Aug. 1, 2026 — A surprisingly simple change could make sodium-ion batteries far more powerful while opening the door to turning seawater into drinking water. Researchers at the University of Surrey found that sodium vanadium oxide performs much better when its ...

July 31, 2026 — A new chemical process can transform three of the most common plastics into high-purity hydrogen without sorting them first. The technique operates at much lower temperatures than traditional ...

July 31, 2026 — Scientists have built the first all-optical photonic time crystal, allowing them to reshape the behavior of terahertz light at extraordinary speeds. The breakthrough could open the door to ultrafast computing, smarter communication systems, advanced ...

July 30, 2026 — Engineers have transformed a notoriously brittle cobalt-aluminum compound into a material that is both extremely strong and capable of bending without breaking. Their nanoscale design produced a ...

July 29, 2026 — Rice University chemists have found a new way to make neodymium, a rare-earth metal, interact with oxygen. Using a specially designed molecular structure described as a “basket,” the team positioned the atoms so they could form a bond once ...

July 28, 2026 — Scientists have created twisted laser beams that interact differently with right-handed and left-handed molecules, revealing their identity through the fragments they produce. The approach could provide a faster, simpler, and more sensitive way to ...

July 22, 2026 — Researchers discovered a proton-assisted mechanism that greatly improves how triplet energy moves between quantum dots and nearby molecules. The proton briefly shifts position, helps coordinate electron movement, and then returns to where it ...

July 21, 2026 — Scientists have created a programmable optical chip that can slow light on demand, giving engineers far greater control over how optical signals propagate through a circuit. The technology could provide the delays, synchronization, and buffering ...

July 19, 2026 — Scientists are testing two promising ways to destroy PFAS, the stubborn “forever chemicals” that can accumulate in water and resist normal treatment. One method uses collapsing vapor bubbles to generate extreme heat and reactive molecules, while ...

July 17, 2026 — A team of mathematicians used whimsical "silly sprinklers" to solve a physics mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades. Their experiments showed that the rotation of both normal and reverse ...

July 17, 2026 — A new particle detector called PLATON could replace millions of tiny detector components with a single block of light-producing material. Using a light-field camera, highly sensitive photon sensors, and AI, it reconstructs particle paths in fast, ...

July 16, 2026 — Researchers have created self-destructing living plastic that uses engineered bacteria to completely break itself down when activated. The material degrades in just six days without creating ...