With artificial intelligence (AI) workloads driving rising demands for computing power, bandwidth, and energy efficiency, integrated photonic neural networks (PNNs) offer a promising route beyond electronic bottlenecks. This review surveys emerging PNN technologies from devices and computing architectures to integration, packaging, and systems, highlighting optoelectronic co-design, key challenges, and their potential as next-generation AI accelerators.

Researchers developed DexAnyTwist, a learning framework that enables dexterous robotic hands to twist many everyday objects, from bottles and valves to screwdrivers and light bulbs. By identifying different modes and assigning expert policies to them, the system improved simulation performance and transferred zero-shot to real-world objects.

Researchers have updated the classic nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) theory. By optimizing a fluid observation cell, the team decoupled the formation of macrovoids and cellular pores and revealed their distinct formation mechanisms. A new thermodynamic parameter was proposed for accurate pore prediction. The developed ultrathin membrane delivered outstanding performance in vanadium flow batteries, outperforming commercial counterparts.

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studying inkjet printing have introduced ultra-fine bubbles into ink droplets and showed that their drying behavior can be tuned without using additives. They discovered that the shape of the particle-laden film left after a droplet dries can be radically modified by adjusting the number of bubbles. This is great news for the printing of microdevices, where additives to ink can come out of solution and negatively affect the properties of ink deposits.

Adding moderate amounts of biochar made from discarded mulberry branches to fish feed may offer a practical way to support intestinal health and reduce harmful nitrogen compounds in aquaculture water, according to a new study in largemouth bass.

Pathogenic bacteria remain a persistent threat to public health, food supplies, and water systems, particularly as antimicrobial resistance makes infections increasingly difficult to treat. A new review published in Biocontaminant highlights how bacteriophages, viruses that naturally recognize and infect bacteria, could provide the biological foundation for faster and more intelligent pathogen detection technologies.

Agricultural soils are a major source of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas produced largely through microbial nitrogen transformations. A new study comparing five representative Chinese farmland soils reveals that the same carbon and nitrogen inputs can produce sharply different emission outcomes depending on soil acidity, nutrient conditions, and microbial function.