A team of international researchers led by the Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Laboratory of the University of Seville, have demonstrated the key role that energetic particles play in the stability of a tokamak plasma edge. The findings have been published in Nature Physics and could be key for the design of compact fusion power plants.

Researchers show that the efficacy of a commonly-used piezoceramic can be dramatically increased just by reducing its thickness and by preventing atomic defects during manufacture

The advancement of laser manipulating and shaping technology enables the precise control of strong field electron dynamics on a subcycle time scale which helps to resolve this critical issue. Two-color fields, which are the coherent overlap of the strong driving laser fields and its second harmonic field acting as a perturbation, provide an easy-to-implement method to shape the tunnelling electron wavepacket and control the coherent radiation.

Epithelial tissues are in constant interaction with their environment. Maintaining their functionality requires dynamic balance (homeostasis) and that their cell numbers are tightly regulated. This is achieved by cell extrusion programs, a checkpoint mechanism eliminating unwanted or harmful cells. Researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM), Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS, UP Cité, France) and Niels Bohr Institute (Denmark) have now demonstrated how physical signals can have an impact on the fate of extruding cells governing their death or survival. The results recently published in “Nature Physics” may establish novel paths for understanding tissue properties in both normal and pathological conditions.

Quantum computers require extreme cooling to perform reliable calculations. One of the challenges preventing quantum computers from entering society is the difficulty of freezing the qubits to temperatures close to absolute zero. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Maryland, USA, have engineered a new type of refrigerator that can autonomously cool superconducting qubits to record low temperatures, paving the way for more reliable quantum computation.

With the continuous growth of global energy demand and the intensification of environmental issues, CO₂ emissions have surged dramatically, reaching up to 54 billion tons annually, drawing worldwide attention. Converting CO₂ into high-value chemicals not only helps mitigate global climate change but also promotes the development of the carbon cycle and green chemistry. Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reactions offer an effective pathway for this conversion, and porous materials, with their unique physicochemical properties, have shown tremendous potential in these reactions.