For centuries, the Arctic has remained one of the most dangerous places on Earth to explore. Beneath what looks like solid snow can lie hidden pools of icy water capable of swallowing people, vehicles, and scientific equipment without warning. 

These risks make collecting data from polar regions slow, expensive, and often dangerous. Now, a small four-legged robot promises to change this. 

A modified version of Lynx S10, an autonomous robot developed by China-based DEEP Robotics, has become the first quadruped platform to walk on Arctic Ocean ice floes. It successfully demonstrates that autonomous machines may one day perform some of the most hazardous fieldwork in places where human access is limited. 

“The Lynx S10 enables autonomous path planning and intelligent obstacle avoidance,” the DEEP Robotics team notes.

The achievement is significant not because a robot survived the cold, but because it showed that compact autonomous systems can navigate unpredictable ice, snow, and water-filled terrain that even experienced researchers approach with extreme caution.

A compact but highly capable machine

The Arctic expedition was designed as a real-world stress test for the Lynx S10, a compact quadruped robot that weighs less than 20 kilograms even with its battery installed. 

Unlike larger robotic platforms that require extensive transport and setup, the machine can be carried and deployed by a single person. “Its compact body allows single-person portability and rapid deployment, enhancing operational mobility,” the DEEP Robotics team claims.

Despite its small size, it is equipped with sixteen precision joints that allow it to bend, twist, and maneuver through spaces that would be inaccessible to bulkier robots.

The standard version of the robot is already highly capable. According to its creators, “Equipped with a next-generation AI motion control and gait algorithm, the Lynx S10 performs a variety of extreme maneuvers.”

For instance, it can travel at speeds of up to 8 m/s on flat ground, climb over obstacles as tall as 50 centimeters, and switch between wheeled and legged movement depending on the terrain. 

When necessary, it can even rise into a bipedal stance to gain additional height and visibility.

To operate independently, the robot relies on an advanced perception system. 

Four ultra-wide-angle cameras equipped with high-dynamic-range lenses continuously monitor its surroundings, while front and rear LiDAR sensors generate detailed three-dimensional maps. This allows the machine to identify obstacles, plan routes, and navigate without constant human control. 

Its rugged design also enables operation in harsh environments. The standard platform is rated IP66 against dust and water intrusion, functions in temperatures from minus 20 to 55 degrees Celsius, carries payloads exceeding 8 kilograms, and can automatically locate and travel to a charging station when battery levels become low.

However, Arctic ice presented challenges that went far beyond the robot’s original design specifications. 

Teaching a robot to walk on floating Arctic ice

Engineers therefore modified the platform before deployment. The standard wheels were replaced with large biomimetic paws inspired by the broad feet of polar bears. These custom feet spread the robot’s weight across a larger surface area, helping prevent it from sinking into soft snow. 

Anti-slip textures improved grip on slick surfaces, while integrated crampons provided extra traction on hard ice. The robot’s sealing was also upgraded from IP66 to IP67 for greater protection against water intrusion.

Researchers introduced another unusual modification for environments where ice and water mixed together. By increasing the effective surface area of the limbs, the robot’s legs could function almost like paddles, allowing it to move through slushy conditions that would challenge conventional wheeled systems.

The Arctic tests quickly revealed why such adaptations were necessary. In several locations, snow concealed dangerous meltwater pools beneath the surface. The robot encountered terrain that appeared stable but actually floated above hidden pockets of water. 

Thanks to its redesigned feet and traction system, it maintained stability while traversing these deceptive surfaces. In one instance, it successfully glided across an area that looked like solid ice but concealed water underneath. 

Later tests pushed the machine into regions where ice and water were intermixed, and the modified limbs enabled it to continue moving through the difficult terrain.

More importantly, this was not a finished commercial product being showcased under controlled conditions. The Arctic vehicle was still an alpha-stage prototype. 

The machine matters beyond the Arctic

The broader significance of the project extends well beyond a single expedition. Environmental researchers and emergency responders often need to operate in locations that are dangerous, remote, or impossible for humans to access safely. 

Lynx S10 “confidently handles challenging environments such as dusty sites, heavy rain, and humid/foggy conditions,” the researchers at DEEP Robotics added.

This lightweight autonomous robot is capable of crossing unstable ice and moving through mixed ice-water environments. Therefore, it could help collect environmental data, monitor climate-related changes, and support search-and-rescue operations without exposing people to the same risks.

Researchers are now using the performance data gathered during the mission to further improve the design.  Hopefully, future versions will be even more capable of handling unpredictable natural environments. 

You can read more about Lynx S10 here.

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Chinese researchers have reportedly developed a new “three-lane highway” optical fiber system. The new system, the researchers explain, could dramatically expand the data-transfer capacity of future networks, notably those for artificial intelligence (AI).

Put in simpler terms, the innovation effectively “squeezes” more traffic from fiber-optic cables without having to replace or lay new cabling. According to the team, they have been able to increase traffic by as much as five times while also increasing transmission capacity per core by nearly 50%.

