Programmable photonics promises faster, more energy-efficient computing than electronics by transmitting signals using light. However, current systems are limited by the need for precise on-chip power monitors. Now, researchers have developed a germanium-implanted silicon waveguide photodiode that overcomes a long-standing tradeoff in performance. Their device achieved high responsivity, low optical loss, and minimal dark current, putting us one step closer to practical programmable photonics.

Air quality in America’s largest cities has steadily improved thanks to tighter regulations. However, increased heat, wildfire smoke and other emerging global drivers of urban aerosol pollution are now combining to create a new set of challenges on the East Coast. Research from Colorado State University published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science begins to unpack and characterize these developing relationships against the backdrop of New York City.

Quantum metals are metals where quantum effects—behaviors that normally only matter at atomic scales—become powerful enough to control the metal's macroscopic electrical properties. 

Researchers in Japan have explained how electricity behaves in a special group of quantum metals called kagome metals. The study is the first to show how weak magnetic fields reverse tiny loop electrical currents inside these metals. This switching changes the material's macroscopic electrical properties and reverses which direction has easier electrical flow, a property known as the diode effect, where current flows more easily in one direction than the other.  

Notably, the research team found that quantum geometric effects amplify this switching by about 100 times. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides the theoretical foundation that could eventually lead to new electronic devices controlled by simple magnets. 

Aquaglyceroporin Aqp10, a protein channel for water and glycerol, selectively permeates urea and boric acid due to its unique structural features—report researchers from Japan.  By comparing and modeling molecular pore structures in fish species, the team discovered that bulky amino acid residues reduce the pore size of Aqp10—blocking the transport of certain molecules. This not only explains the mechanism of selective permeability but also provides a framework for predicting functions of uncharacterized aquaglyceroporins.

The Hebrew University team has developed the first binder-free method for 3D printing glass, using light to trigger a chemical reaction that directly forms silica structures without the need for organic additives or extreme heat. This breakthrough makes glass printing faster, cleaner, and more precise, with potential to revolutionize fields from optics to medicine by enabling custom, high-performance glass components that were previously impossible to manufacture.

Researchers at the Institute of Chemistry, CAS, have developed a light-driven catalytic system based on Au/NiCo₂O₄ photoanodes that efficiently converts styrene to epoxide using water as the sole oxygen source. This work highlights the critical role of plasmon-induced photothermal effects in improving mass transport and catalytic performance under solar illumination.

The localized high-concentration electrolytes developed by introducing the antisolvent to dilute the high-concentration electrolyte is the most promising electrolyte for high-energy-density lithium metal batteries. For a long time, the antisolvent has been regarded as an inert component that does not participate in the solvation structure and interfacial chemical processes. However, the antisolvents with high content in the electrolyte is not absolutely non-polar, and their exact role in regulating the performance of lithium metal batteries has not received sufficient attention and remains unknown. Now, a team of researchers from Nanjing University have published an article in the journal National Science Review, systematically reporting the regulatory mechanism of aromatic hydrocarbon anti-solvents on the performance of lithium metal batteries.