In a National Science Review perspective, the research progress and future challenges of nuclear optical clocks are presented. The Th-229 clock, with a small nucleus and separated quantum states, may outperform atomic clocks. After 50-year research, key breakthroughs have been made, and solving remaining issues will revolutionize timekeeping and fundamental physics.

By integrating powerful 3D imaging technology with advanced computation, University of Arizona researchers can capture gaze direction information from tens of thousands of surface points on the eye instead of about a dozen used by conventional eye-tracking methods. The technique could boost eye-tracking accuracy in a variety of fields ranging from the entertainment industry to medical research and industrial engineering.

While the threat that microplastics pose to human and ecological health has been richly documented and is well known, nanoplastics, which are smaller than one micrometer (1/50^th the thickness of an average human hair), are far more reactive, far more mobile and vastly more capable of crossing biological membranes. Yet, because they are so tiny and so mobile, researchers don’t yet have an accurate understanding of just how toxic these particles are. The first step to understanding the toxicology of nanoplastics is to build a reliable, efficient and flexible tool that can not only quantify their concentration in a given sample, but also analyze which specific plastics that sample contains. An international team of scientists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced in Nature Water the development of a new tool, known as the OM-SERS setup, which can do all of these things and can furthermore be used to detect particular nanoplastic concentrations and polymer types in solid samples, such as soils, body tissues and plants.

This study proposes a one-step hydrothermal method to fabricate intergrowth Bi₇Ti₄NbO₂₁ with high ferroelectric polarization. The interlayer lattice mismatch and periodic mechanical stress lead to increased tilting along the a-axis and rotation angle in the a-b plane of Ti/NbO₆ octahedra within perovskite-like layers, serving as the main reason for increased polarization compared to the parent phase. Notably, Bi₇Ti₄NbO₂₁ exhibits excellent piezo-photocatalytic CO₂ reduction activity, with impressive CO generation rate of 426.97 µmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹.

A research team led by the Singapore University of Technology and Design, in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, National University of Singapore, University of Southern Denmark, and University of Birmingham, demonstrates a novel way to control the colour of quantum light at room temperature, unlocking new applications in quantum communication and photonics.

Enhanced westerly winds associated with global warming will strengthen the clockwise circulations and heat transport to the ice sheet in the East Antarctic coastal area.

The physics of how a quirky pond organism filters the water for food provides new insights into a possible driver of early evolution.