Domino polymerization provides a new route to versatile, degradable plastics

We're getting closer and closer to finding a real Earth-like exoplanet. But finding one is only half the battle. To truly know if we're looking at an Earth analog somewhere else in the galaxy, we have to directly image it too. That's a job for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a planned space-based telescope whose primary job is to do precisely that. But even capturing a picture and a planet and getting spectral readings of its atmospheric chemistry still isn't enough, according to a new p

Mangrove forests are natural wonders that protect coastal areas, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. They are able to dissipate wave energy and limit flooding, which can even mitigate tsunamis and coastal inundations during tropical cyclones. For this reason, mangroves are attracting attention as Nature-based Solutions, or NbS: natural infrastructure with the potential to enhance coastal resilience in an environmentally friendly way.

Can a handful of atoms outperform a much larger digital neural network on a real-world task? The answer may be yes. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Prof. Peng Xinhua and Assoc. Prof. Li Zhaokai from the University of Science and Technology of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated that a quantum processor comprising just nine interacting spins outperforms classical networks with thousands of nodes in realistic weather forecasting tasks.

An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy.