Instead of being discarded after seawater desalination, concentrated brine can gain a second life as a chemical feedstock. Researchers have developed a solar-driven offshore continuous-flow platform that couples freshwater production with selective methane conversion by directly reusing desalination brine as the chlorine source. The integrated system simultaneously produces freshwater and chloromethane, offering a strategy for the in situ utilization of offshore natural gas resources and introducing a new approach to solar-driven offshore chemical manufacturing.

Edo-period “Ogame” (“large jars”) became increasingly standardized over time, developing distinct shapes for everyday and burial use, reports a new archeological study from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. Using AI-assisted techniques and geometric morphometrics, the researcher analyzed 243 historic vessels to quantitatively track these changes. The findings provide the first quantitative evidence that major Edo-period historical events influenced not only expensive porcelains production but also everyday ceramics, offering new insights into early modern Japanese society.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have demonstrated that a coconut-derived biofuel produced from off-grade coconuts can be used in aviation gas turbine engines. Combustion tests showed thermal efficiency comparable to conventional Jet A-1 fuel, highlighting the biofuel’s potential as a sustainable aviation fuel alternative.

Physicists at the ARC Centre for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) have fabricated a new way to make wire-grid polarisers at a fraction of the cost of current options on the market – using an ordinary sheet of aluminium kitchen foil and a nanosecond laser with precisely controlled pulses.