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News from WPI Research Centers

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-May-2025 01:10 ET (17-May-2025 05:10 GMT/UTC)

New dual-atom catalyst boosts performance of zinc-air batteries for real-world applications

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team has unveiled a breakthrough in improving the performance of zinc-air batteries (ZABs), which are an important energy storage technology. This breakthrough involves a new catalyst that significantly boosts the efficiency of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), a crucial process in ZABs. The development could lead to more efficient, long-lasting batteries for practical applications.

Journal: Energy & Environmental Science

Advancing electrocatalyst discovery through the lens of data science

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Data science has revolutionized the hunt for high-performing catalysts, enabling scientists to quickly identify and test suitable materials. A group of researchers has recently reviewed this phenomenon in an article published in the Journal of Catalysis.

Journal: Journal of Catalysis

Turning non-magnetic materials magnetic with atomically thin films

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The rules about magnetic order may need to be rewritten. An international team of researchers found that it was possible to turn a non-magnetic material into a magnetic material by slicing it into thin films.

Journal: Nature Communications

The Squid Galaxy’s neutrino game just leveled up

Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international research team including the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU, WPI) Senior Fellow Alexander Kusenko has published a new study suggesting that galaxy NGC 1068 produces neutrinos but weak gamma rays because helium nuclei may be colliding with ultraviolet light near the galaxy's core, breaking apart and releasing neutrons that eventually decay into neutrinos.

Journal: Physical Review Letters

Visualizing the mechanics of hormone-driven gene activation: Insights into breast cancer

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University have captured real-time footage showing how a key hormone receptor activates genes, offering a clearer view into one of the most fundamental Kaprocesses in biology.

Journal: ACS Nano

New Bayesian method enables rapid detection of quantum dot charge states

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team at Tohoku University’s Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR) has developed a new technique to rapidly and accurately determine the charge state of electrons confined in semiconductor quantum dots—fundamental components of quantum computing systems. The method is based on Bayesian inference, a statistical framework that estimates the most likely state of a system using observed data.

Journal: Physical Review Applied

Gamified sleep-tracking app improves sleep and reduces body mass index in some users

International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, University of Tsukuba
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Tsukuba revealed that the use of a gamified sleep-tracking mobile application led to improvements in sleep parameters and a reduction in body mass index (BMI) among some users. The study analyzed data from 2,063 individuals who used both the sleep-tracking game app Pokémon Sleep (Pokémon, Inc.) and the diet and weight management application ASKEN (Asken, Inc.) over 90 days.

Journal: Sleep Health

How can we optimize solid-state batteries? Try asking AI

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a data-driven AI framework that gives scientists a head start by suggesting ideal candidate materials.

Journal: Angewandte Chemie International Edition

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