With the rapid advancement of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, human demand for energy has continued to grow. However, the extensive use of traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and

natural gas, has not only led to the depletion of resources but also triggered a series of severe environmental

problems. In particular, the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases have caused global warming, resulting

in the melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events, which pose a significant

threat to the earth’s ecosystem as well as to human survival and development.

Against the backdrop of global climate change, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC,

held in November 2023, reached the UAE Consensus. The Parties agreed on establishing a roadmap to transition

away from fossil fuels, which has been described as “the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era” [2]. To date,

more than 150 countries around the world have announced plans to achieve net-zero emissions or carbon

neutrality around 2050, and a profound and far-reaching third energy revolution is underway [3–5], marking an

unprecedented epoch-making shift in the energy domain. This paper explores the historical development of

energy revolutions, the cornerstones of the third energy revolution, and the new cognitive frameworks and

innovative thinking required for the construction of a new energy system.

A 10-year investigation of two Beijing rivers shows that wastewater treatment plant upgrades significantly alter nitrogen-cycling microbial communities and viral ecology despite stable overall diversity. Metagenomic analysis revealed that while the α-diversity of nitrogen-cycling microbes remained unchanged, their community composition shifted significantly, with the nitrifier-to-denitrifier ratio decreasing by 70%. In contrast, the DNA viral community structure was largely stable, but its functional gene profile changed: genes related to viral replication increased while auxiliary metabolic genes decreased. The findings highlight the necessity of integrating microbial and viral indicators into water quality assessments following treatment plant upgrades.

The imaging resolution has long been constrained by the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. While the 2014 Nobel Prize recognized fluorescence microscopy, achieving single-shot, label-free far-field superresolution remains challenging. Scientists in China propose “k-space (momentum space) superoscillation.” By designing a metalens with topology-optimized responses in real- and k-space, this method breaks the spatial shift-invariance assumption to surpass the diffraction limit. Microwave experiments verified a twofold resolution enhancement without post-processing, opening avenues for biology, astronomy, and materials science.

Two-dimensional semiconductors such as monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS₂) are promising materials for nonlinear and quantum photonics, but their atomic thickness severely limits how strongly they interact with light. Researchers recently demonstrated a van der Waals hybrid photonic platform that overcomes this constraint by coupling a WS₂ monolayer to Mie void resonators—subwavelength air cavities carved into a high-index bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) substrate. Unlike conventional dielectric resonators that confine light inside solid material, Mie voids localize optical fields within air and near the surface, naturally aligning field enhancement with the atomically thin layer. By tuning the cavity geometry to match WS₂ excitonic emission, they achieved up to ~20× enhancement of photoluminescence and ~25× enhancement of second-harmonic generation. Far-field imaging of the nonlinear signal directly visualizes localized resonant modes and reveals programmable spatial control at the level of individual resonators. This work establishes Mie-void heterostructures as a robust and reconfigurable platform for enhanced light–matter interaction in atomically thin materials.

A new study by NYU chemists finds that DNA tiles can assemble into 3D structures without the sticky cohesion of hydrogen bonding. This finding, published in Nature Communications, turns a fundamental paradigm in the field of DNA self-assembly on its head.

Physicists have experimentally demonstrated a sequence of exotic magnetic phases in an ultrathin material that for the first time fully realize a theoretical model of two-dimensional magnetism first proposed in the 1970s, called the two-dimensional six-state clock model. The researchers say the advance might inspire new, ultracompact technologies.

A new self-rectifying memristor array with exceptional stability and precise multi-state regulation capabilities has been developed, laying a hardware foundation for efficient neuromorphic computing. When integrated with a simulated annealing algorithm, it achieves fast and accurate image restoration, showcasing promising application prospects.

SAN ANTONIO — March 2, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has created a magnetostrictive transducer (MST) probe that uses ultrasonic guided wave technology to detect corrosion in storage tanks, a process that normally requires emptying the tank and checking for corrosion manually. SwRI’s probe attaches to the outside of a storage tank, resulting in a more cost-effective and efficient method of corrosion detection.

In the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers at Jilin University now report a way to measure the electrical conductivity of such fluids using volumes as small as 50 nanoliters. Their device is an optical fiber probe no thicker than a human hair. It is designed for stable and real-time measurements and is largely unaffected by temperature or pH, two factors that often distort readings in biological environments.