Traditional air quality models struggle with changing emissions, while pure AI systems operate as opaque "black boxes" that can break the laws of physics. To solve this, researchers developed ProNet, a framework that embeds AI directly into atmospheric equations. Tested across 338 cities, ProNet outperformed experienced human forecasters and accurately predicted extreme events—like severe dust storms—without producing "AI hallucinations." Crucially, it also acts as a scientific diagnostic tool, using routine hourly data to uncover and correct hidden flaws in existing chemical models.

Using satellite observations, researchers tracked water storage recovery after 468 severe droughts in large river basins worldwide. Most events were followed by recovery, but persistent deficits clustered in drylands and some inland basins. Recovery trajectories varied across basins and events, reflecting water availability after drought. Recurrent droughts and intensive human water use were associated with prolonged deficits.

Researchers have developed a multimode band-engineering framework in one-dimensional grating-based photonic crystal waveguides designed to meet the growing demand for scalable and flexible filtering in mode-division and hybrid multiplexing systems. Published in PhotoniX Synergy, the work combines multimode photonic band engineering, scalable higher-order-mode filtering, and reusable filter building blocks to enable broadband manipulation of spatial modes, polarizations, and wavelengths, providing a unified route toward compact and multifunctional silicon photonic devices.

Researchers at Tsinghua University have reviewed optical pre-sensor computing, an approach that processes visual information with light before it reaches an image sensor. The article surveys optical operators, optical neural networks and nonlinear activation, and outlines how compact, reconfigurable optical front ends could reduce data movement and support low-latency, energy-efficient perception in physical AI systems.

Researchers have discovered germinal center-like structures in the gut of common carp, showing that teleost fish can dynamically organize mucosal adaptive immunity without conventional secondary lymphoid organs. The findings shed new light on the ancient origins of vertebrate mucosal adaptive immunity.

Controlling thermal radiation simultaneously across distinct infrared bands is vital for modern stealth and security. Moving toward this goal, scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem developed a production-ready, dual-band metasurface that enables pixel-level, independent grayscale emissivity control. This flat optical device allows users to fool multi-sensor detectors by displaying matched thermal camouflage or projecting entirely different encrypted images to mid- and long-wave infrared cameras simultaneously.