Oxyfluoride crystals are promising electrolyte candidates for safer solid-state lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Two years ago, a new oxyfluoride was reported to have an unusually large lithium-ion conductivity. Now, researchers from Nagoya University in Japan have uncovered why it works so well and attained a record-high conductivity at room temperature among oxide-related solid electrolytes.

A research group in Japan led by Professor YAMAMOTO Takashi, Deputy Director, Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology / Graduate School of Engineering Science, the University of Osaka, in collaboration with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., has successfully demonstrated a world-record 10-channel multiplexed quantum photonic interface based on an integrated waveguide array, a key technology for optically interconnecting multiple quantum computers.

Conformational changes in proteins are vital to their function yet remain challenging for state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, such as AlphaFold3, to predict. Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI introduced a repulsive force between predicted structures, allowing AlphaFold3 to sample the multiple conformational states that its default settings rarely capture.

Proteins with exposed arginine can selectively accumulate even on protein-resistant coatings, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. Through an in-depth analysis of which and how proteins adhere to various anti-fouling surfaces, the team found arginine disrupts the protective water layer that normally blocks adsorption. Their results will help scientists develop safer and more effective biocompatible materials for medical devices, such as stents and advanced biosensors.

Volatile resistive switching in electron systems is crucial for developing next-generation electronics. However, its underlying mechanism remains underexplored. In a new study, researchers explore the effect of Joule heating on resistive switching in a bulk organic conductor with a sharp metal-insulator transition (MIT) and weak heat dissipation. The study offers crucial insights for understanding the intermediate resistance state in bulk crystals with MIT, offering a pathway toward developing durable and efficient resistive switching technologies.

Targeted drug delivery directly to the liver has unlocked major breakthroughs across medicine, but constructing the chemical key to enter liver cells remains complex and costly. Researchers have now introduced a nature-inspired, mobile delivery platform utilizing polyrotaxanes—supramolecular thread-like polymers where ring-shaped cyclodextrin molecules can freely rotate and slide along a central axle chain, effectively bypassing traditional synthetic bottlenecks.

An international team of researchers led by Kavli IPMU have used the JWST to uncover growing black holes that existed approximately 12.5 to 12.8 billion years ago, which are heading toward a merger.

Hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) are hybrid light–matter waves that can confine infrared electromagnetic fields to spatial scales far below the corresponding free-space wavelength. Controlling HPhPs on femtosecond timescales could provide a foundation for future ultrafast and ultracompact nanophotonic devices. However, directly imaging such ultrafast dynamics has remained challenging because HPhPs are strongly dispersive and their wavelength changes markedly with frequency. Broadband femtosecond laser pulses therefore excite HPhPs over a range of wavelengths, causing their interference patterns to overlap and wash out in real-space images. In this study, researchers developed an ultrafast infrared near-field optical microscopy technique that combines nanoscale spatial resolution and an approximately 150-femtosecond temporal resolution with a spectral resolution of about 10 cm⁻¹. By using a diffraction grating to spectrally resolve the light scattered from the microscope tip before detection, the technique enables frequency-selective imaging without sacrificing ultrafast time resolution. Applying the new technique to a van der Waals heterostructure composed of tungsten disulfide (WS₂) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), the researchers revealed how photoexcited charge carriers generated in WS₂ transiently modulate HPhPs propagating in the adjacent hBN. The researchers observed changes in the HPhP electric-field amplitude and, in structures containing a relatively thick WS₂ layer, a change in the HPhP wavelength. The researchers say, “The results establish a new platform for observing and controlling nanoscale light propagation on femtosecond timescales, opening new opportunities for ultrafast nanophotonics”.

Instead of producing graphene at temperatures as high as 900°C, researchers at Tohoku University found a way to lower this to 300 °C. Even better, the material used to achieve this can be easily obtained from industrial waste.

The manipulation of a ferromagnet’s magnetization by circularly polarized light is traditionally explained by an effective magnetic field aligned with the light wavevector. Researchers at AIMR studying cobalt-platinum alloy films found a substantial, previously unreported torque that this picture cannot account for—one driven instead by electrons’ orbital angular momentum, coupled to magnetization through spin-orbit interaction.