Manchester researchers have shown that naturally occurring channels inside vermiculite clay can respond to pressure, voltage and pH, controlling ion flow through spaces only a few angstroms high. The findings suggest common layered materials could help researchers study and control ion transport at extremely small scales.

A paper by Harvard engineers describes a new way to extend quantum coherence using sound waves. 

SAN ANTONIO — August 26, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has expanded its flow component research capabilities to include testing and computational modeling for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) in realistic supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) environments.  As the energy industry continues to invest in CCUS projects, more wells are being designed to handle injection of carbon dioxide (CO₂) underground, where the fluid can reach a supercritical state, presenting an intense environment for downhole equipment.

Microplastics aren’t just a problem for oceans. Researchers found these tiny plastic particles in 95% of sediment samples from a protected freshwater wetland along Florida’s St. Lucie River. Nearly half were fibers, suggesting that synthetic textiles and other everyday materials may be contributing to plastic pollution in the preserve. Concentrations were highest near the river and a flood-control canal, suggesting water movement helps transport and concentrate pollution. Findings from the study underscore the need to address plastic pollution in wetland conservation and stormwater management.

In a world-first experiment conducted across the Wits West Campus in Johannesburg, the researchers showed that information encoded in a special property of light known as topology remains intact even when the laser beam carrying it is strongly distorted by atmospheric turbulence.

Complex mathematical problems, such as combinatorial optimization problems, have wide-ranging industrial applications and require extensive computational resources to solve. Slime molds represent a promising avenue for developing new, efficient computing paradigms to mitigate this issue. However, their physical implementation is still challenging. Now, researchers have developed a new, simpler amoeba-inspired computing model that enables physical implementation across diverse materials and physical phenomena, without compromising optimization performance.