The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has put the HoreKa 2 Supercomputer into operation. The new system will support researchers in their efforts to address complex scientific issues, such as climate, new materials, particle physics, energy, and mobility as well as AI research, more quickly. For this purpose, it combines powerful high-performance computing and modern AI technologies. The total cost of the facility amounts to EUR 17 million.

Researchers at Ritsumeikan University and collaborating institutions have shown that counteranions control the solid-state assembly of paramagnetic thiaporphyrin Cu^II complex cations and thereby tune their magnetic behavior. PCCp⁻ formed a charge-by-charge assembly without significant spin–spin interaction, whereas nonplanar counteranions promoted π-stacked cation dimers exhibiting antiferromagnetic interactions. These findings demonstrate that ion-pairing assembly can control molecular spin arrangements, providing a strategy for designing supramolecular materials with tunable magnetic properties for spintronic applications.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo used advanced instruments to watch small crystals on a scale of about one millionth of a meter as they soaked up chloroform. Parts of these crystals were found to work together to change shape, and some crystals began to move. Understanding these effects could lead to the design of new high-tech devices, such as sensors for pollutants.

Researchers at Tsinghua University have developed silicon valley photonic molecular crystals that preserve topologically protected light transport under strong rotational disorder. Inspired by molecular crystals, the platform utilizes randomly oriented silicon photonic “molecules” to explore how molecular rotation affects the topological properties. Combining theoretical modeling, simulations, and experiments, the team demonstrated robust edge states for random rotation angle ranges within 60 degrees. The findings provide a framework for characterizing disordered topological systems and suggest new opportunities for highly-robust photonic circuits and programmable optical platforms. This work would also inspire analogous studies in condensed-matter, acoustic, and cold-atom platforms.

Billions of years ago, rain may have helped shape where the chemistry of life could begin on Mars. A new study maps the delivery of formaldehyde, an important prebiotic molecule, to the surface. The map could help guide future Mars missions searching for signs of the planet’s early organic evolution. 

A joint research team from Saitama University and the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (BIKAKEN) has developed a polymerizable monomer from 4-trehalosamine, a biologically stable and chemically modifiable analog of trehalose, and used it to prepare water-soluble polyacrylamides with tunable compositions. By taking advantage of the uniquely reactive amino group of 4-trehalosamine, the approach provides a new route for incorporating this sugar into synthetic polymers at controlled levels. Unlike conventional carbohydrate-containing polymers that often require complex protection and deprotection chemistry, the new approach exploits the naturally occurring amino group of 4-trehalosamine to introduce polymerizable functionality selectively and efficiently. The resulting platform may facilitate the design of carbohydrate-containing polymers for biotechnology and advanced functional materials.

Antibiotic residues in water are an emerging environmental concern because conventional treatment processes may not remove them completely. Now, researchers have shown that carefully tuning the balance of nitrogen and boron in biochar made from waste sawdust can greatly improve its ability to activate an oxidant and break down the widely used antibiotic sulfamethoxazole.

To bridge the gap between carbon monoxide's notorious toxicity and its hidden potential in biology, Dr. Matthew R. Dent, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, has received a prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. The five-year, $749,702 grant supports his project, "CAREER: Carbon Monoxide Sensing, Selectivity, and Signaling in Microbes."

A new 0.36-mm² photonic chip is set to advance industrial swept-source optical coherence tomography, according to a study in PhotoniX Synergy. The compact system demonstrated high-precision performance, including imaging a smartphone camera, measuring silica wafers with sub-2 µm absolute error, and gauging photoresist height with a relative error of less than 0.12%. Additionally, the integration of a ball-lens fiber probe allows for 3D imaging inside narrow, hard-to-reach industrial components