A team at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has developed a versatile nanorobot with propulsion and payload modules. The two reusable modules autonomously self-assemble and could be used in medicine or industry.

Researchers developed a simpler and more cost-effective method to measure DNA-bound phosphorus, a biologically active form of phosphorus linked to soil microbes. The study found that this hidden nutrient pool is closely associated with microbial activity and soil fertility. The findings could support more sustainable phosphorus management and agricultural production.

Terraxy, a KAUST spinout specializing in soil‑regeneration and carbon‑capture technologies for desert environments, has raised $3 million in a Seed‑2 round led by Wa’ed Ventures with participation from KAUST. The funding accelerates Terraxy’s shift from pilot operations to full industrial production, including a 30,000 m² commercial facility in Al Zulfi. Terraxy’s Carbosoil technology enhances plant growth in sandy soils by up to 70% while enabling long‑term CO₂ storage. Supported by MEWA’s Regulatory Sandbox and KAUST’s innovation ecosystem, Terraxy is emerging as a key enabler of Saudi Arabia’s sustainability, land‑rehabilitation, and carbon‑management goals under Vision 2030.

Physicists have long wondered whether the fundamental laws of nature contain freely adjustable external “dials.” A researcher at Kyushu University and collaborators have shown, under certain assumptions, that continuous parameters in conformal field theories can be generated by operators within the theory itself. The findings support Einstein’s idea that apparent free parameters in quantum gravity should be explained by dynamical fields rather than chosen externally.

A team from Tsinghua University reports Au–TiO₂ metasurfaces that convert visible light into singlet oxygen at high speed and extremely high local density. By combining quasi-BIC field confinement with hot-carrier transfer across an ultrathin interface, the device produces molar-level singlet oxygen locally within seconds, which is surprisingly ~10⁶ times that achieved by conventional approaches. Besides, the on-chip generator enables wavelength- and pixel-selective cytotoxicity for targeted tumor cell killing in photodynamic therapy.

Every time an autonomous drone dives to explore the ocean floor, the very armor designed to protect it simultaneously blinds its sonar. In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, Chinese researchers have solved this long-standing engineering paradox by inventing a soft, custom-molded acoustic "contact lens" that actively corrects outgoing sound waves before they pass through the drone's protective shell.

A long-term field study reveals that biochar does more than add carbon to soil. Over time, it can reshape microbial activity and help transform dissolved organic matter into more humified, stable carbon pools.

Harvard researchers have built a device called a pico-calorimeter that directly measures heat signals from small groups of living cells.