University of Missouri researchers are using a type of artificial intelligence to revolutionize how large campuses — including Mizzou’s own — manage energy use. Their goal is to help institutions across the nation optimize efficiency and reduce operational costs while cutting carbon emissions.

A team of researchers at the Max Born Institute and collaborating institutions has developed a reliable method to create complex magnetic textures, known as skyrmion bags, in thin ferromagnetic films. Skyrmion bags are donut-like, topologically rich spin textures that go beyond the widely studied single skyrmions.

Researchers from Okayama University of Science and collaborating institutions have experimentally demonstrated the mathematical relationship between the number of collisions and the value of pi (π). By suspending the objects to minimize friction, the team successfully observed 31 collisions at a 1:100 mass ratio—corresponding to 3.1, the first decimal place of π—confirming that pi can be derived in real-world experiments.

Kyoto, Japan -- As the demand for more secure data transmission increases, conventional communication technologies are facing limitations imposed by classical physics, and are therefore approaching their limits in terms of security. Fortunately, quantum communication may help us overcome these restrictions.

Quantum communication harnesses the quantum nature of light by utilizing single photons as information carriers. This is a fundamentally different approach from conventional communication technologies and has the potential to lead to the development of secure, high-performance communication systems.

These future quantum technologies will require new single-photon emission sources. Recently, extremely thin two-dimensional semiconductors with a thickness of only a few atomic layers have shown great potential due to their excellent electrical and optical properties. Although increasing the efficiency of such single-photon generation is extremely important, the capacity of these materials and its strategy had not been thoroughly explored.

In the same vein as weather forecast models that predict developing storms, researchers now have developed a method to predict the cell activity in tissues over time.  The new software combines genomics technologies with computational modeling to predict cell changes in behavior, such as communication between cells that could cause cancer cells to flourish.

New research shows that metasurfaces could be used as strong linear quantum optical networks. The approach could eliminate the need for waveguides and other conventional optical components.