The National Biofoundry Project Team at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), led by Dr. Haseong Kim, has spearheaded an international joint research effort (including institutions from Korea, the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, and others—10 in total) to create a new standard framework that simplifies and enhances the accuracy and efficiency of synthetic biology research.

Physicists at Bielefeld University and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW Dresden) have developed a method to control atomically thin semiconductors using ultrashort light pulses. The study, published in Nature Communications, could pave the way for components that are controlled at unprecedented speeds directly by light — ushering in a new generation of optoelectronic devices. 

Chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have synthesised a new class of carbon nanostructures: fully π-conjugated, pentagon-embedded non-alternant carbon nanobelts (CNBs). This achievement addresses a long-standing challenge in molecular design and opens avenues for next-generation organic semiconductors and quantum materials.

Self-disclosure is vital for communication. In the present century, various innovative forms of communication have emerged, including video-conferencing and embodied virtual reality (VR). In this context, researchers from Japan have recently demonstrated that embodied VR, especially with unrealistic avatars, facilitates the revelation of personal feelings. Moreover, female-to-female pairing had the highest self-disclosure score, underlining the role of gender.