A quantum particle can exist in a superposition of multiple states, such as different positions, until a measurement is performed. At that point, the wavefunction describing that particle appears to 'collapse' to a single outcome. This puzzle lies at the heart of the measurement problem, famously illustrated by Schrödinger’s cat, suspended between life and death until observed. The XENONnT detector, which is designed to be sensitive to rare physics events, has tightened constraints on one family of possible solutions to the measurement problem, known as ‘collapse theories.’ The work, which was partially funded by FQxI, was reported in Physical Review Letters in March 2026.

In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers in Taiwan — where expanding renewable energy is challenging given its limited size and geographical constraints — compared land-based solar farms and the island nation’s first large-scale commercial offshore floating photovoltaic installation. They found that offshore systems can generate more electricity over their lifetime, possibly because of the cooling effect of the surrounding water. The study yielded comprehensive insights into the carbon footprint of both types of systems, offering guidance for mitigating CO2 emissions.

Ice-nucleating proteins naturally bind only to organic surfaces, so understanding whether they can bind to human-made materials can help with applications like deicing, creating artificial snow, cryo-medicine, and more. In Biointerphases, researchers found that the proteins connect to a surface in a layer of single molecules with their ice formation side facing out, allowing ice to grow atop the surface, and that they do not seem to care what type of material they are binding to; for both artificial and natural surfaces, the INPs bind in remarkably similar ways.

A new study led by Dr Lin Su of Queen Mary University of London, published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes a new integrated solar reactor in which engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) are grown directly inside the same liquid that converts CO₂ into a usable energy source using sunlight. In future, this technology may be used to make environmentally clean chemicals, plastics or even microbial protein.   

Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction reaction (NO₂⁻RR) to synthesize ammonia (NH₃) has been constrained by sluggish kinetics of water dissociation and the weak adsorption of nitrite. In this work, we develop an in-situ reconstruction strategy that transforms Ni-doped BiO_2-x (NiBiO_2-x) to Bi/NiBiO_2-x, which exhibits excellent activity and selectivity for NO₂⁻RR to synthesize NH₃. Diverse ex-situ and in-situ characterizations reveal potential-driven structural transformation from NiBiO_2-x to Bi/NiBiO_2-x, which features dual Ni²⁺-Bi⁰ active sites. The Ni²⁺ site is able to reduce the water dissociation barrier from 0.79 to 0.41 eV, while concurrently the Bi⁰ site can strengthen NO₂⁻ adsorption to promote *NO₂H intermediate formation. Consequently, the in-situ constructed Bi/NiBiO_2-x catalyst with Ni²⁺-Bi⁰ catalytic pairs enable an excellent NO₂⁻RR performance, achieving a NH₃ Faradaic efficiency (FE_NH3) of 94.5% at −0.6 V vs. RHE. The present study opens the new direction to in-situ construct high-performance electroreduction catalysts for small molecule synthesis.