Healthy reefs are acoustically rich environments, filled with fish croaks and shrimp snaps. Océane Boulai and their collaborators mimicked these sound environments to study the effects of sounds on 19 artificial coral settlement modules placed in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. The researchers recorded audio near a vibrant reef, which they replayed at various distances from their artificial microhabitats, which were coated with a bacteria designed to induce larval settlement. Notably, there were significant increases in coral settlement close to the speakers.

Researchers at the University of South Florida have developed a low-cost alternative to traditional laser-based cataract surgery. The new technique uses millisecond pulses from a diode laser to safely emulsify cataract-like tissue, offering a potential replacement for expensive femtosecond laser systems. Validated through computer simulations and laboratory tests on tissue models, the system delivers focused heating without damaging surrounding areas. This innovation could expand access to safe, effective cataract treatment in low- and middle-income countries.

Natural rubber, one of the world's most widely manufactured biomaterials, has been used by humans for thousands of years. Its resistance to crack growth, however, hasn't improved much for decades. 

Until now. Materials researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have devised a way to produce natural rubber that retains its key properties of stretchiness and durability while greatly improving its ability to resist cracking, even after repeated cycles of use.  

The work is published in Nature Sustainability and is led by Professor Zhigang Suo.

Researchers from the University of South China and the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences carried out precise measurements of the photoneutron cross-section of ⁶³Cu using quasi-monochromatic and energy-tunable γ-beams generated by the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS). High-precision (4%) data of the photoneutron cross-section of ⁶³Cu were obtained. The gamma-ray strength function (γSF) of the ⁶³Cu(γ, n) reaction was extracted, and the cross-section of its inverse reaction, ⁶²Cu(n, γ), was successfully calculated. This research provides important support for the measurement and evaluation of photonuclear reaction data, and offers a new approach for extracting the neutron capture cross-sections of some unstable nuclides.

Cosmic radiation occasionally contains enormous amounts of energy, but we don’t know why or where this radiation comes from. New research may have found the answer.