Toward standardized microplastics monitoring in rivers
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Jun-2026 23:15 ET (20-Jun-2026 03:15 GMT/UTC)
Microplastic pollution in rivers is difficult to quantify because particles span a wide size range and are measured using incompatible methods. Recently, researchers from Japan developed a unified approach to describe microplastic number and mass distributions using power-law size spectra. By combining multiple sampling techniques, they showed that total microplastic mass can be accurately estimated even from limited size data, enabling more consistent pollution assessment and more efficient environmental monitoring in freshwater systems.
Researchers from The University of Osaka, SEC, and Juntendo University have developed quantum multi-programming auto mode, a function that automatically runs quantum programs from different users in parallel. Implemented in OQTOPUS and launched on QIQB’s quantum computer cloud service, the system reduces idle qubit resources, improves throughput, and may help ease congestion in quantum cloud computing.
Charge noise arising from two-level fluctuators is considered to play a key role in causing qubit frequency shifts in silicon spin qubits, resulting in deteriorated gate fidelity. Higher temperatures can improve gate fidelity, but the microscopic origins of this effect and of qubit frequency shift have not yet been established. Now, using statistical simulations, researchers have clarified the parameter regimes under which gate fidelity can be improved and the potential origin of qubit frequency shifts.
POSTECH Professor Sunmin Ryu’s team analyzes structural inhomogeneity in large-area thin films using interferometric SHG imaging.