Texas A&M University and Rice University researchers forged an ultra-hard diamond composite, then put it to the ultimate test, blasting it with aluminum projectiles traveling more than eight times the speed of sound. Within microseconds of impact, portions of the diamond transformed into graphite, acting as an instant shock absorber — a discovery that could help engineers design next-generation shielding and protective materials for aviation, defense and space technologies.

Virginia Tech research could clear the way for that with a new set of tools that scan vibrations in terrain to determine how far below the surface rocks extend. Published in IEEE Sensors Journal, The research centers on leveraging physical interaction and vibration analysis—such as dynamic modeling, robot arm dynamics, and structural sensing—to estimate properties, depth, and spatial configurations of soil, rocks, and structural elements during lunar surface manipulation, additive manufacturing, and assembly tasks. By improving how robots sense and adapt to environmental feedback without relying solely on traditional vision, the team aims to enable safer, highly accurate autonomous construction, excavation, and outfitting for long-term space missions.

A nanoparticle’s performance depends on more than what it is made of—it can also depend on how its building blocks are arranged. When nanoparticles are organized into carefully designed structures, their interactions can produce stronger signals and bring different sensing functions together. This design principle is attracting interest for disease biomarker detection, where early-stage biomarkers may occur at low concentrations and clinical samples contain many interfering substances. A review in Biomedical Analysis by researchers from Shandong University, China, examines how these structural design strategies are being used to advance disease biomarker detection.

A new review examines how human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and 3D organoids cultured in space could help researchers understand rare and severe pediatric disorders, particularly mitochondrial diseases and congenital heart disorders (CHDs). 

UW astronomers simulated the Earth’s entire 4.5 billion-year history to understand how atmospheres like ours develop and evolve. The model can help researchers simulate distant planets and determine whether their atmospheres show evidence of alien life.

Poorly crystalline material may help explain how early Solar System chemistry survived alteration by water

The safe and continuous operation of modern cities is fundamental to national security and development, and urban safety requires maintaining essential functions under interacting risks. Existing frameworks mainly explain how hazards affect exposed systems, while elements enabling mitigation are generally subsumed within broader concepts rather than represented as an independent fundamental element. Such frameworks also provide limited representation of context-dependent functional role transformations and do not fully link monitoring to quantitative safety assessment. This study develops and formalizes the Risk Source–Risk Exposure–Mitigation Force Theory of Urban Safety (SEM Theory). It positions Mitigation Force—the integrated ensemble of risk cognition, mitigation organization, technology and resources—as a third fundamental element alongside Risk Source and Risk Exposure, and represents their interactions and scenario-dependent functional transformations. A two-layer mathematical formulation converts heterogeneous observations into functional equivalents and assesses urban safety by comparing effective risk load with comprehensive bearing capacity. The theory further guides Space–Air–Ground integrated monitoring, linking SEM Theory-derived parameters with collaborative sensing, cross-tier data fusion, information interpretation, and group-level assessment. An illustrative application to over 350 buildings demonstrates the monitoring workflow’s operational feasibility, while the integrated framework provides a unified pathway from system-level urban-safety theory to cross-scale assessment, early warning and targeted intervention.

Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Mark E Smith CBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources at the University of Oxford, as its new Chair.

Could space help advance brain cancer research? Results from the University of Notre Dame, published in PNAS, show that glioblastoma organoids grown in microgravity on the ISS more closely mimic human tumors than those grown on Earth, creating more realistic models for studying disease progression and testing new therapies.