Earth's inner core, composed primarily of iron with a small percentage of light elements, may enter a superionic state at extreme pressure and temperature, according to experimental results from researchers at Science Tokyo. Using laser-heated and electrically wired diamond-anvil cells, the researchers identified experimental signatures of superionic iron hydride at conditions relevant to Earth’s core. These findings provide new insights into the composition and dynamics of Earth's deep interior.

Optical computing offers high speed and low consumption for data compression and computer vision. However, most optical differentiators are static. The group in Nanjing University proposes a reconfigurable ferroelectric chiral nanostructure to dynamically control optical differentiation. By switching the electric field polarity, differentiation or bright-field imaging is actively selected within 62 μs. Biological edges are clearly identified while direct imaging is also achievable. This work opens new avenues for biomedical microscopy and artificial intelligence.

Researchers have developed a plug-and-play technology that enables customised biomaterials to be created using blue light, vitamin B2 and common biological building blocks.

Hydrogels have become essential to modern biomedicine, enabling advances in drug delivery, tissue engineering and wearable healthcare. Researchers have proposed an architecture-based framework for designing high-performance hydrogels beyond conventional, randomly crosslinked networks. Their review defines hydrogels with high-order structures, outlines four construction routes, including phase separation, molecular self-assembly, nanocomposite integration and polymer crystallization, and links multiscale organization to mechanical robustness, transport control and integrated biomedical functions.

This review assesses the state-of-the-art of functional liquid crystals with nanomaterials, including self-organized alignment enabled by nanotechnology, diverse properties of nanoparticle-doped systems, soft actuators and tunable structural color in nanohybrid elastomers, and provides critical perspectives on comparative advantages and remaining challenges.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has successfully secured the hosting rights for the 2028 Magnetospheres of Outer Planets (MOP) Conference. As the premier global symposium in space physics, MOP has been held biennially since the 1970s and will make its historic debut in Hong Kong in 2028, more than half a century after its inception. Jointly hosted by the Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (HKIAA) and the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) at HKU, this landmark event marks a major milestone in establishing Hong Kong’s leadership in space and planetary sciences across the Asia-Pacific region and globally.

Optical fibres carry the global internet because light travels through them with extremely low loss. Researchers at Caltech and the University of Southampton have now adapted flame hydrolysis deposition, a process widely used in optical-fibre manufacturing, to photonic chips. The resulting high-germania-doped microresonators reach ultrahigh Q from telecom to violet wavelengths, opening a scalable route toward fibre-like loss, low-noise lasers, frequency combs and precision photonic systems.

A collaborative research team led by Shi-Liang Shi at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ming Joo Koh's group at the National University of Singapore, reported an enantioselective reduction of Heck and Heck coupling reactions of inner alkenes catalyzed by a nitrogen-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-nickel complex. This method, using aryl trifluoromethanesulfonate as an electrophile, achieved highly regioselective and enantioselective functionalization of inner alkenes, constructing a diverse range of chiral arylized products. The reaction conditions were mild, and the functional group compatibility was excellent. By using sterically hindered and tunably flexible NHC ligands, side reactions were effectively suppressed, and precise stereocontrol was achieved. This strategy provides a universal platform for the asymmetric functionalization of inner alkenes and demonstrates its potential application in the late-stage modification of drug-related molecules. The article was published as an open access Research Article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.

Irrigated mountain hayfields can act as large filtration systems that reduce sediment, phosphorus and other contaminants from runoff, sometimes improving the quality of water flowing back into the environment, Colorado State University research has found.