A team of researchers at the Max Born Institute and collaborating institutions has developed a reliable method to create complex magnetic textures, known as skyrmion bags, in thin ferromagnetic films. Skyrmion bags are donut-like, topologically rich spin textures that go beyond the widely studied single skyrmions.
Ghost imaging is like a game of Battleship. Instead of seeing an object directly, scientists use entangled photons to remove the background and reveal its silhouette. This method can be used to study microscopic environments without much light, which is helpful for avoiding photodamage to biological samples.
In the push to shrink and enhance technologies that control light, MIT researchers have unveiled a new platform that pushes the limits of modern optics through nanophotonics, the manipulation of light on the nanoscale, or billionths of a meter.
The result is a class of ultra-compact optical devices that are not only smaller and more efficient than existing technologies, but also dynamically tunable, or switchable, from one optical mode to another. Until now, this has been an elusive combination in nanophotonics.
The work is reported in the July 8 issue of Nature Photonics.
Crystals and glasses have opposite heat-conduction properties, which play a pivotal role in a variety of technologies. These range from the miniaturization and efficiency of electronic devices to waste-heat recovery systems, as well as the lifespan of thermal shields for aerospace applications.
The problem of optimizing the performance and durability of materials used in these different applications essentially boils down to fundamentally understanding how their chemical composition and atomic structure (e.g., crystalline, glassy, nanostructured) determine their capability to conduct heat. Michele Simoncelli, assistant professor of applied physics and applied mathematics at Columbia Engineering, tackles this problem from first principles — i.e., in Aristotle’s words, in terms of “the first basis from which a thing is known” — starting from the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics and leveraging machine-learning techniques to solve them with quantitative accuracy.
In research published on July 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Simoncelli and his collaborators Nicola Marzari from the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne and Francesco Mauri from Sapienza University of Rome predicted the existence of a material with hybrid crystal-glass thermal properties, and a team of experimentalists led by Etienne Balan, Daniele Fournier, and Massimiliano Marangolo from the Sorbonne University in Paris confirmed it with measurements.
Researchers at Harvard have created a groundbreaking metasurface that can replace bulky and complex optical components used in quantum computing with a single, ultra-thin, nanostructured layer. This innovation could make quantum networks far more scalable, stable, and compact. By harnessing the power of graph theory, the team simplified the design of these quantum metasurfaces, enabling them to generate entangled photons and perform sophisticated quantum operations — all on a chip thinner than a human hair. It's a radical leap forward for room-temperature quantum technology and photonics.
Creating complex structures at the tiniest scales has long been a challenge for engineers. But new research from Georgia Tech shows how electron beams, already widely used in imaging and fabrication, can also be used as ultra-precise tools to both carve and build structures out of materials like copper.
The research group of Professor Andrei Fedorov at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering has discovered a technique that uses focused electron beams in a liquid environment to either remove or deposit copper, depending entirely on the surrounding chemistry.
By tuning the amount of ammonia in the solution, the researchers were able to control whether the beam etched away the material or deposited it, effectively allowing 3D sculpting at the atomic level.
Cryonics in space, cryostasis repair science, and revival ethics and planning are converging in 2025 to shape a bold new vision for life extension and post-biological freedom.
Join us Thursday, July 31 at 6 PM EST for a virtual service featuring two of cryonics’ leading voices:
Rudy Hoffman – Immortality Through Innovation.
Rudy opens with the visionary idea of cryonics in space and shares how today’s planning tools—annuity structures, revival trusts, and insurance-backed systems—support long-term access to biostasis. He ends with a powerful call to preserve freedom in the era of revival governance.
Alex Crouch – The Bridges to Reanimation.
Founder of Revival Research Group, Alex outlines the six bridges of cryostasis repair science, covering nanotech repair, AI orchestration, simulation, and bioprinting. His roadmap aims to make revival a transparent, collaborative goal.
Opening remarks by Neal Vanderee, officiator of the Church of Perpetual Life, connecting science, spirit, and future readiness.
Schedule:
