A team of researchers at the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at USC has created a new breakthrough in photonics: the design of the first optical device that follows the emerging framework of optical thermodynamics. The work, reported in Nature Photonics, introduces a fundamentally new way of routing light in nonlinear systems—meaning systems that do not require switches, external control, or digital addressing. Instead, light naturally finds its way through the device, guided by simple thermodynamic principles. The implications of the new approach extend far beyond the laboratory. As computing and data processing continue to push the limits of traditional electronics, various companies—including chip designers —are exploring optical interconnects as a way to move information faster and more efficiently. By providing a natural, self-organizing way to direct light signals, however, optical thermodynamics could accelerate the development of such technologies. Beyond chip-scale data routing, the framework may also influence telecommunications, high-performance computing, and even secure information processing, offering a path toward devices that are both simpler and more powerful.

Researchers in China have developed a modified biochar made from biogas residue that can efficiently remove ammonium nitrogen from water, offering a low-cost and sustainable solution to agricultural pollution.

Some proteins can survive drying out, returning to function when water is re-introduced. Revealing the chemical rules behind this ability could lead to longer-lasting medicines and drought resistant crops.

A pioneering two-year field study has revealed that biodegradable microplastics, often hailed as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional plastics, are quietly reshaping the chemistry of farmland soils in unexpected and complex ways. Published on August 22, 2025, in Carbon Research as an open-access original article, this research was co-led by Dr. Jie Zhou from the College of Agriculture at Nanjing Agricultural University, China, and Dr. Davey L. Jones from the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences at Bangor University, UK—a powerful Sino-British collaboration bridging soil science, microbiology, and climate resilience. The team investigated how polypropylene (PP)—a common conventional plastic—and polylactic acid (PLA)—a widely used biodegradable plastic—affect soil organic carbon (SOC) in real-world agricultural conditions. Both were added at realistic concentrations (0.2% w/w) to topsoil (0–20 cm), with an unamended plot serving as control. While neither plastic changed the total amount of carbon stored, the story beneath the surface was dramatically different.

Researchers from Shandong Normal University and the Australian National University have developed a new class of metasurfaces that integrate coupled-resonator optical waveguide physics into planar structures. The design produces photonic flatbands with ultrahigh quality factors and enables chiral responses to circularly polarized light, overcoming long-standing challenges in metasurface engineering. Verified through both simulations and experiments, the approach demonstrates multifunctional high-Q metasurfaces that can uniformly trap and control light across wide angles. The findings open pathways for applications in quantum optics, sensing, communications, and flat-optics devices.

Researchers have developed an optical "knob" using Poincaré sphere engineering to continuously tune topological states in ferroelectric materials. Unlike prior methods relying on abrupt electrical or mechanical changes, this approach manipulates structured light’s orbital angular momentum to smoothly create and control skyrmions, antiskyrmions, and hybrids on ultrafast timescales, promising new routes for dynamic, precise topological control in nanoscale memory and photonic devices.

MIT chemists designed a fluorescent molecule they hope could be used for applications such as generating clearer images of tumors. The dye is based on a borenium ion — a positively charged form of boron that can emit light in the near-infrared.