While compound extreme events across the bulk of the planet are characterized by hot and dry conditions, those over polar ice sheets are predominantly associated with hot and wet conditions, according to a new study by an international research team. Analyzing 42 years of global weather, the researchers found that extreme warm events, or heatwaves, and extreme precipitation events, such as heavy rainfall, overlapped far more in Antarctica than in lower latitudes. This co-occurrence may also accelerate polar ice sheet melting, the team said.

As more products begin to depend on battery-based energy storage systems, shifting away from metal-based solutions will be critical to facilitating the green energy transition. Now, a team at Northwestern University has transformed an organic industrial-scale waste product into an efficient storage agent for sustainable energy solutions that can one day be applied at much larger scales.

In Physics of Fluids, researchers in China focus on enhancing the aerodynamic performance of autonomous vehicles by reducing drag induced by externally mounted sensors such as cameras and light detection and ranging instruments. After establishing an automated computational platform, they combined the experimental design with a substitute model and an optimization algorithm to improve the structural shapes of AV sensors. They then performed simulations of both the baseline and optimized models. After optimizing the design, researchers found a 3.44% decrease in the total aerodynamic drag of an AV.

A new imaging technique using swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) shows promise for improving the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). By integrating an acousto-optic modulator, the system extends its range to capture high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the upper airway during both awake and sleep states. In a study involving a 28-year-old patient with sleep disorder breathing, researchers identified significant airway obstruction, particularly in the oropharynx, and pinpointed obstruction sites using computational fluid dynamics. This innovative approach could enhance surgical decision-making and improve outcomes for OSA patients by providing more accurate, detailed airway assessments.

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a technology for voltage-controlled magnetization switching, which has the potential to be implemented in next-generation computational memory. This advanced technology enables low-energy data writing operations with non-volatility, making it scalable for future applications that require stable and reliable memory.