The appearance of a hot sauce or pepper doesn’t reveal whether it’s mild or likely to scorch someone’s taste buds. So, researchers made an artificial tongue to quickly detect spiciness. Inspired by milk’s casein proteins, which bind to capsaicin and relieve the burn of spicy foods, the researchers incorporated milk powder into a gel sensor. The prototype, reported in ACS Sensors, detected capsaicin and pungent-flavored compounds (like those behind garlic’s zing) in various foods.

A team of researchers from Tianjin University has developed a novel tree-like nitrogen-doped carbon (T-NC) support structure that addresses key challenges in fuel cell technology—cost, performance, and durability. Published in Front. Energy, this innovation enables low-platinum (Pt) loaded fuel cells to deliver superior efficiency and longer lifespan, bringing the widespread commercialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles one step closer.

Crystal structure prediction (CSP) of organic molecules is a critical task, especially in pharmaceuticals and materials science. However, conventional methods are computationally intensive and time-consuming. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a new workflow: SPaDe-CSP that accelerates CSP by machine learning-based prediction of most probable space groups and crystal densities and employing an efficient neural network potential for structure refinement. It achieved faster and more reliable CSP than conventional methods.

In nature, living systems effortlessly sense, move, and adapt to changing environments. Replicating such dynamic behavior in artificial materials has long challenged scientists. A recent study introduces supramolecular robotics—a molecular design strategy that enables soft materials to exhibit autonomous motion, reversible transformations, and tissue-like organization. This innovation marks a key step toward creating programmable, life-like systems that blur the line between chemistry and robotics.

In a project originally launched to pilot a new idea sparked by curiosity, ICFO researchers and collaborators have now uncovered new insights into how physical stresses (which might encode mechanical information) spread across the membranes of neurons. In a Nature Physics article, the team presents the most detailed description to date of this process, which is key to explaining how several fundamental biological processes unfold, from embryo development to the sense of touch.

The study focuses on two different sensory receptors in the neurons of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, showing that they propagate tension differently. More surprisingly, the researchers discovered that not only the presence of obstacles in the cell’s membrane, but also their arrangement, affects how far the tension propagates. This arrangement acts as a regulatory switch: it can keep signals concentrated and localized or let mechanical information travel over extended distances further through the neuron.