Researchers at Tsinghua University have developed silicon valley photonic molecular crystals that preserve topologically protected light transport under strong rotational disorder. Inspired by molecular crystals, the platform utilizes randomly oriented silicon photonic “molecules” to explore how molecular rotation affects the topological properties. Combining theoretical modeling, simulations, and experiments, the team demonstrated robust edge states for random rotation angle ranges within 60 degrees. The findings provide a framework for characterizing disordered topological systems and suggest new opportunities for highly-robust photonic circuits and programmable optical platforms. This work would also inspire analogous studies in condensed-matter, acoustic, and cold-atom platforms.

Billions of years ago, rain may have helped shape where the chemistry of life could begin on Mars. A new study maps the delivery of formaldehyde, an important prebiotic molecule, to the surface. The map could help guide future Mars missions searching for signs of the planet’s early organic evolution. 

A joint research team from Saitama University and the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (BIKAKEN) has developed a polymerizable monomer from 4-trehalosamine, a biologically stable and chemically modifiable analog of trehalose, and used it to prepare water-soluble polyacrylamides with tunable compositions. By taking advantage of the uniquely reactive amino group of 4-trehalosamine, the approach provides a new route for incorporating this sugar into synthetic polymers at controlled levels. Unlike conventional carbohydrate-containing polymers that often require complex protection and deprotection chemistry, the new approach exploits the naturally occurring amino group of 4-trehalosamine to introduce polymerizable functionality selectively and efficiently. The resulting platform may facilitate the design of carbohydrate-containing polymers for biotechnology and advanced functional materials.

Antibiotic residues in water are an emerging environmental concern because conventional treatment processes may not remove them completely. Now, researchers have shown that carefully tuning the balance of nitrogen and boron in biochar made from waste sawdust can greatly improve its ability to activate an oxidant and break down the widely used antibiotic sulfamethoxazole.

To bridge the gap between carbon monoxide's notorious toxicity and its hidden potential in biology, Dr. Matthew R. Dent, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, has received a prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. The five-year, $749,702 grant supports his project, "CAREER: Carbon Monoxide Sensing, Selectivity, and Signaling in Microbes."

A new 0.36-mm² photonic chip is set to advance industrial swept-source optical coherence tomography, according to a study in PhotoniX Synergy. The compact system demonstrated high-precision performance, including imaging a smartphone camera, measuring silica wafers with sub-2 µm absolute error, and gauging photoresist height with a relative error of less than 0.12%. Additionally, the integration of a ball-lens fiber probe allows for 3D imaging inside narrow, hard-to-reach industrial components

Researchers have demonstrated a fast, minimally invasive, optical-fiber-based imaging technique that combines dual-comb interferometry with a Transformer-based deep learning model to overcome the technical bottlenecks of traditional ghost imaging. By generating wavelength-multiplexed speckle patterns from a single-core fiber and detecting the target-encoded light with a single-pixel detector, the system achieves 2D imaging of dynamic targets at beyond-video rates. This experimental demonstration opens new frontiers for minimally invasive endomicroscopy and portable sensing in constrained environments.

A U.S. federal agency is investing $38 million in a provocative and potentially transformative project: AI-powered medical "digital twins" to help doctors personalize treatments for critical ill patients in hospitals. The project, led by a U. of Vermont surgeon and researcher, will help doctors treat the most challenging illnesses in the ICU—sepsis, burns, severe trauma, and disordered immune responses. The funding is from ARPA-H in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and is the largest research award in UVM's history.