Replacing petroleum-based synthetic fibers with sustainable bio-derived materials is critical to curbing global microplastic pollution, but biomass fibers have long been limited by insufficient mechanical performance. Researchers from Anhui Agricultural University and Zhejiang University developed high-performance cellulose metafibers (Meta-CFs) using a scalable hydrodynamic twisting strategy. By guiding continuously twisted structures on chemically cross-linked cellulose networks via an asymmetric microfluidic field, the team achieved a record tensile strength of 3.29 GPa and a toughness of 349.5 MJ m^–3—rivaling both high-performance synthetic fibers and natural spider silk. The fibers can be scaled into bundles while retaining GPa-level strength, are fully biodegradable, and have been validated as durable trimmer lines that eliminate persistent agricultural microplastic residues.

Extended reality (XR) aims for "immersion," requiring displays to simultaneously deliver a wide field of view (FOV) and true 3D imagery free of vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC). Researchers in China have reported a near-eye light-field display architecture based on a heterogeneous metalens array. By integrating lens and spatially heterogeneous prism phase designs with nanoimprint technology, the array overcomes the aberration-induced FOV limit of conventional microlens arrays, providing a hardware path for next-generation immersive XR displays.

A five-university Japan-Taiwan research consortium - led by Principal Researchers Yoshitane Imai (Professor, Kindai University) and Ming-Chia Li (Associate Professor, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University) - has been selected for the 2026 Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association Joint Research Grant Program in Natural and Applied Sciences. The participating institutions include Kindai University, Ibaraki University, Osaka Metropolitan University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and National Central University.

Through this international collaboration, Japanese and Taiwanese researchers are developing core technologies for circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CP-OLEDs), a type of next-generation semiconductor optical device that natively emits circularly polarized light.

To launch the project, the "2026 Taiwan–Japan Joint Symposium on Next-Generation Circularly Polarized Luminescence Technology" will be held on September 1–2, 2026, at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Central University in Taiwan. A delegation of researchers and students from Kindai University, Ibaraki University, and Osaka Metropolitan University will travel to Taiwan to present their latest scientific findings. The two-day program features dedicated sessions for early-career researchers, laboratory tours, and strategic planning meetings to align research objectives for the upcoming three-year initiative.