A research team led by Prof. Zhen Gao at Southern University of Science and Technology has achieved the first experimental observation of the three-dimensional (3D) photonic quantum Hall effect of Fermi arcs and its hallmark feature, the one-sided chiral hinge states, in a 3D inhomogeneous magnetic Weyl photonic crystal.

Genomic surveillance — the process of monitoring and sequencing pathogens — is one of the most important tools for detecting emerging viral threats. But global surveillance systems remain costly, unevenly distributed and often are too slow to identify dangerous variants before they spread internationally,  amplifying future threats of disease outbreaks.

A recently published research paper in Nature Communications, co-authored by Dr. Patricia Ning, assistant statistics professor, and Jifan Li, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Statistics, along with collaborators from multiple international institutions, introduces a new framework to rectify these issues while using fewer resources, making genomic surveillance rapid and cost-effective in preparation for new strains of COVID-19.

Earth’s 660-km seismic discontinuity has long been attributed to ringwoodite breakdown, but this alone cannot explain complex seismic observations. Now, researchers have shown that the boundary forms through a coupled post-spinel transition involving majorite garnet, the mantle’s second most abundant mineral. This mechanism consistently explains seismic structure beneath subduction zones and mantle plumes and supports a compositionally homogeneous, pyrolite-like mantle, providing new insights into Earth’s deep interior and mantle dynamics.