Researchers have developed FINDSPINGROUP, an open-source online platform that places magnetic-moment arrangements and spin-orbit effects in one material-specific symmetry framework. It enables consistent comparison of properties with and without spin-orbit coupling, standardizes crystallographic outputs and supports the screening of unconventional magnets.

Can different growth recipes lead to the same structural target? Researchers have developed an AI-assisted inverse-design approach that identifies multiple synthesis routes to carbon nanotube arrays with closely matched height, density and alignment. Experiments across three targets demonstrate that similar array structures can emerge from different processing conditions, while individual nanotubes retain microscopic differences. The findings offer greater flexibility for controlled nanomaterial synthesis.

New research from Pusan National University, South Korea, shows that the direction in which a lightweight AZ31 magnesium alloy plate is struck can strongly affect its ballistic performance. Using high-velocity impact tests, microscopy, crystallographic analysis, and finite-element simulations, researchers traced how crystal texture influences deformation, stress localization, and fracture. The findings could help inform the design of lighter protective structures for weight-sensitive applications.

Researchers led by the University of Osaka have directly observed a heavy-fermion state forming at the interface between a one-atom-thick ytterbium–copper layer and a copper substrate. Using synchrotron-based measurements, they showed that electrons across the interface interact to create this unusual quantum state. The finding offers a new approach to designing low-dimensional quantum materials and may help enable previously unexplored phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity.

A research team has developed an iron-modified titanium dioxide electrode that substantially improves the breakdown of nitrobenzene, a persistent wastewater pollutant. In a laboratory reactor combining electrical treatment, heat and ultraviolet light, the system removed 92.1% of nitrobenzene within two hours.

A research team has found that advanced wastewater treatments designed to improve water quality can also intensify certain endocrine-disrupting effects. 

Building with nature is an important concept in our coastal defence. After all, by hitching a ride on natural processes, we are more resistant to sea level rise. A good understanding of these processes is therefore indispensable. Ecologist Paul Berghuis, affiliated with Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), delved into the world of dune formation and discovered that within young dune landscapes, dunes and grasses do not position themselves randomly but on the basis of a fixed pattern.