Today, most internet traffic travels through glass fibers using laser light. Importantly, each fiber doesn’t just carry one beam of light. It carries many wavelengths (colors) of light simultaneously, like multiple radio stations sharing the airwaves.

Presently, most commercial systems use a mixture of C-band (the workhorse) and L-band wavelengths. The latter is used to extend capacity when needed.

The team, they report, has managed to add a third, called S-band; hence the “three-lane highway” analogy. The fiber itself isn’t necessarily wider; they’re simply using more of the available light spectrum.

Adding an extra lane to optical fibers

So, you might ask, why hasn’t S-band been used before? Well, in short, over long distances, optical signals tend to weaken. To overcome this, telecom companies use optical amplifiers placed along the route.

The industry’s amplifiers were optimized for C-band (and later L-band). S-band signals were more difficult and expensive to amplify cleanly. To this end, the Chinese team claims to have solved enough of these engineering problems to make commercial deployment practical.

But there is another trick up the team’s sleeve: multiple cores to the fibers. Normal optical fibers consist of a single core, but the team’s new ones reportedly actually contain four.

To this end, each of these core acts like an independent fiber. So, unlike traditional fibers with a single core and two optical bands, the new fibers actually have four cores, with three optical bands working simultaneously.

That’s a significant leap in capability. For applications like AI, this could prove to be very useful indeed, especially when it comes to removing data-transfer bottlenecks.

At present, most large AI models tend to use thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs), constantly exchanging data at the speed of light. A modern AI cluster can move terabits per second between machines.

5x the data transfer

Often, the bottleneck is not the GPU but getting data from one GPU cluster to another. So, if you can move five times more data through the same fiber infrastructure, you necessarily get faster training, larger distributed models, and lower network congestion.

Looking at the bigger picture, this isn’t a breakthrough in terms of fiber optics; similar achievements have happened in Japan, Europe, and the US. What is different is that this appears to have been commercially deployed, not just developed in a lab.

According to reports, the new optic fibers have run over about 21.7 miles (35 km) of an existing telecoms network, combining the innovations mentioned. Looking ahead, the team suggests the new cables could be deployed internationally, perhaps even in submarine cables.

It could also play a major role in China’s “Eastern Data, Western Computing strategy,” which seeks to shift data-intensive workloads from densely populated eastern regions to resource-rich western provinces, according to the developers.

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Chinese military planners have reportedly devised a plan to target US carriers in places like Guam. The strategy, published in the Chinese journal Tactical Missile Technology, claims a combination of satellites, AI, and missiles could render carrier groups vulnerable, even at distances of over 1,620 nautical miles (3,000 km).

At present, both the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the United States Navy know that the former can threaten critical assets like aircraft carriers close to China. To reduce that threat, the US Navy has increasingly positioned key assets farther from China’s coastline, relying on bases such as Guam and adopting more dispersed operating patterns across the Pacific.

The Navy has also been dispersing deployed ships in the region to make them much harder to find, track, and potentially attack. Not keeping their eggs in one basket, as it were.

However, as the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports, the PLA has been working on a potential plan to threaten such ships even at great distances. Led by associate professor Gao Tianyun from the College of International Studies at the National University of Defence Technology in Nanjing, the proposal is very interesting indeed.

Dangerous game of hide-and-seek

The study, titled “Research on the effectiveness of anti‑ship missile swarm operation under distributed confrontation,” basically describes an innovative “kill-chain” solution rather than a new wonder weapon.

The idea, in a nutshell, is to first find the group using a mixture of satellites, drones, radar aircraft, ships, submarines, signals intelligence, etc. Once done, the plan would rely on near-constant tracking for long-range missiles to be targeted and launched.

With that achieved, the paper suggests firing many missiles (a mix of hypersonics and “pre-strike firepower packages”) at the target, not one or two.

Once in flight, the plan would rely on the missiles cooperating by sharing target data, sorting real ships from decoys, assigning themselves to different targets, and attacking from different angles.

According to the researchers, such a coordinated attack could overwhelm layers of US naval defense, including Aegis-equipped destroyers, interceptor missiles, electronic warfare systems, decoys, and close-in weapon systems.

So, something of a coordinated, long-range missile swarm attack. The point is to make the US defence system run out of time, interceptors, radar capacity, or correct target choices.

Means and motive

Sounds reasonable on the surface, but the plan comes with one major caveat. That being said, this is just a plan right now, not proof that China can actually do it tomorrow.

Needless to say, hitting a moving carrier group at 1,620 nautical miles distant is not an easy task. Achieving it in reality would be brutally hard because the target moves, hides, jams, uses decoys, and fights back.

The hardest part is not the missile range; it is maintaining accurate targeting data across the whole chain. While effectively just a wargame made public, the release of this information is likely intended to send a warning to the US, rather than actually boast about its technological prowess.

