Unlocking quantum secrets with sound and light: metamaterials simulate Schrödinger dynamics
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Jul-2025 12:11 ET (15-Jul-2025 16:11 GMT/UTC)
Researchers have reviewed metamaterials to emulate Schrödinger dynamics, bridging classical wave physics and quantum phenomena. Such analog enables robust wave manipulation and explores quantum behaviors beyond electronic systems, promising breakthroughs in imaging, sensing, and energy technologies.
In a paper published in Science Bulletin, an international team of physicists from Singapore and China demonstrates how quasi-bound states in the continuum (QBICs) can induce abrupt lateral beam shifts in the terahertz regime. By applying Brillouin zone folding to a compound grating waveguide, the researchers created a QBIC band that enables sudden and significant beam shifts, offering new insights into real-space QBIC properties and potential applications in sensing and wavelength multiplexing.
Researchers from Nanjing Medical University have developed a novel method to generate transient totipotent blastomere-like stem cells (tTBLCs) by treating mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) with a short-term high-dose of the splicing inhibitor Pladienolide B (PlaB). These tTBLCs can self-organize into blastocyst-like structures (blastoids) and recapitulate key pre-implantation developmental processes, offering a new tool for studying early embryogenesis and potential applications in drug screening.
In recent years, chemotherapy-induced cardiovascular disease has emerged as a significant cause of mortality among cancer survivors. Anthracyclines, pivotal in treating cancers like breast cancer and leukemia, are indispensable in cancer therapy, yet their severe cardiotoxicity presents a formidable challenge. A recent review in Medicine Plus offers profound insights into anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity (AIC), exploring its mechanisms and therapeutic strategies, contributing to safer oncological treatments in the future.
The formation of a strong coordination structure, [Zn(H2O)6]2+ often increases direct contact between the solvated H2O and Zn anodes on the inner Helmholtz layer, which exacerbates undesirable side reactions and dendrite growth, hindering the practical application of aqueous Zn metal batteries. Researchers identify that the solvated H2O can be effectively minimized by an artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) consisting of highly nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon (NC) and perfluorosulfonic acid polymer (Nafion). Theoretical and experimental analyses reveal that NC raises the Fermi level of the composite SEI and activates the non-coordinating charge transfer from the SEI to [Zn(H2O)6]2+, which leads to ultrafast desolvation of hydrated Zn-ions in the outer Helmholtz layer; while the Nafion framework ensures selective transport channels for Zn ions. Remarkably, the derived NC-Nafion@Zn symmetric cell exhibits a long lifespan (3400 h, 1 mA cm-2; 2000 h, 5 mA cm-2); moreover, the NC-Nafion@Zn//Mn4O3-carbon nanotubes full battery delivers ultralong cycling stability of 9300 cycles at 2 A g-1 with a high retention of 91.3%.
A recent paper published in National Science Review presents a multi-space alignment approach for cross-species and cross-modality electroencephalogram (EEG) based epileptic seizure detection. By employing deep learning techniques, including domain adaptation and knowledge distillation, it aligns cross-species and cross-modality EEG signals to enhance the detection capability beyond traditional within-species and within-modality models. Experiments on multiple scalp and intracranial EEG datasets of humans and canines demonstrated substantial improvements in the detection accuracy, achieving over 90% AUC scores for cross-species and cross-modality seizure detection with extremely limited labeled data from the target species/modality. This is the first study that demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating heterogeneous data from different species and modalities to improve EEG-based seizure detection performance.
The capability to switch “on” and “off” between infrared stealth states has been regarded as a future technology and is expected to play an important role in defense as well as many other fields. Towards this goal, Scientist in China used the non-volatile phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5(GST) and proposed a switchable infrared stealth bilayer metafilm. By adjusting the states of GST, the infrared radiation characteristics of the target can be flexibly controlled between the infrared stealth and the non-stealth states. The technique will promote the research towards practical applications of intelligent infrared stealth technology.
Recently, Pingping Zhu, Zhenzhen Chen, Qiankun He from Zhengzhou University and Xinrui Lv from Henan University published a review paper on MedComm-Oncology, which is titled "Characteristic, Regulation and Targeting Strategies of Cancer Stem Cells and Their Niche in Digestive System Tumors". They comprehensively reviewed the recent progress in understanding and targeting of CSCs and their niche.
Scientists developed a new way of investing in stocks using natural language processing. Using dynamic topic modeling, a variant of Latent Dirichlet Allocation, the new model uncovers hidden risk factors directly from company reports and translates them into tradable indices with minimal human oversight. Investors can now trade these risk factors directly and track industry trends using only the information contained in words.
The ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) is the only protogynous hermaphrodite freshwater fish. How this species changes its sex remains elusive. By performing comparative transcriptome analysis, we tentatively propose that a temperature-induced sex reversal mechanism is at work in ricefield eel, similar to that in embryonic reptiles. We show that warm temperature induces the expression of male sex determination genes in ovarian tissues, and that temperature-induced up-regulation of male genes depends on Trpv4, a thermosensor that can sense thermal cues.