Breaking away from conventional robots that perform only predefined functions once fabricated, researchers have developed a next-generation artificial muscle that can change its shape in real time, recover from damage, and even be reused.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a joint research team led by Prof. Jeong-Yun Sun (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) and Prof. Ho-Young Kim (Department of Mechanical Engineering), with Yun Hyeok Lee, Seungwon Moon, and Min-gyu Lee as first and co-first authors, has developed a new type of dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) using a phase-transitional ferrofluid (PTF) that behaves as a solid at room temperature but becomes fluid-like and highly flexible when exposed to external stimuli such as heat or magnetic fields.

The study was published on March 21 in Science Advances, a leading international journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Acoustic metamaterials can shape sound well, but most rely on rigid structures that are hard to reconcile with transparency, broadband performance and flexibility. Researchers have now developed a hydrogel metapad that brings these properties together in one platform, improving ultrasound imaging of blood vessels and the heart while suggesting new opportunities for underwater acoustics.

In an effort to develop catalysts from abundant and inexpensive elements, researchers from Kyushu University have found that mixing methanol, iron ions, and sodium hydroxide and then irradiating it with UV light generates hydrogen gas at rates comparable to those of catalysts used in today’s markets. The team hopes their findings will lead to more sustainable hydrogen energy production.

Researchers at Tsinghua University, Southern University of Science and Technology and Eastern Institute of Technology have successfully grown low-defect metallic θ-TaN single crystals with room-temperature thermal  exceeding that of copper and silver, shattering the long-established ceiling for conventional metallic matetials. The combination of very high thermal conductivity, metallic electrical behavior and outstanding thermal stability makes θ-TaN a promising candidate for effective thermal management in power electronics and advanced chips.

Researchers from Zhejiang University and their collaborators have developed Qjump, a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for tackling combinatorial optimization problems. By combining shallow-circuit quantum sampling with classical local search, Qjump effectively "jumps" between candidate solution landscapes to overcome local minima. On up to 104 superconducting qubits, Qjump demonstrated its potential to outperform a highly optimized simulated annealing algorithm, marking a significant step toward practical quantum advantage on near-term quantum hardware.

POSTECH Professor Sung-Min Park’s team develops technology to reconstruct speech through movements of neck muscles.

Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna 172’s speed and maneuvering.

The Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT)—led by Illinois Institute of Technology faculty Thomas Irving, Professor of Biology; Weikang Ma, Professor of Biology; and Jesse Hopkins, Professor of Physics—has received the first installment of $2.6 million of a renewal award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to continue operating the BioCAT beamline at Sector 18-ID at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory for the next five years.