How food is shared inside ant colonies has long been invisible in real time. Researchers in Japan have now used a highly sensitive radioactive imaging technique to watch food move from ant to ant, minute by minute. The method reveals unexpected patterns in how resources spread through a group and could help scientists detect early warning signs of stress or imbalance in insect societies, crucial to ecosystems and agriculture.

A new decades-long study of oceanographic data provides the first evidence that deep-ocean heat has moved closer to Antarctica, threatening the fragile ice shelves that fringe the continent.

Hydrogen in solids may not always need to climb over energy barriers in the classical manner. A new study published in Science Bulletin reveals that in LaH₃, hydrogen can traverse barriers via quantum tunneling, with crossover temperatures reaching liquid-nitrogen conditions for concerted migration and near room temperature for single-ion migration. The findings suggest that nuclear quantum effects are not merely a minor correction, but rather a central component of hydrogen transport in materials.

Researchers created a bismuth-coordinated melanin material that provides in vivo physical radiation shielding and ROS scavenging. It markedly mitigates acute radiation syndrome and boosts mouse survival from 20% to 60% after lethal total body irradiation.

A recent study probes fractional quantum Hall states in GaAs quantum wells using a cryogen-free nuclear adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The researchers devised an innovative polar representation to organize all odd-denominator states into a pattern. Experimental data is analyzed using the composite fermion and hierarchy theories with a more natural description achieved by the former. This work provides essential insights into strongly correlated electrons and could serve as a powerful empirical framework in the endeavor of searching for new fractionalized states.

Cotton genome editing, especially in elite varieties, has proven difficult. Now, in a study published in The Crop Journal, researchers from China have successfully demonstrated CRISPR/Cas genome editing in nonregenerative cotton via sexual hybridization. This work opens up a novel technical avenue for the genetic improvement of elite cotton varieties that are recalcitrant to tissue culture, advancing agriculture and biotechnology.