It is our great pleasure to announce and congratulate the awardees of the 2026 Carbon Future Young Investigator Award. Established in 2024, this award recognizes young researchers (PhD student or postdoctoral researcher) who have demonstrated exceptional research potential and innovative capabilities in the fields of carbon materials, carbon catalysis, low-carbon energy, or chemical engineering.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgeries are abdominal or pelvic surgeries that use a small camera inserted through a small incision, and photoacoustic imaging directs lasers deep into the tissue, which absorbs the light and produces sound waves. These sound waves can be picked up by ultrasensitive microphones and used to pinpoint subsurface structures like blood vessels and nerve bundles. Kai Zhang will present his work integrating photoacoustic imaging into robot-assisted surgeries as part of the 190th ASA Meeting.

A computational method combining generative AI with atomistic simulations can identify promising platinum alloy catalyst structures for hydrogen fuel cells, report researchers from Science Tokyo. Their approach addresses a longstanding challenge in catalyst design and consistently produces high-performing candidates from several material combinations.

Even as temperatures rise on Earth’s surface and in the lower atmosphere, the planet’s upper atmosphere has cooled dramatically. This paradoxical pattern is a well-known sign of humanity’s climate impacts—but until now, the underlying physics has remained a mystery.

In a new study, researchers from Columbia University describe the phenomenon’s mechanics, illuminating how it is largely determined by the way carbon dioxide (CO2) interacts with different wavelengths of light.

A team of researchers from the North China Electric Power University and the National Institute of Metrology in China has published a perspective on a promising class of materials for extracting uranium from aqueous environments. Their work details the design and application of heterocyclic-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which use light to perform this critical task. This approach holds significant potential for both cleaning up contaminated water sources and securing a sustainable supply of uranium, the primary fuel for nuclear energy, by extracting it from seawater.

The dual need for environmental remediation and resource security has spurred the development of new technologies for uranium capture. Traditional methods face challenges with selectivity and capacity. The authors explain that photocatalysis offers a distinct advantage by using light to trigger specific redox reactions, reducing soluble and mobile uranium (U(VI)) into insoluble and immobile forms (U(IV)). The success of this technique depends on creating highly efficient photocatalysts. The focus of this perspective is on COFs, which are crystalline, porous materials built from organic molecules linked by strong covalent bonds.

Implanting a device into the deep temporal cortex of a mouse without damaging the brain has long been a major challenge in neuroscience research. A team at Meijo University and Dokkyo Medical University has now overcome this barrier with a flexible sheet thinner than a human hair that slides into place without penetrating the brain.

For more than a decade, a fundamental mystery has surrounded graphene—the one-atom-thick “wonder material” known for its exceptional strength, conductivity, and transparency. Despite its seemingly simple structure, one basic question has remained unresolved: does graphene attract water, or repel it?

The answer has proven surprisingly elusive. In some experiments, water droplets bead up on graphene, suggesting a hydrophobic (water-repellent) surface. In others, water spreads out, implying hydrophilic (water-attracting) behavior. This contradiction has fueled a long-running scientific debate and created uncertainty for applications such as desalination membranes, hydrogen fuel cells, and nanoelectronic devices, where precise control of water at interfaces is essential.