In effect, they are saying that hiding and dispersing your ships won’t necessarily keep you safe. We (China) have the means to get them if we want to.

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For decades, nuclear clocks have existed as one of physics’ most tempting promises. A device that could keep time even more accurately than today’s best atomic clocks. Now, two independent research teams have turned this idea into reality. 

Researchers in China and Europe have demonstrated working nuclear clocks based on the nucleus of thorium-229, a rare isotope whose unique properties have long made it the leading candidate for next-generation timekeeping.

The achievement represents much more than a new kind of clock. Since a nucleus is far better shielded from environmental disturbances than the electrons used in atomic clocks, nuclear clocks could eventually become the most precise timekeepers ever built. 

Plus, this breakthrough could improve navigation, gravitational sensing, and tests of the laws governing the universe. 

As the researchers note, “by making a laser-addressed atomic nucleus an operational clock reference, this work extends quantum metrology from electronic to nuclear transitions, and opens a new platform for compact clocks, solid-state nuclear quantum sensors and precision tests of fundamental physics.”

Turning a thorium nucleus into a clock

Modern atomic clocks keep time by measuring the frequency of light absorbed or emitted when electrons jump between specific energy levels inside an atom. 

As these frequencies are extremely stable, counting their oscillations provides an exceptionally accurate way to measure time. Physicists have long envisioned building a clock using a nucleus instead of electrons. The idea is attractive because atomic nuclei are much smaller and more isolated from the outside world. 

Stray electric and magnetic fields that can slightly disturb electrons have far less influence on the nucleus. In principle, that should allow a nuclear clock to achieve even greater stability and precision.

“Such a nuclear clock might rival or outperform current optical clocks based on electron-shell transitions in atoms or ions, is expected to be more robust against external perturbations, and provides enhanced sensitivity in clock-based tests of fundamental principles of physics,” the researchers explained.

However, the problem is that almost all nuclear energy transitions are far too energetic to be controlled with lasers. They typically require high-energy gamma rays rather than ordinary laser light.

Thorium-229 is a remarkable exception. Its nucleus possesses an unusually low-energy excited state that can be reached using ultraviolet laser light. For years, physicists recognized that this made thorium-229 the only known realistic candidate for a nuclear clock.

Even so, the task remained extraordinarily difficult. The required transition occurs at a wavelength of roughly 148 nanometers, deep in the vacuum ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Producing stable laser light at this wavelength and precisely matching it to the nuclear transition pushed existing technology to its limits.

Two teams, one breakthrough

The two groups solved the problem using broadly similar strategies. One team, led by researchers at Tsinghua University, and another from the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, embedded thorium-229 atoms inside calcium fluoride crystals. 

“Here, we implement a thorium-229 nuclear clock by stabilizing a continuous-wave laser to the 148 nm nuclear transition with rapid feedback based on continuous absorption spectroscopy,” the researchers from the Vienna Center note.

The crystal acts as a solid host that holds large numbers of thorium nuclei in place while allowing laser light to interact with them. Both groups then illuminated the crystals with highly specialized continuous-wave vacuum ultraviolet lasers tuned near the thorium nuclear transition.

Although the overall concept was similar, the teams optimized different parts of the experiment. The Chinese researchers relied on a more powerful laser system to drive the nuclear transition. The European team instead used crystals containing a higher concentration of thorium nuclei, increasing the number of nuclei available for measurement.

Once they had successfully excited the nuclei, the researchers needed to demonstrate that the system could function as a true clock rather than simply detecting the transition.

So did the system work?

The Chinese team locked the frequency of their vacuum ultraviolet laser directly to the nuclear resonance. In effect, the thorium nucleus became a frequency reference that continuously corrected the laser. 

The researchers reported a fractional frequency instability approaching one part in 10 trillion after a day of operation, showing that the nuclear transition could serve as a stable timekeeping signal.

The European team chose a different test. Instead of focusing solely on clock performance, they used their nuclear clock as a scientific probe. 

The researchers searched for ultralight dark matter, a hypothetical form of matter that could subtly alter the energy levels inside atomic nuclei. If such particles existed, they might produce tiny periodic shifts in the thorium transition frequency.

“We use the nuclear clock to constrain models of ultralight dark matter by searching for periodic fluctuations and slow drifts in the nuclear transition energy, on time scales between 20 sec and one day,” the Vienna team said.

No evidence of dark matter was detected. However, the experiment demonstrated that the nuclear clock was sensitive enough to rival or exceed the capabilities of the world’s best atomic clocks when searching for such effects.

Together, the two studies provide the strongest evidence yet that practical nuclear clocks are no longer a theoretical concept but an operational technology.

What happens next?

While these first-generation devices are still laboratory systems, they mark the beginning of a new era in precision measurement. 

Future nuclear clocks could outperform today’s most advanced atomic clocks because the thorium nucleus is naturally protected from many sources of noise that limit current technologies.

According to the researchers, such clocks could eventually improve satellite navigation, provide more precise gravitational measurements, and enable new tests of fundamental physics. 

