierarchical structures and complex interlayer interactions resulting from the superposition of different moiré lattices in a trilayer graphene system. The work is expected to offer a promising new solid-state platform for the development of programmable quantum devices and next-generation electronic materials.

Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA), a powerful tool for simulating the mechanical behavior of rock masses and discontinuous systems, has seen remarkable progress in recent 40 years. This article reviews DDA's evolution and explores how its integration with artificial intelligence (AI) could enhance simulation accuracy and computational efficiency.

Magnetization components perpendicular to an applied electric field can be reversed efficiently in multiferroic materials, as reported by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. This challenges their previous finding that the electric field and magnetization reversal must align. Using BiFe_0.9Co_0.1O₃ thin films with a specific crystallographic orientation, they demonstrated that a parallel electric field can induce perpendicular magnetization reversal, enabling more flexible designs of energy-efficient magnetic memory devices.

A new avenue for targeted drug delivery has been proposed by researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their findings, published in Materials Today Bio, report the first successful application of metabolic labeling in platelets. 

A research study led by Oxford University has developed a powerful new technique for finding the next generation of materials needed for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing. This could end a decades-long search for inexpensive materials that can host unique quantum particles, ultimately facilitating mass production of quantum computers. The results have been published today (29 May) in the journal Science.