A world-first multi-sensor detection of an intense gamma-ray flash has been observed by researchers from The University of Osaka, when two lightning leaders collided. Observations across a wide radiation spectrum enabled precise measurement of the electric current produced during this extreme event, and demonstrated that the gamma-ray flash preceded the collision of the lightning leaders between the thundercloud and the ground.

Recently, Professor Guanjun Xiao and Professor Bo Zou from Jilin University, along with Dr. Kuo Li from Beijing High Pressure Science Research Center and Professor Man-Rong Li from Hainan University, published a Mini-Review titled “Chemical Synthesis Driven by High Pressure” in CCS Chemistry. The article provides a comprehensive review of the current progress and future prospects of high-pressure-driven chemical synthesis, offering constructive guidance for the design and development of high-performance materials.

Located in modern-day Turkey, the ancient underground city Derinkuyu spanned seven levels, with four main ventilation channels and over 50,000 other smaller shafts. Researcher Sezin Nas re-created its ancient soundscape, studying both the history of the city as well as its architecture. She analyzed three types of spaces — a church, a living area, and a kitchen — and considered the room functions, sources of sounds, and even reverberations when creating a 3D virtual soundscape that will eventually allow a listener to experience the sounds of the city.

Soliton microcombs face challenges from timing jitter, which limits their precision in applications like lidar and optical communications. To overcome this, researchers developed a dispersion-managed silicon nitride microresonator that suppresses avoided mode crossings. The device operates at an 89 GHz repetition rate and achieves femtosecond-level jitter, setting a new performance benchmark for chip-scale combs and enabling advances in space navigation, ultrafast data transfer, and quantum metrology.

With the declared aim of measuring matter under extreme pressure, an international research collaboration headed by the University of Rostock and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) used the high-performance laser DIPOLE 100-X at the European XFEL for the first time in 2023. With spectacular results: In this initial experiment they managed to study liquid carbon – an unprecedented achievement as the researchers report in the journal Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09035-6).

SAN ANTONIO — May 20, 2022 — Southwest Research Institute scientists have discovered how solar activity affects the velocity distribution and evolution of helium pickup ions.