High-performance nanophotonic devices require extreme depth-to-diameter ratios, which are notoriously difficult to fabricate. Towards this goal, scientists in China developed a novel technique combining femtosecond laser writing with spherical-aberration enhancement to create nanohole-clad waveguides in single crystals. This breakthrough achieves record aspect ratios exceeding 50,000:1, enabling highly sensitive optical sensing and opening new avenues for 3D functional photonic integration and multi-functional integrated devices.

Traditional histopathological tissue analysis depends on staining, which translates biological structures into colors. By instead studying how the polarization state of light is altered, it is possible to extract information about the tissue without staining, while additionally gathering data suitable for automated analysis. In the published paper we present a metasurface polarimeter designed for such measurements and benchmark it against a commercially available system.

Wild gray bats adjust their echolocation calls based on the other bats in their flying group and the obstacles in their way, per analysis of a colony in Virginia. 

Researchers at University of Toronto’s Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry have made a key discovery about how certain bacterial strains produce a set of economically valuable chemicals — opening the door to new, more sustainable production methods. The finding, published in Nature Microbiology, shows how a family of molecules used in everything from cleaning products to cosmetics to nutritional supplements could be made via bacterial fermentation instead of from palm oil, as they are today.