Elastomers similar to paint coating developed at the University of Luxembourg and the Technical University of Darmstadt, were proven to help detect and monitor potential concrete cracks of existing or future buildings. Much of the tunnels and bridge infrastructure in Europe is over 50 years old, and are approaching end of life with important maintenance needs, posing the threat of more disastrous accidents such as the Morandi Bridge in Genoa in 2018 in Italy (43 deaths and 16 injured). Cost-effective and scalable, this technology could have a revolutionary impact in the safety of critical infrastructure, such as bridges or dams.

Electrons possess electrical charge but also magnetic spin and orbital angular momentum. While charge and spin currents have driven advancements in electronics and spintronics, respectively, generating “orbital currents” has remained a challenge. An international research team has now successfully observed “orbital pumping,” a new phenomenon in which orbital currents are generated from the precession of magnetization in magnetic materials. The discovery could provide the foundation for “orbitronic” technologies based on orbital currents.