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Shedding light on new type of magnetism in quantum materials

2 August 2026 at 14:40
Recently, the field of magnetics has seen the proposal of a new class of magnetism called altermagnetism, which could allow advances in miniaturizing and improving RAM architecture in computers. Rice University's Ming Yi, together with collaborators Bharat Jalan of the University of Minnesota and Milan Radovic of the Paul Scherrer Institute, recently published a paper in Science Advances showing that the quantum material ruthenium dioxide potentially displays this new altermagnetism in its ultrathin-film form, in which the material is prepared as a thin slice only a few atomic layers thick.

AI reduces sensory hallucinations, even at night or in smoke

1 August 2026 at 14:40
Multimodal large language models (MLLMs), which process multiple types of sensory information, such as text, images and audio, at the same time, are rapidly expanding the range of applications for artificial intelligence (AI). However, in real-world environments, these models can misinterpret the physical characteristics of sensors, mistakenly identify objects or claim to hear sounds that are not actually present simply because a certain object appears in a video. These errors are known as hallucinations.

Scientists map moon regolith to aid lunar bases

1 August 2026 at 13:00
A strong foundation is key to any building, and this doesn't apply only to construction on Earth. As humanity slowly expands throughout the many worlds of our solar system, and possibly beyond, understanding planetary surfaces is key to constructing long-lasting habitats beyond Earth. Thus, it's only natural that this venture begins with our own moon, NASA's target for a permanent base at the lunar south pole. While the moon is covered by a thin layer of dust, also called regolith, engineers need to know the thickness of this regolith to identify the safest locations for future lunar habitats and buildings.

Study advances solar desalination with multifunctional membrane

31 July 2026 at 18:20
As the world's population grows and industry expands, many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are facing a freshwater scarcity crisis. Finding sustainable ways to produce clean water has become an urgent priority, and solar desalination may be one of the most promising routes available. By using sunlight to evaporate and purify seawater, this technology could serve as an efficient source of freshwater in areas facing water shortages.

Smarter, not thicker: Targeted cooling improves liquid-hydrogen tank insulation

31 July 2026 at 17:55
Hydrogen is increasingly viewed as a promising energy carrier because it stores large amounts of energy per unit mass and can support low-carbon energy systems when produced through low-emission pathways. Large-scale use, however, depends on storing and transporting it efficiently.

Ion pumping platform simultaneously cleans salty wastewater and recovers valuable metals

31 July 2026 at 17:00
Industrial wastewater from electronics manufacturing, metal processing and other sectors often contains two difficult pollutants at once: high levels of salt and toxic heavy metals. Current treatment methods typically address those problems separately, creating costly, complex systems that can produce hazardous brines or metal-laden sludge. Now, a group of researchers at Rice University and Vanderbilt University has created an electrochemical platform that could do both jobs at once.

Federal government to turn a Kentucky uranium plant into an AI data center and gas power complex

31 July 2026 at 07:50
The U.S. Department of Energy is harnessing the artificial intelligence boom in its bid to convert another Cold War-era uranium enrichment site, tapping private equity to fund a $100 billion data center complex that will include its own new natural gas and battery storage power plant in Kentucky.

Neutrons reveal how friction stir welding could strengthen steel armor | ORNL

30 July 2026 at 22:20
Using neutrons at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers from The Ohio State University are studying residual stress caused by friction stir welding (FSW) to reveal how to strengthen armor steel welds, like those used in military vehicles. Their findings were published in the Journal of Materials Processing Technology.

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