Researchers from the University of Osaka and collaborating institutions accelerated protons to nearly half the speed of light using a long-pulse laser and ultrathin graphene. A moving electric field carried the protons to high energies, and artificial intelligence helped detect rare high-energy particles among millions of detector images. This technique could pave the way for future AI-driven autonomous laser experiment systems.

A small capsule could change how we study the microbiome of the small intestine. A team, led by researchers at the University of Tokyo, has created a pill-shaped device designed to take samples from the small intestine using a tiny extendable brush. Still in the early stages of development, they have demonstrated that the device could be magnetically controlled to move through extracted pig intestines and sweep useful samples from the intestinal surface. In the future, this type of device could provide a more comfortable and complementary option to current endoscopic procedures.

University of Maryland assistant professor Avik Dutt and colleagues harness ideas from topological photonics—a field that leverages concepts from topology, the mathematics of shapes and their properties, to design unusual and robust ways of controlling light. Their work, detailed in a paper published by Nature Communications, marks the first demonstration of these ideas on this emerging fiber-based platform.

In a new PNAS study published on September 22, 2026, scientists at Scripps Research engineered a small synthetic protein that can bind to TLR4 within cell membranes and block subsequent inflammatory responses. The findings advance understanding of what TLR4’s membrane-embedded region does: rather than a passive anchor, it’s an active determinant of cross-membrane signaling—mechanistic insight that could guide design of a new class of anti-inflammatory treatments. More broadly, the study outlines new computational tools that other researchers can use to target proteins within membranes.

With $2.3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies is leading the creation of the first large-scale public collection of lake metabolism data. The open-access database, called the Global LAke Metabolism Repository (GLAMR), will help scientists better understand trends in lake health across the world. Cary is receiving $1 million of the award, with the remaining funds supporting project partners at the University of Colorado Boulder, Grand Valley State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Engineers can precisely control thread length and add segments with positive and negative electrical charges. This arrangement determines how the material interacts with living cells. In cell culture studies, the dynamic structures enhanced the growth and maturation of neurons, increased synapse formation and dramatically boosted neuronal activity.

What if the energy powering your home or office could be generated, stored, and used all in the same place? This is the hope for the next generation of buildings, powered by renewable sources storing the energy nearby — possibly even within the concrete used to construct the building itself. Reporting in ACS Nano, researchers have developed an efficient, energy-storing cement supercapacitor that holds up as well as commercial concrete in tests.

Associate Professor Like Li of the UCF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering will develop novel experiments to characterize TCES particle mechanical and flow properties at temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees Celsius for the first time.