While omnidirectional cameras can provide a 360-degree field of view, they often struggle to detect small moving objects, as important visual details are lost due to distortion and low resolution, even when distortion reduction methods are applied. A new study addresses this problem by building an annotated training dataset and refining a You Only Look Once (YOLO)-based detection model through transfer learning. The method substantially outperformed standard YOLO models, especially for small and distant objects.

A German–Israeli research team led by Dr. Andreas Furchner has demonstrated how imaging ellipsometry enables non-destructive characterisation and quality control of microstructured MXene thin films during device fabrication. The authors used two complementary ellipsometry approaches for precise, multi-scale access to key material properties. The work positions imaging ellipsometry as a powerful platform for monitoring thin-film uniformity, device integrity, and functionality throughout processing, including critical lithographic steps.  The study was published in Applied Physics Letters and selected as an Editor’s Pick.

Researchers found that a small change in 3D-printing settings can help produce better-fitting permanent dental crowns. Crowns printed at moderate angles performed best overall. Thinner layers improved accuracy and fit, while thicker layers produced more consistent results across repeated prints.

The production of many products used in everyday life and in industry, such as pharmaceuticals, plastics, and coatings, requires chemical catalysts, often expensive noble metals with limited availability. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are now presenting the first air stable iron compound, which enables the direct use of iron(I) for catalysis and, unlike previous methods, does not require strong reducing agents. A first test yielded active iron catalysts. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c01660)

A new international study quantifies, for the first time, how data losses in ocean monitoring would severely degrade the ocean heat estimates that underpin weather prediction, El Niño forecasting, and fisheries management.

It is known that the antiepileptic drug valproate increases the risk of developmental disorders in unborn children. A study conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the University of Tübingen, and the University Heidelberg using lab-grown tissue models of the human brain gives new insights into the effects this drug has on early brain development. They open up new avenues for research to mitigate the risk during pregnancy. The study has been published in the Molecular Psychiatry journal.  (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03585-5)

A team of researchers from the Max Born Institute, the Ferdinand Braun Institute, the University of Augsburg, and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has now succeeded in directly imaging the effect of short current pulses on a skyrmion. The researchers used a special form of x-ray microscopy with extremely short x-ray flashes at the synchrotron-radiation source PETRA III at DESY in Hamburg. This yielded a movie consisting of picosecond-short snapshots of the magnetization during and after a current pulse, with a spatial resolution of just a few nanometers. To capture these fleeting processes at all, the team used a focused helium-ion beam to prepare a spot of only 100 nanometers in the sample. At this spot, a skyrmion of about the same size is reliably created with every current pulse.