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- Billions in rare earth elements may be hiding in America’s coal ashScientists are looking to diatoms, sea sponges, and plants for a cleaner way to recover rare earth elements and other valuable minerals hidden inside coal ash, red mud, and mine tailings. The bio-inspired approach could turn massive industrial waste piles into useful materials while reducing energy use, harsh chemicals, and reliance on new mining.
- Scientists turn seawater into fresh water without harmful brineScientists have developed a solar-powered desalination system that turns seawater into fresh water while removing nearly all of the leftover salt as a solid instead of producing harmful brine. The self-cleaning technology could also recover valuable minerals such as lithium, potentially turning desalination waste into a useful resource.
- Scientists are building a microscope powered by a quantum computerScientists are combining an electron microscope with a quantum computer to squeeze far more information from each electron. The approach could reveal faint details with fewer electrons, helping protect fragile samples that conventional microscopy can damage.
- Tiny nanolaser could cut computer energy use in halfScientists have created an ultra-small nanolaser that could eventually allow microchips to transmit information with light instead of electricity, potentially making computers faster while cutting energy use roughly in half. Thousands of the lasers could fit on a single chip, opening possibilities for more efficient data centers, smartphones, and advanced medical sensors.
- Quantum oscillations defy expectations in this exotic materialScientists have uncovered an unusual form of electron behavior in zirconium pentatelluride, a quantum material that can act as both an insulator and a conductor. Under temperatures near absolute zero and magnetic fields reaching 60 tesla, electrons produced quantum oscillations that continued even after conventional physics predicted they should disappear.
- A new recipe unlocks “impossible” nanocrystals for LEDs, implants, and superconductorsScientists have cracked a long-standing chemistry problem, creating nanocrystals from tough metal nitrides that were previously extremely difficult to produce at this scale. The breakthrough could turn familiar materials used in LEDs, implants, and superconductors into building blocks for flexible electronics, printable devices, and other technologies.