Designing Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) systems requires time-consuming and computationally expensive computational fluid dynamics simulations. To overcome this bottleneck, a new study presents a hybrid physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework trained on a sparse ground-truth dataset. Together with a genetic algorithm-based multi-objective design optimization, this PINN framework enables rapid, autonomous exploration of the continuous LHTES design space and thermohydraulic trade-offs. This approach serves as a crucial tool for developing next-generation LHTES systems.

A tiny UK-developed satellite, roughly the size of a small carry-on suitcase, could help answer one of the biggest questions in cosmology: what happened in the roughly 150 million years of cosmic dark ages, before the universe’s first stars appeared?

Many things are different in space – including how the intestines work. Constipation is a known side effect of space travel, but until now we have known little about why it happens. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with NASA, have examined blood samples from astronauts and have suggestions as to why the intestines slow down in space. This may provide useful information both for astronauts and for patients on Earth.

Buildings today typically rely on separate systems to provide electricity, heating and cooling. A research team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has now developed a hybrid energy system that delivers all three simultaneously from the same surface by combining solar energy with the coldness of outer space. At the heart of the system is a transparent cooling layer that radiates heat into outer space as infrared radiation while allowing sunlight to pass through. The researchers successfully demonstrated the concept with a prototype under outdoor conditions and see it as a potential building block for multifunctional building envelopes. Results in Cell Reports Physical Science. (DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103492)

A popular myth about black holes is that they act like giant cosmic vacuum cleaners sucking in everything around them, but Wladimir Lyra’s research found a new mechanism around supermassive black holes that is more like a cosmic nursery, giving birth to planets bigger than Jupiter.

Astronomers used new MOTHRA telescope in Chile to image famous eye-shaped nebula. Team found 22 glowing shock waves where stellar debris collided with interstellar gas. After colliding with gas, stellar fragments remain intact for just 10,000 years, the team estimates. Finding reveals how dying stars return material to space to form new stars and planets.