Asteroids and comets are scientifically valuable targets for understanding the early Solar System and promising objects for future in situ resource utilization. However, operating robots on these small bodies remains extremely challenging because of microgravity, irregular terrain, uncertain surface properties, and very low escape velocities. A review article published in SmartBot by researchers from China University of Mining and Technology, Soochow University, and the University of Oxford provides a comprehensive overview of three core technologies for small-body sampling robots: sampling, mobility, and anchoring. The review further highlights that the success of future missions depends not only on improving each individual module, but also on understanding and optimizing their dynamic coupling as an integrated robotic system.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc and lives were at stake, the advice experts gave to decision-makers became indispensable. At the same time, heated debates arose when researchers’ calculations led to differing conclusions on everything from face masks to school closures. A new handbook on mathematical models has now been produced jointly by Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and several Swedish government agencies. The handbook is intended to pave the way for better decision-making and greater preparedness for the next pandemic.

Observing the depths of a living brain with clarity has traditionally required expensive, high-end equipment. However, a KAIST research team has advanced neuroscience research by developing a physics-based AI computational algorithm that restores blurred images into sharp ones without the need for additional optical measurement hardware.

Enzymes are essential in industries such as food production and pharmaceuticals, but natural enzymes often need improvements for commercial applications. Researchers in Japan have developed an in vitro selection platform, SMART, which could produce custom enzyme much more quickly and cost-effectively than conventional methods.

A research team led by Dr. Nam Ki-Hun at the Battery Materials and Process Research Center of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has successfully developed a nano-tin (Sn) interlayer control technology to address interfacial instability between the lithium metal anode and solid electrolyte, a critical hurdle to the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries, often hailed as the next generation of batteries. The research was featured as a front cover article in Advanced Energy Materials (IF=26.0), a globally renowned journal in the field of energy and materials science ranked within the top 2.7% worldwide and has attracted widespread international recognition.

A research team led by Prof. HAO Ning of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Anhui University and the University of Science and Technology of China, has identified two distinct types of unusual low-energy quasiparticle states in the kagome superconductor CsV₃Sb₅ using single-atom impurities as local "quantum probes" combined with scanning tunnelling spectroscopy.

A research team led by Professor Young-Jun Kim at the Sungkyunkwan Advanced Institute of Nano Technology (SAINT) of SKKU has announced a breakthrough in "Dry Electrode" technology-a next-generation manufacturing process for batteries. The team has secured original technology for electrodes with world-class energy density by developing materials optimized for solvent-free electrode processing, a feat expected to shift the paradigm of battery production.

Scorpions wield some of the natural world’s most formidable built-in weapons, from crushing pincers to venomous stingers. Scientists have long known that these structures contain trace metals that strengthen them, but only a small fraction of the roughly 3,000 scorpions had ever been examined for this trait. A new study published April 28 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface dramatically expands that understanding. Researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute analyzed 18 scorpion species and uncovered striking patterns in the concentration and distribution of these metals.