Acoustic metamaterials can shape sound well, but most rely on rigid structures that are hard to reconcile with transparency, broadband performance and flexibility. Researchers have now developed a hydrogel metapad that brings these properties together in one platform, improving ultrasound imaging of blood vessels and the heart while suggesting new opportunities for underwater acoustics.

In an effort to develop catalysts from abundant and inexpensive elements, researchers from Kyushu University have found that mixing methanol, iron ions, and sodium hydroxide and then irradiating it with UV light generates hydrogen gas at rates comparable to those of catalysts used in today’s markets. The team hopes their findings will lead to more sustainable hydrogen energy production.

This systematic review addresses key research gaps in Nymphaea spp. cosmetic applications, establishing a unified translational framework to guide relevant academic research and industrial development.

Frank Würthner, a professor of chemistry at the University of Würzburg, receives the Izatt-Christensen Award, the highest international honour in the field of supramolecular chemistry.

Vaping is largely believed to be a safer alternative to cigarettes, but new research shows that vaping devices can deliver toxic metals directly into lung tissue.

In the era of precision cosmology, research often means big science: large observatories, highly complex instruments, international collaborations and substantial funding. Yet even in such an advanced field, progress is still possible — including in the search for elusive dark matter — through more agile approaches, driven by small teams and young researchers, supported by institutions and a good dose of ingenuity. In a paper just published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP), a group of then-undergraduate students from the University of Hamburg built a cavity detector to search for axions — among the most promising candidates for dark matter — and set new experimental limits on their properties. The result was achieved with relatively limited resources, showing that even small-scale experiments can make a meaningful contribution to one of the most open challenges in modern physics.

The Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT)—led by Illinois Institute of Technology faculty Thomas Irving, Professor of Biology; Weikang Ma, Professor of Biology; and Jesse Hopkins, Professor of Physics—has received the first installment of $2.6 million of a renewal award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to continue operating the BioCAT beamline at Sector 18-ID at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory for the next five years.