Scientists have devised a new way to switch magnetic computer memory while using far less energy than today's leading technologies. By mathematically optimizing the pulses used to flip digital bits, the method could reduce energy consumption by several orders of magnitude. Simulations suggest it may bring future memory devices surprisingly close to the fundamental physical limit for processing information. The same idea could eventually work with electrical currents or ultrafast lasers.

Harvard researchers have transformed ordinary knitting into a platform for creating fabrics that can snap between different shapes and perform useful functions. Using elastic yarns and industrial knitting techniques, the team engineered thick textiles that naturally curve and lock into multiple stable configurations, much like a light switch flipping between on and off. By adding conductive yarn, they turned these shape-shifting fabrics into soft electronic switches capable of controlling lights, counting steps, and responding to movement.

Physicists have mathematically captured a bizarre “spacetime crystal” that can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black hole after only a tiny change in energy. Their breakthrough came from an unusual trick involving infinitely many dimensions, potentially giving researchers a new tool for studying primordial and microscopic black holes.

Scientists have discovered that tiny, sharply curved wrinkles in graphene can dramatically alter its electrical behavior, creating surprisingly strong charge separation. The finding suggests future electronics could be tuned by reshaping materials at the atomic scale instead of changing what they’re made of.