The ability to conduct heat is one of the most fundamental properties of matter, crucial for engineering applications. Scientists know well how conventional materials, such as metals and insulators, conduct heat. However, things are not as straightforward under extreme conditions such as temperatures close to absolute zero combined with strong magnetic fields, where strange quantum effects begin to dominate. This is particularly true in the realm of quantum materials. Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), University of Bonn, and Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) now exposed the semimetal zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe₅) to high magnetic fields and very low temperatures. They found dramatically enhanced heat oscillations caused by a novel mechanism. This finding challenges the widely held belief that magnetic quantum oscillations should not be detectable in the heat transport of semimetals, as the scientists report in the journal PNAS (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2408546122).

A research team led by SUTD has developed an acoustic method using empirical mode decomposition to detect stones hidden among coffee beans, preventing costly grinder damage in cafés and factories.

A research team from China has successfully integrated photonic neural networks with distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems, paving the way for real-time DAS data processing with unprecedented speed and energy efficiency. Their newly developed Time-Wavelength Multiplexed Photonic Neural Network Accelerator (TWM-PNNA) leverages light-based computations to overcome traditional bottlenecks in DAS data analysis. This breakthrough represents a significant step towards next-generation infrastructure and transportation safety monitoring, as well as seismic wave detection.

Virginia Tech researchers say a true revolution in wireless technologies is only possible through endowing the system with the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) that can think, imagine, and plan akin to humans. Doing so will allow networks to break free from traditional enablers, deliver unprecedented quality, and usher in a new phase of the AI evolution.

The Open Brain Institute (OBI) launches as a global non-profit advancing neuroscience, AI, and brain research through digital brain simulation. Expanding on EPFL’s Blue Brain Project, OBI provides AI-powered Virtual Labs where researchers can build and simulate digital brains—from molecular pathways to entire brains—across species, ages, and disease states. By integrating open neuroscience data, advanced brain modeling tools, and AI-driven analysis, OBI enables breakthroughs in neurological disease research, brain-computer interfaces (BCI), neurotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI). The first Virtual Labs open on March 28, 2025, marking a new era in simulation neuroscience, digital brain models, and brain-inspired AI. 

In a new study published in Nano Letters, researchers at the University of Rochester show that precisely layering nano-thin materials creates excitons—essentially, artificial atoms—that can act as quantum information bits, or qubits.