The University of Delaware's Juan Perilla is part of an international team that discovered a previously unknown role for the viral protein integrase, which helps HIV insert itself into human DNA. Reported in Nature, the discovery provides a new frontier for drug development to combat the virus.

America’s research program on the use of liquid metals in fusion energy systems took shape on Jan. 22 at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a world leader in such research. More than 75 fusion leaders from the public and private sectors discussed the infrastructure needed to pursue a fusion program that would use liquid metals to protect the inner components of fusion vessels from the intense heat of plasma and improve their performance.

Radioactive cesium ions, due to their high-water solubility, pose a serious threat to human health and the environment. Conventional adsorbents such as Prussian blue (PB), although effective for cesium removal, often involve complex fabrication and high operational costs. Researchers have now developed an innovative electrochemical electrode by depositing PB onto chemically treated carbon cloth, achieving high cesium adsorption capacity and excellent reusability, with strong potential for practical wastewater treatment applications.

Among the enduring challenges of storing energy—for wind or solar farms, or backup storage for the energy grid or data centers—is batteries that can hold large amounts of electricity for a long time. In addition to having a large capacity—potentially enough to power a neighborhood or small city for days or weeks—ideally these batteries would be safe, affordable and environmentally harmless. With an eye toward meeting those benchmarks, researchers at Case Western Reserve University are developing novel electrolytes—fluids that can conduct ions—for rechargeable flow batteries.

Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed a method to reproducibly form subnanometer pores within a solid-state nanopore. A voltage-driven chemical reaction produces a precipitate that fills and closes the nanopore, while dissolution reopens conductive pathways. This process forms many subnanometer-sized pores, whose effective size can be tuned by changing reactant composition and pH. These ultrasmall pores mimic biological ion channels and enable studies of ion transport in confined spaces.

Researchers at The University of Osaka have created highly transparent wood without plastic additives and revealed that its clarity depends on structural direction. Alkali treatment softens cellulose-based cell walls, allowing internal cavities to collapse during drying and reduce light scattering. Tangential sections become more transparent than radial ones due to anisotropic swelling and densification. The findings offer new design principles for sustainable transparent materials in buildings and advanced devices.