The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Kairos Power have entered into a $27 million strategic partnership to accelerate the technology needed to deploy a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors and support U.S. nuclear energy goals.  The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Kairos Power have entered into a $27 million strategic partnership to accelerate the technology needed to deploy a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors and support U.S. nuclear energy goals.  

In the pursuit of powerful and stable quantum computers, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed the theory for an entirely new quantum system – based on the novel concept of ‘giant superatoms’. This breakthrough enables quantum information to be protected, controlled, and distributed in new ways and could be a key step towards building quantum computers at scale.

Researchers have developed a unified theory of microcavity OLEDs, guiding the design of more efficient and sustainable devices. The work reveals a surprising trade-off: squeezing light too tightly inside OLEDs can actually reduce performance, and maximum efficiency is achieved through a delicate balance of material and cavity parameters.

In collaboration with the European Union pollinator projects community, scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft launched Advances in Pollinator Research, a new multidisciplinary, community-driven peer-reviewed journal set to transform how pollinator science is shared and translated into real-world action.

Researchers used a virus-based CRISPR system to precisely edit the gatekeeper enzyme HMGR in petunias and lettuce, effectively unlocking a natural metabolic “brake” that restricts scent and nutrient production. By fine-tuning this regulatory control rather than disabling the gene entirely, they enabled plants to channel more energy into producing aromatic compounds and health-promoting antioxidants. The result was more vigorous growth, stronger floral fragrance, and enhanced nutritional value. Importantly, because no foreign DNA was introduced, this transgene-free approach offers a powerful new framework for developing higher-quality, nutrient-enriched crops through precision gene editing.

The widespread presence of microplastics (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has negative impacts on human and marine life. However, the traditional MP detection methods are time-consuming and limited by detection thresholds. Now, researchers have revealed that electrochemical sensors based on metal oxide electrodes are a suitable alternative for MP detection. They highlight that metal oxides offer superior properties such as high surface area, tunable conductivity, and chemical stability, making them highly sensitive, affordable, and applicable in real-time.