A study in Science Advances that describes a new soft robotic system was co-led by Harvard Professor L. Mahadevan in collaboration with Professor Ho-Young Kim at Seoul National University. Their work paves new directions for future, low-power swarm robotics.

The new robots, called link-bots, are comprised of centimeter-scale, 3D-printed particles strung into V-shaped chains via notched links and are capable of coordinated, life-like movements without any embedded power or control systems. 

Polarized terahertz (THz) waves offer unique advantages for diagnostic medical imaging, but scattering mechanisms in tissue remain unclear. To address this knowledge gap, researchers from Stony Brook University developed a comprehensive model of polarized THz wave scattering from biological structures. Using simulations, tissue phantoms, and porcine skin samples as validation, they showed that microscopic tissue changes can be identified from polarization measurements, offering a promising path for the early detection of cancer.

Cambridge University Press has published a new book co-authored by researchers from the University of Warsaw, offering both an introduction to machine learning and deep neural networks, and an overview of their applications in quantum physics and chemistry — from reinforcement learning for controlling quantum experiments to neural networks used as representations of many-body quantum states.The book appears at a time when artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly recognized tool for scientific discovery — a development recently recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for the AlphaFold tool. It serves as a timely guide for PhD students and researchers looking to apply modern machine learning methods to complex quantum problems.

A microscopic enzyme could be the key to helping nitrogen fertilizers stick better to the soil and prevent run-off that causes harmful algal blooms, according to a new review article published by a Michigan State University research team.

During embryonic development, thousands of cells divide and move as one. Understanding the mechanisms that coordinate this collective behavior remains a significant challenge in biology and the physics of living systems. Researchers from UC San Diego have discovered that avian embryos control their size and shape using modular, independent physical mechanisms. This work may help develop strategies for engineering synthetic biomaterials.