A German–Israeli research team led by Dr. Andreas Furchner has demonstrated how imaging ellipsometry enables non-destructive characterisation and quality control of microstructured MXene thin films during device fabrication. The authors used two complementary ellipsometry approaches for precise, multi-scale access to key material properties. The work positions imaging ellipsometry as a powerful platform for monitoring thin-film uniformity, device integrity, and functionality throughout processing, including critical lithographic steps.  The study was published in Applied Physics Letters and selected as an Editor’s Pick.

Researchers found that a small change in 3D-printing settings can help produce better-fitting permanent dental crowns. Crowns printed at moderate angles performed best overall. Thinner layers improved accuracy and fit, while thicker layers produced more consistent results across repeated prints.

The production of many products used in everyday life and in industry, such as pharmaceuticals, plastics, and coatings, requires chemical catalysts, often expensive noble metals with limited availability. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are now presenting the first air stable iron compound, which enables the direct use of iron(I) for catalysis and, unlike previous methods, does not require strong reducing agents. A first test yielded active iron catalysts. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c01660)

A new international study quantifies, for the first time, how data losses in ocean monitoring would severely degrade the ocean heat estimates that underpin weather prediction, El Niño forecasting, and fisheries management.

It is known that the antiepileptic drug valproate increases the risk of developmental disorders in unborn children. A study conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the University of Tübingen, and the University Heidelberg using lab-grown tissue models of the human brain gives new insights into the effects this drug has on early brain development. They open up new avenues for research to mitigate the risk during pregnancy. The study has been published in the Molecular Psychiatry journal.  (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03585-5)

A team of researchers from the Max Born Institute, the Ferdinand Braun Institute, the University of Augsburg, and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has now succeeded in directly imaging the effect of short current pulses on a skyrmion. The researchers used a special form of x-ray microscopy with extremely short x-ray flashes at the synchrotron-radiation source PETRA III at DESY in Hamburg. This yielded a movie consisting of picosecond-short snapshots of the magnetization during and after a current pulse, with a spatial resolution of just a few nanometers. To capture these fleeting processes at all, the team used a focused helium-ion beam to prepare a spot of only 100 nanometers in the sample. At this spot, a skyrmion of about the same size is reliably created with every current pulse.

Quantum particles in imperfect or quasiperiodic environments may spread, become localized, or enter critical states with fractal wave functions. These behaviors can combine into seven fundamental localization phases, but a unified framework for all of them has been missing. A team led by Prof. Xiong-Jun Liu at Peking University has now developed a generic spin-1/2 quasiperiodic system that captures all the fundamental phases, proves three theorems, constructs new exactly solvable models, and proposes the implementation with ultracold atoms in optical Raman lattices.

Biomolecules, also known as organic molecules, include sugars, proteins and lipids and are the building blocks of all life. They play a role in the structure and metabolism of all living organisms. To make them visible under a microscope, researchers use special dyes to make them glow. A research team at the University of Göttingen has now developed a new method to do this better. Unlike conventional approaches, the luminescent dye is not added to the sample as a ready-made product. Instead, it only begins to glow as it binds to the target molecule. This solves the old problem of pre-made dyes remaining in the sample even when they are not bound to the target molecule, which interferes with imaging. The research was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.