A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides scientists with a powerful new tool for monitoring and predicting tectonic activity deep beneath the seafloor at mid-ocean ridges—vast underwater mountain chains that form where Earth’s tectonic plates diverge.

October 13, 2025 — Scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have discovered a groundbreaking way to control sound and vibrations using a concept inspired by “twistronics,” a phenomenon originally developed for electronics. Their research, published in the journal PNAS, introduces “twistelastics”— a technique that uses tiny rotations between layers of engineered surfaces to manipulate how mechanical waves travel.

Dr. Andrea Toulouse from the Institute of Applied Optics receives €1.8 million in funding from the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung as part of the CZS Nexus program to establish a new junior research group. She conducts research in the field of micro-optics and fiber-based 3D printing. Her vision is to develop 3D printers that will one day be able to build biological tissue directly inside the body.

According to a study by the Department of Physics and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the Mar Menor saltwater lagoon in Murcia, Spain, the largest in Europe, contains sediments with levels of lead, arsenic, zinc, mercury, copper, and silver that exceed toxicity thresholds and values reported for similar coastal ecosystems worldwide.  

A team of physicists the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, the Centre for New Technologies at the University of Warsaw and Emory University (Atlanta, USA) analysed how atoms’ mutual interactions change the way they collectively interact with light. In a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers extend established models of this phenomenon. By showing that direct atom–atom interactions can strengthen a collective burst of light known as superradiance, the team points to new opportunities for quantum technologies.

The translation of terahertz (THz) technology into clinical practice is hampered by the lack of endoscopic systems capable of THz-wave delivering to hard-to-access bio-tissues. Addressing this challenge, the authors begin with a brief overview of THz-based diagnosis of neoplasms. The article then reviews the two existing principles of THz endoscopy: the use of fiber-coupled photoconductive antennas and THz optical fibers. Finally, notable examples of THz endoscopic systems with different guiding mechanisms, material platforms, and manufacturing strategies are discussed.