The next major goal is to refine the technology, reduce its size and complexity, and compare multiple nuclear clocks against one another. 

You can read the studies here and here.

In our latest episode of Lexicon, we sat down with Tom Grainger, Commercial Vice President at Niron Magnetics,  to explore the hidden role permanent magnets play in modern technology and electrification.

From electric vehicles and wind turbines to smartphones and speakers, these components are essential to countless devices we rely on every day. Tom also discussed the growing strategic importance of rare earth magnets and the risks associated with highly concentrated global supply chains.

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Reinventing the magnet

Permanent magnets rarely make headlines. Yet, as Grainger explained to us, they sit at the core of modern electrification.

“Pretty well every modern electronic device relies on permanent magnets,” he told us. “The car you drive, the speakers you’re hearing me come out of right now, the microphone that’s picking up my voice, all of those are permanent magnet devices,” he added.

“Relying on rare earth magnets today means relying on a supply chain that is over 90 percent concentrated in China. Single point of failure geopolitically,” he said.

But it turns out the issue is not limited to mining.

“All through the supply chain, you see that concentration,” he explained. The result is what he calls a pinch point. “You’ve got a pinch point on which the global economy hinges,” he added.

A magnet-hungry world

Furthermore, the demand side only intensifies the pressure. “As cars install more speakers and compete on infotainment and a great in-cab experience, doubling the speakers doubles the magnets,” Grainger told us. 

“Imagine as you move from an F-35 to a swarm of drones, you’re saving a lot of money, saving a lot of material, but you are greatly increasing your magnet consumption,” he added.

Even in a stable geopolitical climate, supply would be strained. “Even if everything is peachy globally, there are just not enough rare earths to solve this magnet-hungry global economy,” he added.

“For some critical rare earths, China put in place export controls,” he said. Those elements are required for high-temperature applications, which represent roughly 80 percent of use cases. Automotive production slowed. Defense programs accelerated alternative sourcing efforts. Phones, he recalls, were “ringing off the hook.”

“Magnets may already be as strategically important as semiconductors,” he added.

Forty years without a new material

Beyond supply risk, Grainger argues, there is a deeper technological constraint. The last major breakthrough in magnetic materials came in the 1980s with rare-earth magnets.

“The last time we had a new magnetic material that has had any sort of real commercial impact was rare earth magnets in the 1980s,” he told us.

That means four decades of motor and generator design constrained by the same materials. He uses a culinary analogy. “You can imagine you are a chef. You’ve been working with four ingredients. Suddenly, you have another option. It is just an unlock for breakthroughs in motor design,” he added.

“We’ve spent four decades without a new key and without a new door open,” he said. That new key, according to Niron, is iron nitride.

Iron nitride to the rescue

According to Grainger, iron nitride is not a brand-new discovery, being first identified in the 1950s. Later attempts in Japan produced promising but inconsistent results. The missing piece was the ability to understand and control the material at the nanoscale.

“We did not have the technology at the time to be able to explain, just from a physics perspective, what makes iron nitride so magnetic, and then to reliably produce iron nitride in this magnetic phase,” Grainger told us.

Advances in imaging and characterization in the 2000s and early 2010s changed that. “The ability to see what you’re doing when you make an experimental attempt to measure it was unlocked by advances in characterization imaging,” he added.

From there, it took more than a decade to move from laboratory research to bulk, commercially viable magnets. “It was a decade from that program to actually having commercially viable bulk permanent magnets,” he said.

The potential upside is significant. “For a rare earth permanent magnet made of neodymium, that number is about 1.6 Tesla,” he explained. “For iron nitride, that equivalent limit is 2.4 Tesla,” he added.

“That ceiling is 50 percent higher than rare earth permanent magnets,” he said.

Temperature performance is another factor. Rare earth magnets rely on scarce heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium to maintain performance at high temperatures. “Iron nitride, just by virtue of its underlying crystal structure and properties, gets that temperature stability for free,” Grainger said.

Unlocking variable flux motors

One of the most intriguing applications discussed in the episode is the variable flux motor. Traditional permanent magnet motors use a technique called flux weakening at high speeds, which requires continuous electrical input. 

Grainger described it with a metaphor: “think of it as holding a spring. If you move your hand, it pops right back up. And so you’re using power to do that.”

Variable flux offers a different approach. “Instead of continuous energy expenditure holding down that spring, it’s like a ratchet. You push down the spring once, and you lock it into place,” he said.

The result is improved efficiency across the speed range. In electric vehicles, that translates directly to range and battery savings. “You get a 2 percent decrease in battery materials. The cost savings on that don’t just pay for your magnets, that pays for your whole motor,” he added.

The same logic applies to appliances and data centers. Efficiency gains compound quickly when systems operate continuously.

Scaling manufacturing

Moving from breakthrough to production required another leap. “Niron has been introducing iron nitride permanent magnets, and we’re doing so on a nano scale,” Grainger told us. 

