A research team from the Harbin Institute of Technology have fabricated tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide (WₓV₁₋ₓO₂) films that exhibit exceptional dynamic radiative properties, paving the way for innovative thermal management systems. The integration of advanced in situ characterization methodologies, the team has elucidated the fundamental relationships between fabrication process parameters and the temperature-dependent optoelectronic properties of the film.

The new polycrystalline WₓV₁₋ₓO₂ films demonstrated a remarkable ability to modulate infrared radiation in response to temperature changes. By precisely controlling oxygen flow rates and post-annealing temperatures during fabrication, scientists have achieved materials capable of dynamically adjusting their emissivity range from 0.25 to 0.87 within the atmospheric transparency window. This significant range allows buildings and devices to optimize heat loss or retention adaptively, greatly reducing energy consumption.

A 2.35-billion-year-old meteorite with a unique chemical signature, found in Africa in 2023, plugs a major gap in our understanding of the Moon’s volcanic history.

Recreating artificial solar eclipses in space could help astronomers decipher the inner workings of our Sun much quicker than if they had to wait for the celestial show on Earth. The plan, part of a UK-led space mission to be unveiled at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham, would involve the use of a mini-satellite and the Moon's shadow to achieve the closest-ever views of the Sun's atmosphere. The Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission (MESOM) proposes a novel way to study the inner solar corona – the innermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, which is usually only visible during fleeting total solar eclipses on Earth.