A University of Manchester Professor has been appointed by  Lord Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear, as an Expert Reviewer for an independent assessment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA);  an executive non-departmental public body that is charged with, on behalf of government, the mission to clean-up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost effectively.

Gravitational waves could be responsible for the production of dark matter during the early phases of our universe’s formation, according to results of a new study by Professor Joachim Kopp from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the PRISMA⁺⁺ Cluster of Excellence in cooperation with Dr. Azadeh Maleknejad from Swansea University. Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, presents new calculations that explore a novel mechanism for the formation of dark matter through so-called stochastic gravitational waves

Atomic clocks based on entangled atoms can reach extremely high precision but usually suffer from a limited measurement range. Researchers have proposed a new adaptive Bayesian protocol that dynamically adjusts measurement time using prior information. This approach allows GHZ-state atomic clocks to maintain Heisenberg-limited precision while significantly expanding their dynamic range. Simulations show improved accuracy, faster convergence, and stronger resistance to noise. The method offers a powerful framework for next-generation atomic clocks and other quantum sensors requiring both high precision and broad measurement capability.

Many people have likely found themselves watching oddly satisfying videos of random objects being squashed by a powerful hydraulic press, but rarely people consider why things squash the way they do.

Porous materials are widely used for gas storage, separation, catalysis, and environmental purification. Their functionality arises from nanoscale pores that allow molecules to be selectively captured or transported. However, most porous materials, such as metal-organic frameworks, rely on rigid three-dimensional networks formed by strong chemical bonds, which often make them mechanically brittle and difficult to process into practical shapes.

A research team led by Professor Shuhei Furukawa at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS), Kyoto University, has developed a new type of microporous aerogel that overcomes these limitations. Their study demonstrates a strategy to assemble metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) into hierarchically ordered one-dimensional porous fibrils using weak van der Waals interactions.

Unlike conventional porous frameworks constructed through strong chemical bonds, the newly developed fibrils are held together by reversible van der Waals interactions between MOP molecules. Thanks to the weak nature of these interactions, the molecular assemblies can reversibly associate and dissociate with minimal energy input, exhibiting thixotropic behavior. This feature allows the material to be easily shaped using molds, providing a high degree of processability that is rarely achieved in conventional microporous materials.

Hidden features uncovered in X-ray signals are set to overturn a key scientific theory and fundamentally change how X-rays are interpreted across fields of physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, new research reveals.   

A joint research team between the Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (QIQB) at The University of Osaka and Fixstars Corporation has demonstrated one of the world's largest classical simulations of iterative quantum phase estimation (IQPE) quantum circuits for quantum chemistry on up to 1,024 GPUs, surpassing the previous 40-qubit limit. The result expands the scale of molecular systems available for the development and validation of quantum algorithms for future fault-tolerant quantum computers, supporting progress toward industrial applications in drug discovery and materials development.

Free-electron lasers can be tuned to operate over a wide range of wavelengths, but they conventionally require large-scale facilities. Researchers from The University of Osaka show that laser wakefield acceleration can dramatically miniaturize this technology by improving plasma stability and electron beam quality. Their study demonstrates such lasers in the extreme ultraviolet, with the ultimate goal of further refining the technology to operate at x-ray wavelengths.