A research team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology has developed a novel orbital modulation strategy to suppress anti-site defects in NASICON-type Na₃MnTi(PO₄)₃ cathode for sodium-ion batteries. By Li doping to construct Li–O–Mn configuration, the strategy effectively enhances Mn–O covalent interaction and elevates Mn defect formation energy, thus eliminating voltage hysteresis caused by anti-site defects. The optimized Na_2.97Li_0.03MnTi(PO₄)₃ cathode achieves ultra-long cycling stability, excellent rate performance and wide-temperature adaptability, and the assembled pouch-type full cell further verifies its practical application potential. This study provides a new electronic structure regulation approach for the design of high-performance sodium-ion battery cathodes, paving the way for the development of low-cost and sustainable energy storage technologies.

What if nature’s tiny wonders—waterspider legs and fish scales—hold the key to better energy storage? Researchers have turned these biological structures into a Janus air electrode, unlocking zinc-air batteries with 239.3 mW cm⁻² peak power density and exceptional cycling stability.

Optical feedback from on-chip components fundamentally limits stable laser operation in photonic integrated circuits. In a study published in Light: Science & Applications, researchers directly probe the feedback limits of quantum dot lasers under extreme conditions. By reaching feedback levels up to 0 dB, they observe the intrinsic coherence collapse threshold and demonstrate telecom-grade performance near this limit. Modeling further predicts even higher tolerance in realistic PIC layouts, establishing practical design rules for isolator-free photonic integration. 

Single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) fibers have been one of the most promising candidates for robust and stable terahertz (THz) transmission. Towards this goal, Scientist in China proposed that Dirac vortex modes (DVWs) enabled by Kekulé phase modulation provide a new guiding mechanism for THz photonic crystal fibers, combining ultra-broad bandwidth, strong field localization, low-loss potential, and polarization stability. Moreover, the experimental characterization techniques developed in this work offer a valuable reference for investigating THz waveguide modes.

Three years ago, in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the passage of an “ultra-energetic” cosmic neutrino was observed — the most energetic ever detected. The event drew international attention from the scientific community as well as from the media and the public, not least because the origin of this particle — whose energy exceeded that of previously observed neutrinos by more than an order of magnitude — is unknown. A new paper published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP) by the KM3NeT collaboration, which operates the KM3NeT/ARCA detector off the coast of Sicily, suggests that the source of this particle may be in a population of blazars — active galactic nuclei hosting a supermassive black hole that emit a plasma jet directed toward Earth.

Researchers present a comprehensive review of frontier AI applications in computational structural analysis from 2020 to 2025, focusing on graph neural networks (GNNs), sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq) and Transformer-based architectures, and physics-informed methods. Published in Smart Construction, their work offers a valuable guide for researchers and engineers to understand fundamental concepts, current research status, existing challenges, and future application prospects.