In a new paper published in Nature Communications, Michele Simoncelli, assistant professor of applied physics at Columbia, sets a benchmark for evaluating ML models that aim to predict the thermal and mechanical properties of different materials. The benchmark, developed with colleagues Balázs Póta, Paramvir Ahlawat, and Gábor Csányi at the University of Cambridge, adds a critical new level of physics-awareness to computer-driven outputs.

AIP is pleased to announce Dennis Overbye as the winner of the 2026 Andrew Gemant Award. Overbye, the longtime cosmic affairs correspondent at the New York Times before retiring in December 2024, was chosen for “being a beacon of science communication over many years, illuminating the frontiers and history of physics through eloquent storytelling and informed journalism, and bringing the science and the human endeavor behind it to life for audiences worldwide.”

In the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers explore an eggshell-inspired design as a potential spacecraft protection material. It may seem counterintuitive to use eggshells as a blueprint for strength, but they found that organizing water-filled aluminum eggshells into an array adds useful material properties when placed blunt side down between two aluminum impact plates. Rather than being concentrated within a single eggshell, the energy from an impact gradually dissipates through the material, allowing each shell to sequentially collapse and deform.

Valleytronics, which uses the valley degree of freedom of electrons to encode information, offers a promising route toward next-generation low-power electronic and optoelectronic devices. Researchers from Xiamen University have now shown that introducing graphene into a WS₂/CrBr₃ van der Waals heterostructure can dramatically accelerate interlayer spin-charge transfer, leading to giant valley polarization splitting and markedly improved circularly polarized light detection.

The design of unique fluorescent probes is of paramount importance for boosting the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and improving the sensitivity toward target analytes. Herein, researchers from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported a hydrogen-bond-driven self-assembled sensing system (CdSe/ZnS QDs@FNAC) composed of quantum dots (QDs) capped with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (CdSe/ZnS QDs@MPA) and a naphthol-based molecular probe (FNAC). This system enables a ratiometric fluorescent dual-signal response toward KMnO₄ based on the synergistic mechanism of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT), featuring excellent sensing performance including a fast response speed (1 s), high sensitivity (4.80 nM), a favorable SNR, and negligible interference from other oxidants. The practicality of CdSe/ZnS QDs@FNAC was further verified by integrating a CdSe/ZnS QDs@FNAC-embedded hydrogel-based sensing chip into a portable detector, which enabled the on-site identification of ng-level KMnO₄ particles with high selectivity.

With the rapid development of electronic communication, aerospace, military and medical equipment, the demand for high‑performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials has grown dramatically. A review article led by Prof. Ming‑Guo Ma from Beijing Forestry University systematically summarizes the latest progress in MXene/nanocellulose composites for EMI shielding. The work focuses on three key aspects: preparation strategies, toughening mechanisms (physical, chemical and synergistic), and multidimensional structural design (1D fibers, 2D layered films and 3D networks). The review also analyses current technological limitations and proposes future research directions, offering a roadmap for the rational design of high‑performance, flexible and lightweight EMI shielding composites.