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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Oct-2026 15:16 ET (28-Oct-2026 19:16 GMT/UTC)

Controlling chemical reactions more efficiently and sustainably

University of Vienna
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team at the University of Vienna, led by chemist Nuno Maulide, has developed a groundbreaking method for controlling chemical reactions in a more targeted and efficient manner. At the heart of this is the concept of 'cation sampling': specially selected groups (ketones), in a sense, function as molecular signposts for randomly migrating positive charges, enabling reactions to take place at sites on a molecule that were previously difficult to access. The method allows carbon-hydrogen bonds (C–H bonds) to be specifically modified. The study was published in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society

Breaking the mid-infrared interconnection barrier: a robust bonding for high-power optics based on liquid-like chalcogenide glass

Light Publishing Center, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics And Physics, CAS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A low-Tg chalcogenide-glass adhesive (As-S(Se)-I, Tg = 8.85 ℃, n≈2.1) is presented that bonds at 120 ℃, wets interfaces, fills gaps, and cools into a robust glass bonding layer. It lifts transmission to a maximum of 91%, reduces reflection to 4.8% (from 58.5%), increases the laser-damage threshold by >59%, and enables 11.7 W delivery from endcap fiber, providing a universal, thermoplastic yet stable route to compact, high-power, thermally reliable mid-IR photonic systems.

Journal: Light: Science & Applications
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo

Double-phase metasurface operators for all-optical image processing

Light Publishing Center, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics And Physics, CAS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Linzhi Yu et al. have developed compact metasurface operators for all-optical image processing, enabled by double-phase encoding and polarization multiplexing. This ultrathin nanophotonic platform performs real-time light field transformations, including edge detection, object recognition, and volumetric holography. The work introduces new possibilities for ultra-compact, energy-efficient analog computing systems, with potential applications in imaging, sensing, and holographic displays.

Journal: Light: Science & Applications
Funder: Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant

Revealing the invisible: a new baseline for Salish sea diatoms answers a global call

Pensoft Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new, consolidated checklist of diatoms—a major group of photosynthetic microalgae—has been compiled for the Salish Sea, northeast Pacific, by a team of Canadian scientists. Integrating historical records with new reports, this first comprehensive baseline establishes a foundation for assessing diatom diversity in the region. As primary producers at the base of marine food webs, diatoms are key indicators of environmental change, providing critical insight into the health and resilience of the Salish Sea bioregion. The checklist is now published in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.

Journal: Biodiversity Data Journal

Busseiron and the formation of a discipline in Japanese physics

University of Chicago Press Journals
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The middle of the twentieth century was a period of significant scientific advancement, particularly in the realm of physics. Within this rapidly changing landscape, academic disciplines emerged and evolved to keep pace with scientific discoveries. The new subdiscipline of solid-state physics gained prominence in the United States, but it was later subsumed by the broader category of condensed matter physics. In Japan, however, physics research since the 1940s has included a unique branch called Busseiron—a discipline concerning the study of matter that has no direct English equivalent but that has remained in use nonetheless. A new article by Hiroto Kono in Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society explores the historical formation of Busseiron and how it was shaped by its specific national context.

Journal: Isis

Smarter irrigation strategy reduces arsenic in rice without raising cadmium levels, study finds

Arizona State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study of rice grown on commercial farms in Arkansas found that variable water management influences concentrations of arsenic and cadmium in rice grain. The findings suggest that multiple drying periods during the growing season can reduce arsenic accumulation without increasing cadmium concentrations, supporting water management practices that improve food safety while conserving water and reducing methane emissions.

Journal: Agricultural & Environmental Letters
Funder: U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences

A physicist’s fresh look at the ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ reveals hope for cooperation

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The “prisoner’s dilemma” is one of the most famous ideas in game theory. It even appeared in the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, which told the story of mathematician John Nash.

For decades, this game has been used to explain why selfishness often beats cooperation.

In the prisoner’s dilemma, two players can either cooperate or cheat. Cheating always seems to pay off more, so both players end up cheating and losing out even though working together would have given them the biggest reward.

Scientists have long used this idea to understand everything from microbes sharing resources to human societies negotiating peace. The takeaway message? In the evolutionary race, cheaters win.

A new study led by Rutgers physicist Alexandre Morozov turns that assumption upside down. His research[KL1] , published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that cooperation can emerge naturally without special rules or genetic ties.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Center for Quantitative Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Interdisciplinary Computational Physics Laboratory at the Racah Institute of Physics

Revealing molecular cooperation: macrocyclic host molecules work together on a surface

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A collaborative research team from Kanazawa University and Kyoto University reports in the Journal of the American Chemical Society the successful visualization of how densely assembled macrocyclic host molecules cooperate to capture guest molecules on a surface. Using two advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques, the team directly observed host–guest complex formation and reversible association–dissociation dynamics at the single-molecule level. The study reveals that when one macrocyclic molecule captures a guest molecule, this event influences neighboring host molecules and promotes further guest capture. This cooperative behavior emerges only when the host molecules are densely assembled on a surface. The findings provide new insight into how surface-confined molecular interactions give rise to cooperative behavior and could contribute to the design of next-generation chemical sensors, separation systems, and storage materials.

The first-time direct observation of exotic charge-neutral quasiparticles in twisted tungsten diselenide

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have for the first time observed Goldstone modes — elusive, charge-neutral quasiparticles — in a twisted tungsten diselenide superlattice. Using an ultrafast imaging technique, the researchers were able to directly capture these collective excitation, which are associated with quantum phenomena such as superconductivity and other collective quantum behaviors.