For autonomous driving, UAV tracking and beyond, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a core 3D imaging technology. Recently, scientists in China developed a LiDAR architecture integrating an astigmatic metalens (AML) with spectral-acoustic coordinated scanning, achieving 36.6 MHz frame-wise point acquisition rate, 102° wide FOV, and 0.37° angular resolution simultaneously. This breakthrough redefines LiDAR’s potential for ultra-high-speed, high-precision perception, enhancing applications such as autonomous driving with improved obstacle detection and safety at high speeds.

Scientists from the UK and China have developed a lateral-graded multilayer grating that addresses a key challenge in tender X-ray RIXS technique. Demonstrated at the I21 beamline in Diamond Light Source, the new optics increases photon flux by a factor of 12 to 25 compared to the conventional single-layer gratings while maintaining the energy resolution. This enables the world’s first tender RIXS spectrometer based on the multilayer grating technology.

A team led by researchers at Tohoku University have taken the first step toward developing antiferromagnetic technology. They detected a liquid-crystal phase that may change the game for spintronic devices.

Chinese scientists achieved reversible red-green photoluminescence switching in Mn-based metal halides by replacing free Cl⁻ with Br⁻. The responsive property stems from weakened hydrogen bonding-induced structural reorganization. The material is applicable for planar temperature sensing, thermal stamping, and information encryption, revealing the key role of free halide ions.

With the rapid advancement of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, human demand for energy has continued to grow. However, the extensive use of traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and

natural gas, has not only led to the depletion of resources but also triggered a series of severe environmental

problems. In particular, the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases have caused global warming, resulting

in the melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events, which pose a significant

threat to the earth’s ecosystem as well as to human survival and development.

Against the backdrop of global climate change, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC,

held in November 2023, reached the UAE Consensus. The Parties agreed on establishing a roadmap to transition

away from fossil fuels, which has been described as “the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era” [2]. To date,

more than 150 countries around the world have announced plans to achieve net-zero emissions or carbon

neutrality around 2050, and a profound and far-reaching third energy revolution is underway [3–5], marking an

unprecedented epoch-making shift in the energy domain. This paper explores the historical development of

energy revolutions, the cornerstones of the third energy revolution, and the new cognitive frameworks and

innovative thinking required for the construction of a new energy system.

A 10-year investigation of two Beijing rivers shows that wastewater treatment plant upgrades significantly alter nitrogen-cycling microbial communities and viral ecology despite stable overall diversity. Metagenomic analysis revealed that while the α-diversity of nitrogen-cycling microbes remained unchanged, their community composition shifted significantly, with the nitrifier-to-denitrifier ratio decreasing by 70%. In contrast, the DNA viral community structure was largely stable, but its functional gene profile changed: genes related to viral replication increased while auxiliary metabolic genes decreased. The findings highlight the necessity of integrating microbial and viral indicators into water quality assessments following treatment plant upgrades.

The imaging resolution has long been constrained by the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. While the 2014 Nobel Prize recognized fluorescence microscopy, achieving single-shot, label-free far-field superresolution remains challenging. Scientists in China propose “k-space (momentum space) superoscillation.” By designing a metalens with topology-optimized responses in real- and k-space, this method breaks the spatial shift-invariance assumption to surpass the diffraction limit. Microwave experiments verified a twofold resolution enhancement without post-processing, opening avenues for biology, astronomy, and materials science.

Two-dimensional semiconductors such as monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS₂) are promising materials for nonlinear and quantum photonics, but their atomic thickness severely limits how strongly they interact with light. Researchers recently demonstrated a van der Waals hybrid photonic platform that overcomes this constraint by coupling a WS₂ monolayer to Mie void resonators—subwavelength air cavities carved into a high-index bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) substrate. Unlike conventional dielectric resonators that confine light inside solid material, Mie voids localize optical fields within air and near the surface, naturally aligning field enhancement with the atomically thin layer. By tuning the cavity geometry to match WS₂ excitonic emission, they achieved up to ~20× enhancement of photoluminescence and ~25× enhancement of second-harmonic generation. Far-field imaging of the nonlinear signal directly visualizes localized resonant modes and reveals programmable spatial control at the level of individual resonators. This work establishes Mie-void heterostructures as a robust and reconfigurable platform for enhanced light–matter interaction in atomically thin materials.

A new study by NYU chemists finds that DNA tiles can assemble into 3D structures without the sticky cohesion of hydrogen bonding. This finding, published in Nature Communications, turns a fundamental paradigm in the field of DNA self-assembly on its head.