A new superinductor created within a silicon integrated circuit

A new superinductor created within a silicon integrated circuit
Quantum Motion silicon quantum chip held in tweezers. Credit: Elhuyar Fundazioa

A recent study published in Nature Electronics and carried out by researchers from nanoGUNE’s Quantum Hardware research group, Quantum Motion, London Center for Nanotechnology, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge introduces a new superinductor created within a silicon integrated circuit fabricated in a commercial complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process.

Superinductors are electrical inductors that are engineered to have an extremely large inductance, often far beyond what can be achieved with conventional coils...

Read More

Red and green auroras may share electron-driven origins

New Clues on the Origin of Red Auroras
Sami Solanki captured this image of the aurora over Göttingen on May 10, 2024, shortly before 11 p.m. A distinct red glow is visible above the deeper green aurora. Bright rays extend from the red into the green. Credit: Annales Geophysicae (2026). DOI: 10.5194/angeo-44-1201-2026

With their mysterious glow and swirling veils of color, auroras enchant even experienced researchers. When a particularly intense solar storm reached Earth on the night of May 10, 2024, and relevant websites predicted auroras even for southern Lower Saxony, several researchers from the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, the University of Göttingen, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) took to the outdoors.

“I’ve...

Read More

A laser can draw superconductivity at the nanoscale

This article has been the inside cover of Adv. Funct. Mater. 78/2026
This article was featured on the inside cover of Adv. Funct. Mater. 78/2026. Credit: Biancardi et al. (2026). Available in Advanced Functional Materials, 36(78)

Researchers from ICMAB-CSIC, the Politecnico di Milano and Université de Liège have adapted a direct laser writing technique that allows them to “draw” superconducting properties in a material. The result is a new way to locally program the behavior of a superconductor, tuning it from a fully superconducting state to an insulating one with extraordinary precision.

High-temperature superconductors (HTSC) are materials that can conduct electricity without resistance at higher temperatures than conventional superconductors...

Read More

All 5 genetic “letters” of DNA and RNA discovered in a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid

Scientists have discovered all five essential nucleobases used in DNA and RNA in pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu, revealing that key ingredients for life existed in space billions of years ago. The remarkable finding adds to growing evidence from other asteroids and meteorites that these molecules were widespread throughout the early Solar System.

A new study reveals all five fundamental nucleobases – the molecular “letters” of life – have been detected in samples from the asteroid Ryugu.

Asteroid particles offer a glimpse into the chemical ingredients that may have helped kindle life on Earth. The Ryugu samples were returned from space in 2020 by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission.

In 2023, an international team reported they had fou...

Read More