Tokyo, Japan – A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has proposed using safety monitoring at synchrotron facilities to study the properties of dark photons, hypothetical particles proposed to explain dark matter. Calculations showed that the X-ray source at these sites and a Geiger-Muller counter behind safety shielding could be used to propose limits on how strongly dark photons interact with normal photons. The experiment would not involve a dedicated facility and can run alongside other experiments.

An EPFL-led study shows how language models can guide chemical synthesis and explain reactions using plain-language instructions.

Physicist Olena Fedchenko conducts research at Goethe University on novel quantum materials that will be key to future technological breakthroughs. Since 2025, she has held the Gisela-and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowed Professorship for Experimental Physics, financed through returns from the Gisela and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowment Fund at Goethe University. This endowment fund is now being supported by the Volkswagen Foundation with two million euros as part of its Lichtenberg Program. Among other activities, Olena Fedchenko conducts research in the Collaborative Research Center/Transregio ElastoQMat as part of the joint activities of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU).

Using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, this study observed intrinsically disordered proteins/regions (IDPs/IDRs) transition from single molecules to oligomers, networked clusters, and a dense phase above a concentration threshold. Driven by conformational changes, this dynamic dense phase can disassemble into oligomers/monomers and reform. This provides direct experimental evidence for a non-classical, multi-step nucleation mechanism in early liquid-liquid phase separation.

Chiral objects are important in fields like drug development because their interactions with biological systems depend on handedness. Researchers from Tokyo University of Science, Institute for Molecular Science, and Seoul National University used light to selectively manipulate nanosized chiral objects. By confining circularly polarized light in an ultra-thin optical fiber, they transported metallic chiral nanoparticles based on handedness, thereby enabling chirality control at near-molecular scales, opening possibilities for applications involving chiral systems, including drug development.

Biodegradable plastics hold potential for reducing marine plastic pollution, but degrade too quickly, limiting their practical use. Researchers from Gunma University now show that crab shell by-products can reduce the breakdown rate of biodegradable plastics in seawater by altering the microbial communities that colonize their surfaces, known as the plastisphere. These findings could help design plastics that stay durable during use and then degrade at an appropriate time once in the ocean.