“Our lab breakthrough was then the second breakthrough, which is really the process. And the process in that case becomes the product,” he said. The goal is modular scalability. Facilities can be replicated in multiple regions, reducing geographic concentration risk.

Iron nitride is composed of iron and nitrogen. Both are abundant and widely sourced. “Anywhere you have an industrialized society, you’ve got an opportunity for iron nitride domestic magnet production,” he said.

A strategic shift

Looking at the bigger picture, Grainger drew a historical analogy to the Haber-Bosch process, which enabled synthetic fertilizer production and reduced reliance on guano mining. “What iron nitride is, is that shift,” he said. “So, what if we could avoid all of that digging. What if we could avoid the reliance on what is fundamentally any mine has a shelf life,” he added.

So, instead of finite ore bodies, he describes a factory-built approach. “This is innovation as a cookie-cutter. Sort of the abundance philosophy around magnets,” he told us.

And, defense customers have taken notice. Programs initially planned for five to seven-year development timelines were “suddenly on 18-month fast tracks” after export controls tightened.

What the next decade has in store

Looking ahead, Grainger defines success in pragmatic terms. “Success for iron nitride is that we’re not talking about magnets as a scarce or critical pain point in global supply chains,” he added.

Beyond stability, he anticipates innovation. New motor and generator designs built around the expanded magnetic ceiling. Localized manufacturing in Asia, Europe, and North America. Reduced vulnerability and expanded design freedom.

“It can be hard sometimes to think about, can new things be done that aren’t just new assembly or new software?” he told us. “And absolutely they can.”

A senior Android security leader is leaving Google after criticizing its Pentagon AI work, environmental commitments, and internal transparency.

Jeff Bezos’ AI startup, Prometheus, raised $12 billion to build “artificial general engineer” tools to accelerate product design and manufacturing.

A senior Android security leader resigned from Google, citing concerns over its Pentagon AI work, climate commitments, and internal transparency.

Oura Ring uses Stelo by Dexcom to show glucose patterns, meal responses, and Time Above Range for users tracking blood sugar awareness.

SpaceX’s reported mega-IPO could test investor appetite for Elon Musk’s space, Starlink, and AI ambitions amid valuation and governance concerns.

OpenAI plans to acquire Ona to strengthen Codex with secure cloud workspaces for AI coding agents in enterprise software workflows.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created advanced aluminum alloys that could allow for far lighter truck engines still capable of operating at higher temperatures.

The alloys have successfully met the demanding strength and durability requirements of General Motors’ new low-mass, high-efficiency (LMHE) medium-duty truck engine.

Testing under a cooperative research and development agreement showed more than 10 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a 15 percent reduction in engine weight compared to conventional designs.

New alloys enable reduced mass and superior high-temperature performance

Commercial truck engines, such as those in GM’s Chevrolet Silverado 3500, must endure heavy loads and extended operation.

Traditional materials capable of withstanding these conditions are dense, which hurts fuel economy. Lighter alternatives often fail under the elevated temperatures and pressures of high-performance engines.

According to an ORNL press statement, their team’s new alloys resolve this conflict by providing both reduced mass and superior high-temperature performance.

The ORNL researchers tested two aluminum alloys. One of these, cast ACMZ (AlCuMnZr), was used for the LMHE engine’s cylinder heads and block. It offers high strength at low cost while resisting intense heat and mechanical stress.

The second, DuAlumin3D, is a 3D-printable alloy developed for pistons. It combines lightweight construction with what ORNL describes as the strongest known combination of strength and durability at extreme temperatures for a structural aluminum.

“The shared goal between ORNL and GM was to demonstrate next-generation engines for high-volume trucks that are lighter, lower-cost, and more efficient, all without sacrificing power and performance,” said Allen Haynes, director of the ORNL-led TTO Powertrain Materials Core Program consortium.

“This is a remarkable set of combined outcomes by the GM design team,” added Amit Shyam, who leads ORNL’s Alloy Behavior and Design Group. “Any weight shaved off an engine equates to more miles per gallon for the average driver, saving not only energy, but money.”

An accelerated alloy design approach

The GM-led project, which included ORNL and multiple suppliers, passed rigorous performance and durability tests. In 2025, it earned an R&D 100 Award and a DOE 2025 Team Award. Both ACMZ and DuAlumin3D had previously received R&D 100 honors for earlier breakthroughs.

According to the ORNL press statement, the collaboration integrated materials science, advanced manufacturing, combustion engineering, and computational modeling. ORNL’s accelerated alloy design approach compresses the timeline from concept to prototype application to two to four years. This is a massive reduction when compared with the traditional 10 to 15 years. The shorter lead time reduces costs and risks in moving laboratory innovations to commercial use.

The project received support from the Department of Energy’s Transportation Technologies Office and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. The successful demonstration shows how targeted federal research can move quickly from laboratory alloys to proven engine components, giving US truck manufacturers a practical path to lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles that maintain full performance and durability.

Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new liquid material that harvests, stores, and releases energy within a single system.

Powered by sources like light or electricity, the metal- and plastic-free material physically shape-shifts from a fluid into an energy-dense gel to store power, then resets to a liquid simply by exposure to open air. 

This sustainable, adaptable platform eliminates the need for hardware components, opening new doors for clean energy and soft electronics.

“Our material’s ability to store and release energy on demand could make it useful for energy storage, environmental remediation and next-generation soft electronics,” said Samuel I. Stupp, the study’s senior author. 

Bio-inspired technique

To build it, the team looked inside our own bodies and drew inspiration from the cell’s cytoskeleton.

A cellular skeleton is incredibly dynamic. It constantly constructs, breaks down, and reconstructs itself to help the cell move and divide.

Northwestern researchers designed a material that physically builds, dismantles, and rebuilds itself to manage energy. 

Powered by external electrons from sources such as sunlight or X-rays, the initial yellow liquid transforms into an energy-rich black gel that can store energy for months and drive chemical reactions. 

The entire process resets seamlessly when exposed to open air, which dissolves the gel back into its liquid state, allowing it to be recharged and reused repeatedly.

“Living systems are remarkably dynamic,” Stupp said. “They constantly build structures, break them apart, and rebuild them. We wanted to create a synthetic material that behaves in a similar way while performing useful functions.”

To overcome the limitation where energy harvesting, storage, and usage require separate devices, researchers used supramolecular materials that self-organize into larger networks. 

A custom molecule, ANI-MV, was designed. It integrates two functional components into a single system: an amino naphthalene aromatic unit (ANI) that responds to light, and a methyl viologen (MV) unit that stores the captured electrons.

Use in soft electronics

When the light-responsive ANI portion absorbs energy, it transfers electrons to the MV portion, causing neighboring molecules to strongly attract and form pairs called pimers. 

These pimers organize into semiconducting nanoscale ribbons with free-moving, delocalized electrons that eventually entangle into a black gel. 

This network stores electrons throughout its structure, marking the first real-world example of a supramolecular polymeric pimer built from electron-storing molecular pairs.

In laboratory experiments, researchers demonstrated the material’s remarkable versatility by triggering its transformation from a yellow liquid into an energy-rich, conductive black gel using chemical fuel, light, electricity, or X-rays. 

As light can selectively target the fluid, scientists were able to print microscopic conductive patterns that completely vanish once exposed to open air, which reverts the gel back into non-conductive liquid clusters. 

Furthermore, this stored energy can be transferred to oxygen, generating highly reactive molecules that enable the gel to power chemical reactions in complete darkness. This process is known as dark photocatalysis.

“Most light-driven materials stop working when the light source is gone,” Stupp said. “Our material enables a form of ‘dark photocatalysis.'”

Researchers envision this material powering applications ranging from environmental remediation and clean energy to adaptive soft electronics.

The study was published in the journal Chem on June 11.

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In the urgent race to cool a warming planet, scientists have long dreamed of turning a major villain into a valuable asset. The challenge has always been the sheer amount of energy required to force stable greenhouse gases into a more useful state.

Now, University of Nottingham scientists have developed a solar-powered reactor that couples two novel catalyst materials to drive two independent reactions at once. 

Powered entirely by sunlight, the system simultaneously transforms carbon dioxide into a valuable chemical while converting biomass waste into the essential building blocks for sustainable plastics.

This device accomplishes the feat by extracting two distinct, valuable chemical products from the energy of a single photon of light.

The split-chamber reactor

The machine is known as a bias-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactor. 

It works through a twin-compartment design, effectively splitting a single solar interaction down the middle to achieve two goals at once.

The dual-compartment reactor uses a single photon of sunlight to drive a highly efficient chain reaction. 

“At the heart of the process is a nanostructured photoanode made of carbon nitride and tungsten oxide semiconductors, enhanced with a cobalt oxide layer, which is coupled to a cathode in the second compartment,” said Dr Madasamy Thangamuthu, Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, who designed the PEC reactor and catalysts. 

The solar-driven process begins when a photon of light strikes the photoanode, generating a freed electron and an atomic vacancy called a hole. 

While the electron travels to the cathode to reduce carbon dioxide, the remaining hole simultaneously oxidizes the biomass molecule 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furoic acid (HMFA), thereby executing two distinct chemical upgrades at the same time.

When light hits the first compartment, it oxidizes a biowaste molecule into a precursor for next-generation plastics. This reaction releases an electron, which travels to the second compartment to reduce carbon dioxide into formate, a versatile chemical used in textiles, paints, and pharmaceuticals.

Tailored for the real world

Operating purely on solar energy, without requiring external heat or electricity, the reactor achieves approximately 93 percent conversion for carbon dioxide and 95 percent oxidation for biomass. 

The use of photon energy offers a highly efficient and sustainable blueprint for zero-emission chemical manufacturing.

