Researchers at the University of Basel and the ETH in Zurich have succeeded in changing the polarity of a special ferromagnet using a laser beam. In the future, this method could be used to create adaptable electronic circuits with light.

Writing in Nature, a team led by physicists Cory Dean from Columbia University and Jia Li from the University of Texas at Austin has observed a superfluid, which normally remains in constant motion, come to a standstill. “For the first time, we’ve seen a superfluid undergo a phase transition to become what appears to be a supersolid,” said Dean. It’s like water freezing to ice, but at the quantum level.

A development at Stanford turns qubits, quantum bits of information, stored in atoms into light, and for the first time, collects that information using one photon for each atom simultaneously. This “parallel interface” makes it possible to get information out of the quantum computer quickly and could be scaled up to create networked quantum supercomputers.

Large-scale melting of the Greenland ice sheet is irreversible and happening at a rapid rate, and now a new international study is the first to understand why. 

A University of Waterloo scientist and a team of international collaborators found that airborne mineral dust and other aerosols are directly connected to how much algae grows on the ice. The algae interfere with albedo, or the reflection of the sun’s rays, exacerbating melting.   

A major challenge in thermal-management and thermal-insulation technologies, across multiple industries, is the lack of materials that simultaneously offer low thermal conductivity, mechanical robustness, and scalable fabrication routes. An international team of researchers addresses this long-standing problem by demonstrating that ytterbium nitride alloying in aluminum nitride can dramatically reduce its thermal conductivity to near-amorphous levels without disrupting the crystalline structure. This provides a new industry-compatible solution for high-temperature insulation, cryogenic systems, and semiconductor thermal shielding.

Thermoresponsive mixtures made from poloxamers are widely used in drug delivery, as they remain liquid at room temperature but solidify in response to body heat. However, their gelation behavior is difficult to control. Now, researchers have investigated how mixtures of poloxamers P407 and P188 behave at different temperatures and concentrations. Using a comprehensive approach, they uncovered the molecular mechanisms behind their gelation processes, providing insights into the development of smart therapeutic formulations.