Inspired by naturally-occurring mats and balls of seaweed, researchers have created highly-porous, superadhesive meshes that are capable of capturing both large and small microplastic particles – a longstanding challenge in the field. The mesh can clean microplastics from both saltwater and freshwater and is made from sustainable and widely available biopolymers.

A University of Kansas project to design and build two cutting-edge particle detectors for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has been approved for funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or DOE EPSCoR.

The analytical results reveal a clear transition between a regime governed by the snow slab that detaches and another governed by the weak layer, or its interface, along which the fracture propagates. In the presence of a stiffer weak layer or interface, the crack may 'feel' a local stiffness greater than the global one, and therefore appear to propagate at a globally supersonic speed while remaining locally subsonic. This finding at least partially reconciles the different interpretations reported in the avalanche literature and is based on a characteristic energy length previously introduced to explain the two propagation regimes that had already emerged from numerical studies.

SUMMARY: The U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory (NSF NSO) announced today a major breakthrough in solar physics. Using the world's most powerful solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope near the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā, combined with computer simulations, an international team of scientists from the NSO, NSF NCAR High Altitude Observatory (HAO), and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) found the signature of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI), tiny swirling patterns like small whirlpools, on the Sun's surface. Researchers suggest that KHI might be a key reason why the Sun's outer atmosphere gets so hot, and why magnetic energy builds up and moves around on the Sun. Magnetic energy fuels solar flares and eruptions—the kind of solar activity that can send bursts of energy toward Earth and affect satellites, power grids, and other technology. The discovery opens a new window into the fundamental physics of the Sun and other stars while underscoring the unmatched capabilities of the Inouye Solar Telescope.

Images from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope and computer simulations reveal tiny vortices on the Sun’s surface that have never been seen before. The discovery is a major breakthrough. It may help us understand how energy builds up in the Sun’s magnetic field before being explosively released. Researchers from the NSF National Solar Observatory (U.S.), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany), and the High Altitude Observatory (U.S.) report their discovery in the journal Nature. The researchers interpret the vortices as signs of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. This effect occurs where fluids flow past one another at different speeds.

Future quantum technologies require efficient ways to connect matter-based quantum states with light. One promising approach uses excitons—quasiparticles formed when light creates bound electron-hole pairs inside a semiconductor. Excitons interact strongly with light, making them attractive for quantum communication and photonic technologies. Boston College researchers report in Nature Nanotechnology they created an electrically tunable quantum nano-scale corral that traps charged excitons and enables precise electrical control of tiny light sources, including their brightness, color, and quantum states.