New research from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory suggests the most efficient way to create a plasma that continues to burn on its own is to heat it first and then add more fuel. The work could change the way fusion energy systems known as tokamaks and stellarators are designed and operated.

A streamlined tomato pangenome has exposed genetic switches that shape fruit size, flavor-related chemistry, and resistance to fungal disease. 

Saitama University research team has developed a defect-state engineering strategy that transforms waste polyamide into carbon quantum dots with continuously tunable photoluminescence. By systematically changing surface chemistry through oxidation and boron-, nitrogen-, sulfur-, and phosphorus-containing modifications, the researchers shifted emission from ultraviolet at 308 nm to yellow-green at 552 nm using the same polymer precursor, while establishing a quantitative framework for understanding how engineered defect states control light emission.

A new review in National Science Review unveils anti-visual perception as a cross-disciplinary arms race spanning biomimetics, spectral physics, and AI. From snow leopards and dazzle camouflage to UV-to-microwave signature control and adversarial attacks on machine vision, it reveals how every advance in seeing drives new ways of hiding—offering a roadmap for next-generation camouflage, stealth, robust sensing, and trustworthy AI.

Physicist Gabriele Grosso has been selected as one of 21 mid-career scientists to join the 2026 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative cohort. The five-year, $1.35 million award will allow Grosso and his lab to pursue an unconventional idea in quantum science: Instead of treating tiny vibrations inside materials as a problem to be eliminated, researchers will endeavor to put them to useful work.

Distinguished Professor Chihaya Adachi of Kyushu University has been named a 2026 Clarivate Citation Laureate for his pioneering contributions to thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), a breakthrough approach that enabled highly efficient OLEDs without rare metals and transformed organic electronics.

Thanks to enzyme-based biocatalysis, an enormous range of pharmaceutical active ingredients and other complex molecules can be synthesized in an environmentally friendly manner. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a technology that allows to assemble enzymes into millimeter-sized, storable beads. In this process, the enzymes not only act as catalysts but also constitute the beads’ material itself. In a further variant, the enzyme networks can be combined with living cells. A patent application has been filed for the technology. The results have been published in Advanced Materials. (DOI: 10.1002/adma.75120)

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common malignancy of the urinary tract. Hormone therapy is the main clinical option for the treatment, yet some patients with PCa die due to malignant progression. This research indicates that gallic acid can reduce L1CAM expression by inhibiting the transcriptional activation of KLF7 via p-p65, in turn attenuating the malignant phenotype and tumorigenic capacity of PCa cells in vivo. These findings will provide new therapeutic approaches for PCa.