Professor Roberto Morandotti, a world‑renowned physicist at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), is the first researcher from Canada to receive the Max Born Award, one of the most prestigious distinctions in optics and photonics. Presented by Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America), the award honours outstanding contributions to physical optics and celebrates the legacy of Max Born, a founder of modern quantum mechanics. 

Flexible electronics are often sold on a simple promise: bendable screens, lightweight solar cells or wearable devices that can bend and flex without breaking. But what does that ‘flexibility’ actually look like at the molecular scale, and how does it affect performance?

A team led by researchers at Penn State used a plant-based material to separate and recover dysprosium, a heavy rare earth element used in industrial manufacturing, from other rare earth elements. According to the researchers, the approach is environmentally friendly, more sustainable and efficient than other commercial approaches.

Isotope analysis of maize cob fragments at the University of California, Merced, supported a study that pre-Inca communities in Peru used seabird guano as fertilizer to supercharge food production.

Lucciana Mikaela Cáceres Holgado has been chosen as the recipient of the second annual Marian H. Rose Research Scholarship from the Society of Physics Students. The scholarship honors Marian H. Rose, a career plasma physicist, author, and environmental activist, by providing one graduate student with $15,000 in grant funding. Cáceres Holgado currently serves as the vice president for the University of Kansas’ SPS chapter, leads outreach activities with local schools, and enjoys giving back to a group of people who have supported her throughout her college education.

In the pursuit of powerful and stable quantum computers, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed the theory for an entirely new quantum system – based on the novel concept of ‘giant superatoms’. This breakthrough enables quantum information to be protected, controlled, and distributed in new ways and could be a key step towards building quantum computers at scale.

The widespread presence of microplastics (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has negative impacts on human and marine life. However, the traditional MP detection methods are time-consuming and limited by detection thresholds. Now, researchers have revealed that electrochemical sensors based on metal oxide electrodes are a suitable alternative for MP detection. They highlight that metal oxides offer superior properties such as high surface area, tunable conductivity, and chemical stability, making them highly sensitive, affordable, and applicable in real-time.

A nanodevice developed at EPFL produces an autonomous, stable current from evaporating saltwater by using heat and light to control the movement of ions and electrons.