The world's largest solar telescope, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, has reached an important milestone. After almost 15 years of preparation, the German instrument for the Inouye Solar Telescope, the Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF), has now taken its first images. The imaging spectro-polarimeter was developed and built at the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg (Germany). The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen (Germany) is a partner in the project. The data published now were obtained during the technical commissioning of the instrument. VTF analyzes the sunlight captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope in more detail than ever before and, among other things, extracts information on the flow velocity of the solar plasma and the magnetic field strength at the visible surface of the Sun and in the directly adjacent gas layers above. Even in the current technical test phase, VTF is making smallest structures visible. In later scientific operation, when the data is extensively post-processed, the resolution will improve further. With a primary mirror diameter of four meters, the Inouye Solar Telescope is the largest in the world. Thanks to the optimal observational conditions on the Hawaiian volcano

Carbon-containing meteorites look like they had less severe impacts than those without carbon because the evidence was blasted into space by gases produced during the impact. The Kobe University discovery not only solves a 30-year-old mystery, but also provides guidelines for a future sampling mission to Ceres.

Researchers from Max Born Institute have demonstrated a successful way to control and manipulate nanoscale magnetic bits — the building blocks of digital data — using an ultrafast laser pulse and plasmonic gold nanostructures. The findings were published in Nano Letters.

Two-dimensional porphyrin-based COFs show great promise for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction, yet their π-π stacking often impedes active site exposure and charge transfer. Researchers developed a series of porphyrin COFs with tunably twisted linkers. The N-N-linked twisted unit in NN-Por-COF creates a remarkably undulating layered structure that enhances mass transport and exposes more active sites, while simultaneously modulating the electronic structure of cobalt-porphyrin to reduce reaction barriers. This dual structural and electronic optimization yields outstanding photocatalytic performance, achieving CO production rates of 22.38 and 3.02 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ under pure and 10% CO₂, respectively, surpassing most porphyrin-based photocatalysts.

Cationic Ir（III） complex bound to synthetic saponite was used as a donor for TTA-UC（Triplet-triplet annihilation up-conversion）with 9,10-diphenylanthracne.

High quantum yield of TTA-UC was attained due to the hybridization with organically modified synthetic saponite in R-limonene.

Since R-limonene is a natural product belonging to a green solvent, the present finding may promise the possible utility of clay minerals for TTA-UC in green solvents.

Recently, the team of Prof. Nishuang Liu and Prof. Yihua Gao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology has reviewed the recent advances in self-powered sensors based on ionic hydrogels. The review was published in Research as “Recent Advances in Self-Powered Sensors Based on Ionic Hydrogels”. This review systematically summarizes the self-powered mechanism of ionic hydrogel self-powered sensors, structural engineering related to device and material properties, and related applications, and discusses the challenges and future development of ionic hydrogel self-powered sensors.

Water droplets maintain their spherical shape and optical properties when placed on a hydrophobic surface made by coating a glass slide with electrospun PVC fibers. The optical properties can be changed by simply adjusting the volume of water in the droplet. 

These dynamically adjustable water-based lenses have many potential future uses, from classrooms and research labs to cameras and wearable gadgets.