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Category: innovation

Ultra-thin metasurface chip turns invisible infrared light into steerable visible beams

The invention of tiny devices capable of precisely controlling the direction and behavior of light is essential to the development of advanced technologies. Researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have taken a significant step forward with the development of a metasurface that can turn invisible infrared light into visible light and aim it in different directions—without any moving parts. The details of their work are explained in a paper published in the journal eLight.

The novel metasurface is constructed of an ultra-thin chip patterned with tiny structures smaller than the wavelength of light. When hit with an infrared laser, the chip converts the incoming light to a higher color (or frequency) and sends the new light out as a narrow beam that can be steered simply by changing how the incoming light is polarized.

In their experiments, the team converted infrared light around 1,530 nanometers—similar to the light used in fiber-optic communications—into visible green light near 510 nanometers and steered it to chosen angles.

17 Month Life Extension Headed to Human Trial!

New preprint reports 17-month lifespan extension in mice with some living nearly 5 years. The intervention targets immune aging through CD4+ T cells and is expected to enter human trials in 2026.
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A new preprint by Lanna et al. reports one of the largest lifespan extensions ever seen in mice; approximately 17 months, with some mice living close to 5 years. The study focuses on metabolically reprogramming CD4+ T cells from aged mice using a peptide called DOS, which enables these cells to produce \.

Using complex networks to tame combustion instability

Engineers have long battled a problem that can cause loud, damaging oscillations inside gas turbines and aircraft engines: combustion instability. These unwanted pressure fluctuations create vibrations so intense that they can cause fatal structural damage to combustor walls, posing a serious threat in many applications. Combustion instability occurs when acoustic waves, heat release, and flow patterns interact in a strong feedback loop, amplifying each other until the entire system becomes unstable.

The complex interaction has made it difficult to predict when and where dangerous oscillations will emerge. This challenge has motivated researchers to seek new analytical frameworks that can capture the key driving regions of combustion instability.

Now, a research team led by Professors Hiroshi Gotoda from Tokyo University of Science and Ryoichi Kurose from Kyoto University, Japan, has developed an innovative approach using network science to understand and suppress combustion instability. Their paper, published in the journal Physical Review Applied on July 1, 2025, applies complex network analysis to spray combustion instability in a backward-facing step combustor.

Enterprise Spotlight: Manufacturing Reimagined

Emerging technologies from AI and extended reality to edge computing, digital twins, and more are driving big changes in the manufacturing world.

Download the February 2026 issue of the Enterprise Spotlight from the editors of CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World and learn about the new tech at the forefront of innovation and how it is poised to reshape how companies operate, compete, and deliver value in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Interstellar Travel: Approaching Light Speed

Is interstellar travel doomed to remain in the realm of science fiction? Sticking to near future space propulsion only, how close can we get to the speed of light?

This video looks at the current spacecraft speed records with Apollo 10 holding the record for the fastest manned spacecraft, New Horizons probe for the fastest Earth escape velocity and the Helios probes for the fastest heliocentric velocity. But Solar Probe Plus will beat that when it launches in 2018. While Voyager 1 doesn’t set any speed records, it was the first spacecraft to leave the solar system, so therefore the fastest solar system escape velocity by default.

For beating these speeds, this video explores what is possible in the near future only, so no antimatter, Alcubierre drives (warp), ramjets, etc… The EM drive is left out until it’s proven with actual reproducible results in space.

Project Daedalus and the updated Project Icarus represent sound concepts for fusion spacecraft. IKAROS was the first successful demonstration of solar sail technology but hopefully the planetary society is not far behind with their LightSail cubsat (not covered in this video).

But what appears to have the most potential to reach the nearest star to our own, Proxima Centauri and it’s newly discovered planet Proxima b is Breakthrough Starshot. Thousands of super lightweight laser sail nanocraft will be launched into space then the light beamer, a ground based laser array will propel these spacecraft to 20% light speed within minutes.

All sources used in researching this video are listed in the end credits.

Continue reading “Interstellar Travel: Approaching Light Speed” | >

Current and emerging therapeutic landscape for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis

Globally, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is now the most common chronic liver disease, affecting up to one in three people in the general population, with an estimated increase in prevalence of more than 50% in the last three decades. The rise in prevalence of MASLD will result in substantial increases in the number patients with decompensated cirrhosis and those developing liver cancer by 2030. Despite the complex pathobiology of MASLD, two major breakthroughs in phase 3 clinical trials now herald an era of licensed therapies for MASLD.

Recent sensory experiences adversely impact perceptual decisions, study finds

People’s perceptions and their interpretation of the world are known to often be influenced by their expectations and past experiences. One well-established example of this is serial dependence, a bias that prompts humans to make judgments about things that they are perceiving based on other stimuli that they observed shortly beforehand.

Researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of Lausanne, CHUV, The Sense Innovation and Research Center, and University of Bergen analyzed the findings of several past studies to better understand how this effect influences decision-making, particularly in situations where humans need to interpret what they are perceiving.

Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, suggest that serial dependence typically reduces the accuracy of people’s perceptions, which contradicts previous theories and hypotheses.

CERN’s Future Circular Collider project gets $1 billion funding

In a historic first for the laboratory, CERN has received $1 billion in private donations to support the development of the Future Circular Collider (FCC).

This philanthropic backing marks a shift in CERN’s 72-year funding history as it seeks to bridge the gap for the project’s estimated $18 billion price tag.

It comes from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund, and billionaire entrepreneurs John Elkann and Xavier Niel. Together, they pledged a combined $1 billion in late December 2025 to jumpstart the project.

DNA Breakthrough Solves Decade-Old Mystery of the Beachy Head Woman

New research suggests the mysterious Roman-era “Beachy Head Woman” was likely from Britain, not the Mediterranean or sub-Saharan Africa. Advances in DNA sequencing are helping researchers resolve a mystery that has surrounded the Beachy Head Woman for more than ten years. The remains of a youn

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