The most destructive wildfire season on record in Europe was in 2025, with more than 1 million hectares burned and tens of thousands of people displaced by fires across the continent.
More than 40 years after the end of commercial whaling, new research reveals a recent increase in sightings of the world's two largest whale species in the southeastern Atlantic. The findings, published in the African Journal of Marine Science, compile more than 60 years of confirmed sightings and strandings from Namibia and South Africa's west coast. Although overall numbers remain low, sightings of both species have increased markedly in recent years—with 95% of observations recorded since 2012.
A German–Israeli research team led by Dr. Andreas Furchner has demonstrated how imaging ellipsometry enables non-destructive characterization and quality control of microstructured MXene thin films during device fabrication. The authors used two complementary ellipsometry approaches for precise, multi-scale access to key material properties. The work positions imaging ellipsometry as a powerful platform for monitoring thin-film uniformity, device integrity, and functionality throughout processing, including critical lithographic steps. The study was published in Applied Physics Letters and selected as an Editor's Pick.
Like schools of fish and flocks of birds, our cells can also migrate collectively in coordination with their neighbors. This harmonious movement of cells occurs during embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. However, since individual cells can only sense limited local information, how they are able to coordinate as a larger collective has remained poorly understood.
When the solar system formed, a disk of gas and dust orbited the young sun. Over the course of millions of years, the dust gradually clumped together to form kilometer-sized chunks known as planetesimals. Some grew into planets, while the rest are considered to be the precursors of today's asteroids. Researchers assume that this development did not proceed in a linear fashion, with different stages of planetesimal development occurring simultaneously, and not every region of the disk offering favorable "starting conditions" for planetesimals.
Society depends on chemistry far more than we consciously realize, from medicines to energy to electronics. However, chemistry is viewed with as much apprehension as gratitude, because of the pollution and health problems that some chemicals cause.
Solo living in your own home places a greater strain on the planet's resources than living with others, as everyone needs their own appliances—a toaster, a washing machine and so on. The Nordic countries stand out: Almost half of all households are solo-living households. Sustainability researcher Tullia Jack interviewed people who live alone about the reasons for this and hopes for new forms of co-living. The study is published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
Biomolecules, also known as organic molecules, include sugars, proteins and lipids and are the building blocks of all life. They play a role in the structure and metabolism of all living organisms. To make them visible under a microscope, researchers use special dyes to make them glow. A research team at the University of Göttingen has now developed a new method to do this better.
Researchers at Kyoto University and Tohoku University have developed a new porous polymer gel that selectively recognizes specific molecules (referred to as "guests" in the study) through coordination chemistry and converts these invisible molecular-scale interactions into strikingly visible, macroscale deformation.
The mechanism of high-temperature (TC) superconductivity is a key challenge in condensed matter physics. Recently, Chinese scientists made significant progress in the study of high-TC nickelate superconductors.
