The increasing adoption of electric vehicles is creating a growing demand for charging infrastructure, driving a transformation in the access and use of energy through the controlled deployment of fast, efficient, and secure charging stations.

Specifically, in response to potential cyber threats, researchers from the NICS group of the University of Malaga have devised an innovative solution designed to combat these increasingly frequent cyber-attacks in electric vehicle charging stations. It has been published in the scientific journal International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Magnesium is essential for both plant growth and human nutrition, yet how rice grains accumulate this mineral has remained unclear. A new study identifies OsMGR2 as a magnesium transporter required for moving magnesium into rice grains. Rice plants lacking this transporter produced smaller, shriveled grains with reduced magnesium content and poorer eating quality. The findings reveal how magnesium distribution affects grain development and could help support future breeding strategies for nutritionally improved rice varieties.

The oceans hide some of the most sophisticated solutions that nature has ever developed and are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the robotics of the future as well. The Bioinspired Soft Robotics research unit, coordinated by Barbara Mazzolai, Associate Director for Robotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT – Italian Institute of Technology), has developed an octopus-inspired soft robotic arm that, thanks to the technology embedded in its artificial suction cups, is capable of sensing contact, estimating the intensity and direction of the applied force, and grasping objects autonomously, even in complex environments such as underwater settings.

A University of Manchester student has developed a powerful new ultra‑lightweight tool that can turn dark, noisy footage into clear, detailed and usable images.

Inspired by firefly bioluminescence, scientists have created a flexible fiber sensor that converts electrical sensing signals into optical signals directly on the fiber itself. The ESOT FiSensor simultaneously detects vibration, pressure, temperature and strain through a single optical fiber, transmitting data over long distances with complete immunity to electromagnetic interference — far surpassing traditional sensors.

A research and scientific dissemination project by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), carried out with the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and in collaboration with the Leganés City Council, uses surveys conducted by high school students, interviews with experts, and historical documentation to analyze how the municipality transitioned from being an agricultural and neighborhood-oriented environment to a city dominated by large commercial areas and housing. Furthermore, the report reveals a loss of youth leisure spaces and local retail networks, which have been replaced in recent decades by supermarkets and real estate developments.

A one-pot POM-directed interfacial assembly strategy enables anisotropy-tunable mesoporous polydopamine nanomotors with integrated antibacterial functionality. By regulating emulsion interfaces, POMs program open hollow architectures and confer intrinsic activity, while Pt loading drives self-propulsion. The resulting nanomotors, with high drug-loading capacity, actively penetrate drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and achieve near-complete eradication, offering a versatile platform for intelligent antibacterial therapy.