Storing and transporting hydrogen safely and efficiently just got more promising. A new study in Engineering fine-tunes platinum’s d-electron structure via different oxide supports to boost the dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers. The Pt/MgO catalyst stands out with optimized activity and stability, offering a clear path to better hydrogen release catalysts for real‑world use.

Texas A&M University officially opens the world’s largest academic controlled explosions lab, the Detonation Research Test Facility. Here, researchers turn raw energy into physical breakthroughs that could reshape industrial safety, enable hypersonic flights, advance materials and deepen our understanding of the universe itself.

Researchers at McGill University have developed a novel device that generates sound-like particles known as phonons at extremely cold temperatures. The technology could be used to create phonon lasers, with possible applications in communications and medical diagnostics.

The harbour porpoise is the smallest marine mammal in European seas, yet its Black Sea population is currently listed as Endangered. A primary threat is accidental entanglement in turbot fishing nets, which kills thousands of porpoises annually. A new study by Bulgarian researchers, published in the journal Nature Conservation, reveals the PAL Wideband acoustic deterrent (pinger) as a promising solution. When deployed on nets, the device reduces porpoise bycatch by 74%, offering a powerful tool to prevent unnecessary deaths and protect this endangered species.

Synthetic materials rarely mimic the dynamic helicity observed in biological systems like DNA and proteins, often forming fixed structures early in assembly. Inspired by this adaptability, researchers at Chiba University, Keele University, Shizuoka University, Kanazawa University, and Ritsumeikan University developed a chlorophyll-based supramolecular polymer that gradually evolves from nonhelical fibers into helical structures through intermediate stages. This stepwise, cooperative transformation offers a new strategy for designing adaptive materials with tunable optical and electronic properties.

After a surprising discovery that overcomes a longstanding problem in fiber optics, MIT researchers demonstrated a biomedical imaging technique that is faster and more precise than other methods, which could help scientists and clinicians study new brain therapies.

Interpreting Fermi surface data requires specialized expertise and is vulnerable to noise, creating a bottleneck in materials research. Researchers now demonstrate a machine learning approach that can analyze simulated Fermi surface images of the alloy Co₂MnGa_xGe_1-x and automatically identify compositions where the Fermi surface morphology changes, even in blurred or noisy data. The method reduces the need for manual screening and could accelerate the discovery of advanced electronic materials.