According to United Nations projections, global food demand could increase by around 60 percent by 2050, while only about two percent additional agricultural land is expected to become available. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are therefore exploring new approaches to safeguard food security. A team at the TUM Campus Straubing has developed a process for producing crucial amino acids from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and renewable energy.

Rare earth elements like lanthanum, neodymium, and dysprosium are used to build the electric motor in your car, the LED lights in your house, and the MRI machine at your doctor’s office. But first, they have to be mined and separated from each other. Historically, that purification has been a difficult, costly, process, relying on huge amounts of toxic chemicals. Now, researchers in the lab of Assoc. Prof. Chong Liu at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME), working with colleagues at Northwestern University and Argonne National Lab, have discovered a cleaner method to separate rare earth elements from each other. The new approach relies on a layered form of manganese oxide—a mineral material with the right size layers to allow ions to slip in and out and to differentiate rare earth elements.

The University of East London (UEL) is helping shape the future of digital safety, with Professor Julia Davidson OBE contributing to a major new parliamentary White Paper proposing a product safety approach to regulating social media platforms, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies. Developed by Tom Collins MP in collaboration with leading academics, industry experts and civil society organisations, the proposals build on UEL's internationally recognised expertise in child online harms, cybercrime and digital safeguarding. The White Paper aims to embed safety into digital products from the outset, shifting responsibility to technology companies to identify and mitigate risks before products reach the public.

One method of storing solar energy is to use PEC electrolysers to produce hydrogen. However, scaling up this technology remains challenging. Now, a team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has used 2D fluorescence imaging and particle velocimetry to observe the movement of ions and dissolved gases within the electrolyte during electrolysis. These new insights may prove useful in the development of larger PEC electrolysers.

Developed by Renmin University of China, the comprehensive Climate-gOvernance Modeling & Policy ASsessment System (COMPASS) integrates multiple complementary modeling tools to deliver multi-scale, cross-dimensional simulations for energy transition and climate governance. Combining a top-down computable general equilibrium model (CE3-CGE), a bottom-up energy technology model (PECE), an integrated assessment model (GCAM-CHN), and data-driven econometric and machine learning approaches, COMPASS effectively bridges macroeconomic trends and micro-level technological changes, providing robust scientific support for China’s carbon neutrality strategy and global climate policy research.

To accelerate the transition to sustainable transport, researchers from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology investigated what motivates vehicle owners to replace their cars. By applying a Push-Pull-Mooring framework to 803 Chinese drivers, the study reveals that fuel vehicle owners are driven by pragmatic economic factors, while current electric vehicle owners are held by deep-seated habits and social reinforcement.

Ferroelectric materials are indispensable for next‑generation non‑volatile memories, sensors, and microwave devices. Among them, SrBi₂Ta₂O₉—a lead‑free Aurivillius‑phase layered compound—offers ultra‑low leakage current along the out‑of‑plane direction, yet its inherent structural anisotropy severely limits the in‑plane ferroelectric response in randomly oriented ceramics. Now, researchers at Harbin Institute of Technology have developed a synergistic strategy combining grain texturing and calcium doping to simultaneously boost the in‑plane remnant polarization and suppress in‑plane leakage, paving the way for high‑performance SrBi₂Ta₂O₉‑based devices.