A NIMS research team fabricated heat-resistant steel test specimens using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)—a form of metal 3D printing—and subjected them to creep testing for up to 10,000 hours. The results demonstrated that LPBF significantly extended the creep lives of the specimens, achieving at least a 10-fold increase over heat-resistant steel produced through conventional heat-treatment processes.

CLEVELAND—On Tuesday, Jan. 14, President Biden awarded nearly 400 scientists and engineers the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. Four of the awardees are Case Western Reserve University engineering faculty: A. Bolu Ajiboye, Christine Duval, Burcu Gurkan and Steve Majerus.

In a major advancement for energy storage, researchers have developed an innovative in situ polymerized quasi-solid polymer electrolyte (DS-QSPE) that addresses critical challenges in room-temperature sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries. This breakthrough technology effectively mitigates common issues such as void-filled interfaces and the polysulfide shuttle effect, which have long hindered the practical application of Na-S batteries. By significantly enhancing ionic conductivity and sodium-ion transference, the DS-QSPE extends the lifespan and boosts the electrochemical performance of these batteries, offering a promising solution for large-scale energy storage and paving the way for more reliable and efficient energy systems.

The Heineman Foundation, American Institute of Physics, and American Astronomical Society are pleased to announce Priyamvada Natarajan as the winner of the 2025 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics. Natarajan was selected for her groundbreaking contributions to advancing our understanding of dark matter substructure in galaxy clusters, the formation and fueling of black holes, and their feedback into the surrounding environment. As a theoretical physicist with an interest in dark matter and black holes, she has focused on making maps of dark matter in galaxy clusters, the largest known concentrations of dark matter.

DDT soil pollution is still a major problem in many parts of the world. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new method to manage ecological risks from the toxin by binding it with biochar. When they mixed biochar into contaminated soil at a former tree nursery, DDT uptake by earthworms in the soil was halved. This method may enable the growing of certain crops on land that is currently considered unusable due to the environmental risks.

In a paper published in National Science Review, an international team of scientists propose a machine-learned protocol to efficiently and accurately monitor the chemical evolution processes using infrared spectroscopy descriptor. Illustrated with the example of C–C coupling in catalytic reactions, this introduces an intuitive strategy for fingerprinting chemical configurations to using them for assigning dynamic structural information via machine learning approach.

The chemical composition of a material alone sometimes reveals little about its properties. The decisive factor is often the arrangement of the molecules in the atomic lattice structure or on the surface of the material. Materials science utilises this factor to create certain properties by applying individual atoms and molecules to surfaces with the aid of high-performance microscopes. This is still extremely time-consuming and the constructed nanostructures are comparatively simple. Using artificial intelligence, a new research group at TU Graz now wants to take the construction of nanostructures to a new level: “We want to develop a self-learning AI system that positions individual molecules quickly, specifically and in the right orientation, and all this completely autonomously,” says Oliver Hofmann from the Institute of Solid State Physics, who heads the research group. This should make it possible to build highly complex molecular structures, including logic circuits in the nanometre range. The “Molecule arrangement through artificial intelligence” research group is receiving funding totalling 1.19 million euros from the Austrian Science Fund.