Researchers from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are opening new markets for America’s fruit growers. Fruit flies are major economic and quarantine pests that impact fresh fruit production and impede international trade. Flies lay their eggs on fruits, making the infested fruit their host, resulting in millions of dollars in damage annually. For international trade, fruits must undergo quarantine treatment or other mitigation measures to control possible infestation by fruit flies and other high-risk pests. 

Physicists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a breakthrough concept in quantum encryption that makes private communication more secure over significantly longer distances, surpassing state-of-the-art technologies. For decades, experts believed such a technology upgrade required perfect optical hardware, namely, light sources that strictly emit one light particle (photon) at a time—something extremely difficult and expensive to build. But the new approach uses innovative encryption protocols applied to tiny, engineered materials called quantum dots to send encrypted information securely, even with imperfect light sources. Real-world tests show it can outperform even the best of current systems, potentially bringing quantum-safe communication closer to everyday use.

A new dataset, the Extensible Building Damage (EBD) dataset, offers significant improvements in disaster response mapping by combining satellite imagery and deep learning techniques. 

Overcoming the limits between operational bandwidth, aperture size, and numerical aperture, while expanding their potential in advanced applications, has been a main focus of research. At the same time, with growing demand for better light control, metalenses are gradually moving toward system-level designs. If a single metalens is like a skilled solo player performing in specific situations, then a group of metalenses working together is like a well-practiced orchestra, able to achieve more complex and flexible control of light. In this context, recent progress in metalens technology follows two main paths: one is the ongoing improvement and expanded functions of single metalenses; the other is the continuous development and new applications of multi-metalens systems.

Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL), first introduced in the 1990s by Professor Stephen Y. Chou at the University of Minnesota (later Princeton University), is a novel nanofabrication technology noted for its advantages in low cost, high resolution, and high throughput. The working principle involves directly imprinting mold patterns into polymeric materials, which are either cooled before demolding for thermoplastics or UV cured or thermal set for crosslinkable precursors to precisely replicate nanoscale features. With rapid advancements in science and industry, the demand for precise and efficient fabrication of semiconductor devices, optical components, and biomedical devices has significantly increased, making NIL an indispensable manufacturing method. The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of NIL. Through three decades of global efforts, NIL has emerged as the primary alternative to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for deep-nanoscale silicon electronics. Many semiconductor companies have recognized NIL's manufacturing quality and are actively evaluating its capability in producing advanced semiconductor devices. Moreover, with its high throughput and 3D patterning capabilities, NIL is becoming a key technology for emerging applications such as flat optics and augmented reality glasses, opening new avenues for material research and novel applications.