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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 12:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)

A physicist’s fresh look at the ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ reveals hope for cooperation

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The “prisoner’s dilemma” is one of the most famous ideas in game theory. It even appeared in the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, which told the story of mathematician John Nash.

For decades, this game has been used to explain why selfishness often beats cooperation.

In the prisoner’s dilemma, two players can either cooperate or cheat. Cheating always seems to pay off more, so both players end up cheating and losing out even though working together would have given them the biggest reward.

Scientists have long used this idea to understand everything from microbes sharing resources to human societies negotiating peace. The takeaway message? In the evolutionary race, cheaters win.

A new study led by Rutgers physicist Alexandre Morozov turns that assumption upside down. His research[KL1] , published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that cooperation can emerge naturally without special rules or genetic ties.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Center for Quantitative Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Interdisciplinary Computational Physics Laboratory at the Racah Institute of Physics

Revealing molecular cooperation: macrocyclic host molecules work together on a surface

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A collaborative research team from Kanazawa University and Kyoto University reports in the Journal of the American Chemical Society the successful visualization of how densely assembled macrocyclic host molecules cooperate to capture guest molecules on a surface. Using two advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques, the team directly observed host–guest complex formation and reversible association–dissociation dynamics at the single-molecule level. The study reveals that when one macrocyclic molecule captures a guest molecule, this event influences neighboring host molecules and promotes further guest capture. This cooperative behavior emerges only when the host molecules are densely assembled on a surface. The findings provide new insight into how surface-confined molecular interactions give rise to cooperative behavior and could contribute to the design of next-generation chemical sensors, separation systems, and storage materials.

The first-time direct observation of exotic charge-neutral quasiparticles in twisted tungsten diselenide

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have for the first time observed Goldstone modes — elusive, charge-neutral quasiparticles — in a twisted tungsten diselenide superlattice. Using an ultrafast imaging technique, the researchers were able to directly capture these collective excitation, which are associated with quantum phenomena such as superconductivity and other collective quantum behaviors.

Shooting for the moon: Ultrastable lasers in dark craters could enable lunar navigation, precision timekeeping, new science

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Lunar craters in permanent shadow could be ideal locations for building the most stable optical lasers ever made. The ultrastable laser could provide a GPS-like signal enabling spacecraft to navigate the Moon’s surface and more. Jun Ye, a physicist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his colleagues describe their proposal in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The Moon’s frigid polar regions, where permanently shadowed craters reside, have a low-vibration, high vacuum environment that’s highly suitable for ultrastable lasers. Such a laser could lock its frequencies onto signals from optical atomic clocks on satellites, providing the first atomic timekeeping signal on an extraterrestrial body. Networks of these lasers could make possible highly precise measurements of the distance between satellites and the lunar surface and could potentially even detect gravitational waves passing through.

These polar regions, which are designated as possible landing sites for future missions in NASA’s Artemis program, remain central to long-term lunar exploration because they contain water-ice and other resources needed to maintain a human presence.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Neutralizing smelly dog breath with plant extracts

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pet owners love their dogs but may not always love the smell of their breath. Because this bad odor can signal oral disease, veterinary clinics will prescribe daily tooth brushing, antibiotics or chemical rinses as treatment. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry propose an alternative: polyphenols from molasses. They developed a spray that reduced stinky breath and harmful oral bacteria in dogs.

Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

TEGNet: AI that freely designs thermoelectric devices

National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

NIMS developed TEGNet (Thermoelectric Generator Neural Network), a neural network for designing thermoelectric generators by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). TEGNet can predict performance of a power generator, a process which used to take enormous computational time with traditional simulation techniques, with only about 1/10,000 of the time conventionally needed, while maintaining over 99% accuracy. This technology significantly accelerates optimization from material development to device design, and is expected to be applied to waste heat recovery and stand-alone power supply for IoT sensors, for example. This research result was published in Nature at 11:00 U.S. Eastern Standard Time, April 15, 2026 (0:00 Japan Standard Time, April 16, 2026).

Journal: Nature
Funder: Japan Science and Technology Agency

SwRI findings reconsider the existence of Europa’s vapor plumes

Southwest Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

SAN ANTONIO — May 18, 2026 — Looking back at 14 years of Hubble telescope data for Jupiter’s moon Europa has given Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists a better understanding of its tenuous atmosphere. The findings have cast doubt on previous evidence suggesting that the icy moon intermittently discharges faint water plumes from a presumed subsurface ocean.

Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Unlocking the mysteries of interfacial processes in zinc-ion batteries through multiscale advanced characterization techniques

Tsinghua University Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted significant interest as safe, low-cost, and environmentally friendly energy storage systems. However, their performance and stability are limited by complex interfacial phenomena such as zinc dendrite growth, parasitic side reactions, and the evolution of the solid electrolyte interphase. These processes are inherently dynamic and span multiple spatial and temporal scales, posing challenges to traditional ex situ characterization techniques. To address this, advanced in situ and operando techniques have been developed, broadly categorized into imaging, spectroscopic, synchrotron scattering/diffraction, and coupled mass spectrometry approaches. These methods enable real-time visualization and chemical analysis of the electrode/electrolyte interface, providing insights into nucleation and dissolution dynamics, interfacial chemical transformations, and the mechanisms driving dendrite formation and parasitic reactions. Through the integration of these complementary techniques, structural evolution can be correlated with electrochemical behavior, elucidating the underlying physicochemical mechanisms. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in in situ and operando characterization methods and highlights their contributions to understanding interfacial stability in aqueous ZIBs. Future directions emphasizing multi-modal strategies and data integration to guide the rational design of high-performance ZIBs are discussed. These insights are expected to accelerate the development of next-generation aqueous energy storage systems.

Journal: Nano Research

Characteristic features of the resonant trident process in the field of a strong monochromatic electromagnetic wave

ELSP
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The resonant trident process (Oleinik's resonances) in the field of a strong electromagnetic wave and ultrarelativistic initial and final particles has been theoretically studied. Resonant kinematics and resonant differential and total rates are obtained. Published in Quantum Research. The results obtained can be used to describe experiments at high-intensity lasers centers, as well as in astrophysics near neutron stars and supernovae.