Furthermore, many modern lab breakthroughs use rare, hyper-expensive metals like platinum or iridium to drive their chemistry. These materials look wonderful in academic journals but are completely impractical for global industrial scaling.

The Nottingham team engineered their materials entirely from earth-abundant, inexpensive elements. 

The scientists kept production costs low while maintaining high efficiency rates through a unique method: they assembled the catalyst‘s metal atoms into custom-tailored sizes and shapes directly on the reactor surfaces.

A full life cycle assessment has already validated the system’s low-carbon footprint. 

The long-term vision is a decentralized manufacturing network. These modular reactors can eventually be connected directly to active factory smokestacks and local agricultural biorefineries.

Ultimately, the team views this discovery as a vital step toward meeting global net-zero targets by directly harnessing solar energy to tackle the dual challenges of greenhouse gas reduction and waste valorization.

The study was published in the journal Communications Materials on June 12.

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Engineers at the University of Texas at Austin have built a jacket that captures moisture from the surrounding air and converts it into drinkable water — a development that could have practical consequences for soldiers, hikers, and disaster-relief workers operating far from any water source.

How the textile works

The jacket uses a hygroscopic sorbent woven directly into the fabric. These materials have a strong thermodynamic affinity for water vapor, adsorbing moisture from the atmosphere even at relatively low humidity levels.

Once the sorbent is saturated, a low-grade heat source — potentially body heat or a small solar element integrated into the garment — triggers desorption, releasing the captured water vapor into a compact condensation chamber where it accumulates as liquid. The resulting water is then channeled through a filtration stage before it is considered safe to drink.

The design avoids the energy-intensive refrigeration cycles that conventional atmospheric water generators rely on, which makes a wearable form factor physically plausible.

Traditional atmospheric water-harvesting systems typically require significant electrical input to cool a surface below the dew point; this jacket sidesteps that requirement by using sorption-desorption kinetics.

Material selection and engineering constraints

Choosing the right sorbent is the central engineering problem. The material must adsorb water rapidly, release it cleanly under mild thermal stimulation, survive repeated wetting-and-drying cycles without degrading, and remain flexible enough not to compromise the garment’s wearability.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and certain hydrogel composites have emerged as candidate materials in the broader atmospheric water-harvesting literature, and similar classes of materials are likely candidates for this type of application, though the specific formulation used by the UT Austin team is detailed in their official announcement.

Yield rate is a genuine constraint. The volume of water a garment-scale sorbent can collect per day is governed by the exposed surface area, the ambient relative humidity, and the cycling frequency of adsorption and desorption.

In arid environments — precisely where a portable water supply is most critical — lower atmospheric humidity directly limits output, so the technology performs best in humid or semi-arid conditions rather than true desert climates.

Structural integration with the garment

Embedding a functional water-harvesting system into a garment without making it impractical to wear requires careful attention to weight distribution, vapor permeability, and thermal management. If the outer layer is too occlusive, it traps sweat, raising the wearer’s core temperature.

The UT Austin design must balance the need to expose the sorbent to ambient air against the thermal comfort requirements of the person wearing it — a tradeoff that textile engineers working on responsive smart fabrics have encountered in other contexts.

Contamination risk and water quality

Atmospheric water harvesting is not inherently free of contamination risk. Air in industrial or wildfire-affected areas can carry particulates, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals, which a sorbent material may co-adsorb with water vapor.

The filtration stage integrated into the jacket’s collection system is therefore not a minor accessory — it is a critical safety component. Whether the filtration approach is sufficient across a range of realistic environmental conditions, and how the filter itself is serviced or replaced in the field, are questions that field trials will need to address before the technology sees wide deployment.

Potential applications and near-term limitations

Military logistics, backcountry search-and-rescue, and humanitarian response in regions with disrupted water infrastructure are the most direct use cases. Each imposes different durability, laundering, and maintenance requirements.

A garment that can survive the wash cycles of standard military field use while retaining its hygroscopic function is a considerably harder engineering target than a laboratory prototype.

This research was first published in the journal Science Advances.

NUBURU Inc., a developer of advanced blue-laser technologies and defense-focused photonics solutions, has announced a significant step forward in underwater energy transmission through a new collaboration with Italian technology company SunCubes.

The initiative will see NUBURU, through its subsidiary Lyocon S.r.l., design specialized blue-laser technology for integration into SunCubes’ DEEP LIGHT underwater wireless power platform.

Underwater laser-based power transmission system

The project represents the first concrete application emerging from a recently signed agreement between NUBURU and SunCubes. It aims to develop an underwater laser-based power transmission system capable of delivering energy wirelessly to autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other subsea systems, potentially transforming the way underwater assets are powered and operated.

The DEEP LIGHT platform is designed around a high-power laser transmitter and receiver architecture that enables contactless energy transfer underwater. Unlike traditional underwater charging methods that require physical docking or cable connections, the system seeks to transmit power over distances of several tens of meters using laser beams operating in the blue-green optical spectrum.

