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Category: materials

When Vera Rubin measured the spin of galaxies

Beginning with the Andromeda galaxy in the late 1960s, the astronomer Vera Rubin and her colleague Kent Ford measured how fast stars and gas clouds orbit at different distances from a galaxy’s centre. They expected the outer material to move slowly. It did not. In Andromeda, and then in galaxy after galaxy, the orbital speed stayed high all the way to the edge of what they could measure. The visible stars, gas and dust could not supply enough gravity to hold matter moving that fast in place.

Rubin and Ford published their Andromeda result in 1970, in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal. Over the following decade they extended the work, and by 1980 had measured the same pattern across twenty-one spiral galaxies. The consistency was the point. One odd galaxy could be explained away. Twenty-one could not.

Topological states emerge in quantum Hall-superconductor devices with multiple channels

Topological phases are unusual states of matter that give rise to properties protected by a material’s overall structure (i.e., “topology”), as opposed to microscopic details. These phases are of great interest for the development of quantum technologies, as they can yield desirable electronic properties that are robust against defects and disturbances.

Researchers at Autonomous University of Madrid investigated the topological phases that emerge in hybrid devices that combine the quantum Hall effect and superconductivity.

The quantum Hall effect is an effect that emerges when the electrical resistance of a two-dimensional (2D) material placed under a strong magnetic field and cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero changes in precise, rigid “steps” rather than continuously. Superconductivity, on the other hand, is a state exhibited by some materials that entails an electrical resistance of zero, typically below a specific critical temperature and magnetic field.

Webb reveals black hole that formed before its galaxy

Which comes first, the galaxy or the black hole? We don’t know, but scientists have long thought it could be the galaxy: Large stars within an existing galaxy consume their fuel and collapse to form black holes, which can gobble up surrounding material and merge over time to form more massive entities.

But it’s hard to figure out how black holes millions to billions of times the mass of the sun, thousands of which have now been detected in the early universe, could have grown so quickly from such small seeds.

Now, researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected clear evidence that some supermassive black holes were enormous from the beginning, forming without a stellar collapse phase, and without a significantly more massive host galaxy to feed them.

Freeze-dried reagents and hand-powered hardware bring biomanufacturing to remote labs

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, working with collaborators around the world, have demonstrated the effectiveness of a suite of low-cost, portable biotechnology tools designed to improve access to laboratory research and diagnostics in resource-limited settings.

Published in Science Advances, the study highlights how decentralized biomanufacturing tools and freeze-dried reagents can help researchers produce high-value biological materials locally—reducing reliance on fragile international supply chains and expanding access to life sciences innovation globally.

The research was led by Keith Pardee, associate professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, alongside collaborators including Camila González in Bogotá, Colombia, Fernán Federici in Santiago, Chile, and Lindomar Pena in Recife, Brazil.

Efficacy and safety of durcabtagene autoleucel in a phase 1 trial for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma

Prolonged manufacturing times for autologous CAR T cell therapies can be incompatible with rapidly progressive disease (PD), resulting in increased need for bridging therapy to achieve disease stabilization. