The search for life on Mars takes a leap forward today, as a key instrument for a major space mission begins its journey from Aberystwyth University to Italy for testing.

In a study published in Nature, Prof. XIAO Zhengguo’s team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed a novel strategy based on weakly space-confined, large-grain crystals of all-inorganic perovskite to prepare perovskite films with larger crystalline grains and higher temperature resistance. Researchers increased the brightness of perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs) to over 1.16 million nits and extended their lifespan to more than 180,000 hours.

A new study shows that tree diversity consistently promotes productivity through fostering greater canopy structural complexity (CSC). Species complementarity is the main driver, with its positive effects strengthening over time.

A team of scientists from Southern University of Science and Technology has published a paper highlighting the importance of human exploration in the three deeps – deep space, deep sea, and deep Earth. Their paper is published in the journal Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research on September 11, 2025.

Some industrial processes used to create useful chemicals require heat, but heating methods are often inefficient, partly because they heat a greater volume of space than they really need to. Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo devised a way to limit heating to the specific areas required in such situations. Their technique uses microwaves, not unlike those used in home microwave ovens, to excite specific elements dispersed in the materials to be heated. Their system proved to be around 4.5 times more efficient than current methods.

Temperature sensing plays a pivotal role in controlling and monitoring industrial, chemical, and biomedical systems. There are some complex internal space structures such as porous and zigzag in microscale or constrained environments. Traditional temperature measurement techniques such as thermocouples, infrared sensors, and fiber optics face larger challenges in such specific environments. This is not only due to their size but also because of limitations in mechanical flexibility, spatial adaptability, or contact requirements restrictions. To overcome these challenges, researchers have explored various nanoscale thermometers, including quantum dots, lanthanide-doped nanoparticles, and nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. These temperature measurement methods offer high spatial resolution and a broad temperature measurement range, but they typically require continuous light excitation and real-time fluorescence detection. It makes them difficult to implement effectively in complex porous structures or confined internal spaces.

Using a global network of telescopes, astronomers have detected the lowest-mass dark object yet found in the universe. Finding more such objects and understanding their nature could rule out some theories about the nature of dark matter, the mystery substance that makes up about a quarter of the universe.