This wavelength range is particularly important because blue and blue-green light experiences lower attenuation in water than many other wavelengths, allowing energy and data to travel more efficiently through underwater environments. By leveraging NUBURU’s expertise in blue-laser technology, the collaboration aims to improve the efficiency, reliability, and scalability of underwater wireless power systems.

Blue-laser technology

Lyocon, acquired by NUBURU earlier this year, will serve as the laser-source design and integration partner for the project. The company brings established expertise in laser manufacturing, photonics engineering, and systems integration, positioning it as a key contributor to the development of the DEEP LIGHT platform.

Under the planned arrangement, Lyocon is expected to design and potentially supply the blue-laser technology layer required for the platform. Its responsibilities may include laser-source development, optical integration, system validation, and support for future industrial-scale deployment.

The collaboration highlights growing interest in underwater autonomy, subsea infrastructure protection, maritime security, and offshore energy applications. As governments and commercial operators increasingly deploy autonomous underwater systems, the need for reliable long-range power delivery and recharging solutions continues to grow.

NUBURU believes the partnership could open access to a multi-billion-dollar addressable market spanning autonomous underwater vehicles, subsea sensors, offshore inspection systems, underwater communications networks, and critical maritime infrastructure. The company also views underwater laser power transmission as a strategic extension of its broader defense and security technology portfolio.

The DEEP LIGHT project has received recognition within Italy’s underwater technology ecosystem and was presented during activities associated with the National Underwater Dimension Hub (PNS), supported by the Italian Navy. SunCubes has also attracted investment support from entities linked to CDP Venture Capital, reinforcing the project’s strategic relevance within Italy’s national innovation framework.

While the collaboration remains subject to definitive agreements, regulatory approvals, and technical validation, it marks an important milestone in the development of next-generation underwater energy systems. If successful, the integration of NUBURU’s blue-laser technology into the DEEP LIGHT platform could pave the way for longer-duration underwater missions, reduced operational constraints, and new capabilities across defense, research, and commercial maritime sectors.

As underwater autonomy and subsea infrastructure become increasingly critical to national security and industrial operations, the NUBURU–SunCubes partnership demonstrates how advanced photonics technologies may help redefine the future of underwater power transmission.

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A Chinese startup has claimed a breakthrough in photonic chip manufacturing by producing 8-inch optical chip wafers without relying on conventional deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems.

Hangzhou-based Prinano said it successfully validated mass production of photonic chips using its nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technology, a manufacturing approach that physically stamps nanoscale patterns onto wafers instead of projecting them through optical systems.

According to the company, the process was carried out in collaboration with Shenzhen Litra Technology and used its PL-AS vacuum air-cushion nanoimprint lithography equipment. Prinano said the method “completely avoids” the need for DUV lithography tools while reducing manufacturing costs to about one-tenth of traditional solutions.

The announcement comes as Chinese chipmakers continue looking for alternative manufacturing technologies amid restrictions on access to advanced lithography systems from Dutch supplier ASML.

Seeking lithography alternatives

Photonic chips are used in applications such as optical communications, sensing systems, lidar, and data centers. Unlike conventional electronic chips, they process information using light rather than electrical signals.

Prinano said its technology supports wafer-level production of photonic chips and can be applied to optical communication and sensing devices based on gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, and silicon photonics.

The company said its PL-AS tool offers sub-10-nanometer line-width resolution along with wafer-level pressure control. However, it did not disclose production volumes, manufacturing yields, or customer shipment data.

Nanoimprint lithography has long been viewed as a potential alternative to traditional optical lithography because it can create extremely fine features without the need for expensive projection optics. The technology was pioneered in the 1990s by Princeton University professor Stephen Y. Chou.

Prinano founder Ge Haixiong studied under Chou and established the company in 2017 to develop NIL equipment, materials, and manufacturing processes.

Questions over scalability

Interest in nanoimprint lithography has increased in recent years as chipmakers seek lower-cost manufacturing methods. In 2023, Canon introduced a commercial NIL system and promoted it as an alternative to some advanced lithography tools.

Despite the promise, analysts have questioned whether the technology can match the throughput and yields required for large-scale semiconductor manufacturing.

Research firm SemiAnalysis has previously noted that while NIL equipment can be cheaper than advanced lithography tools, overall economics depend on factors such as defect rates, template production, throughput, and process integration.

Prinano’s announcement focuses specifically on photonic chips rather than advanced logic processors, a distinction that may make commercialization more achievable. Photonic devices often rely on repeating nanoscale structures such as gratings, waveguides, and ring resonators, which can be well suited to imprint-based manufacturing.

The company said the technology has moved into wafer-level production validation, but independent verification of yields, commercial deployment, and manufacturing scale has not yet been disclosed.

For China’s semiconductor industry, the development highlights ongoing efforts to explore alternative manufacturing routes as access to advanced lithography equipment remains restricted.

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