A method is proposed for high-resolution neutron spectrum regulation across the entire energy domain, which helps to determine the optimal neutron spectrum for transuranic isotope production and a regulation scheme to establish this optimal neutron spectrum within the irradiation channels. The state-of-the-art production schemes for ²⁵²Cf and ²³⁸Pu in the High Flux Isotope Reactor were optimized, improving the yield of ²⁵²Cf by 12.16% and that of ²³⁸Pu by 7.53% to 25.84%.

Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition (DDT) process is the most common technique for obtaining stable detonation propagation. Although the detonation initiation appearances are different, the essential physical characteristic is the same: the local hot spot created by the energy focus. One or more bow shocks created by Mach reflection remain as strong transverse shocks after the detonation front. The corresponding numerical simulations show that the strong transverse shock propagation behavior strongly depends on the location where the hot spot forms. This work provides some fresh new insights into the DDT process, which may improve the understanding of DDT formation mechanisms.

Instead of a tempest in a teapot, imagine the cosmos in a canister. Scientists have performed experiments using nested, spinning cylinders to confirm that an uneven wobble in a ring of electrically conductive fluid like liquid metal or plasma causes particles on the inside of the ring to drift inward. Since revolving rings of plasma also occur around stars and black holes, these new findings imply that the wobbles can cause matter in those rings to fall toward the central mass and form planets.

The scientists found that the wobble could grow in a new, unexpected way. Researchers already knew that wobbles could grow from the interaction between plasma and magnetic fields in a gravitational field. But these new results show that wobbles can more easily arise in a region between two jets of fluid with different velocities, an area known as a free shear layer.

In an era of growing demand for real-time precision navigation, researchers have unveiled a powerful leap forward in satellite-based positioning. 

A fascinating glimpse into how a solar system like our own is born has been revealed with the detection of planet-forming ‘pebbles’ around two young stars. These seeds to make new worlds are thought to gradually clump together over time, in much the same way Jupiter was first created 4.5 billion years ago, followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The planet-forming discs, known as protoplanetary discs, were spotted out to at least Neptune-like orbits around the young stars DG Tau and HL Tau, both around 450 light-years from Earth. The new observations, revealed at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham, are helping to fill in a missing piece of the planet formation puzzle.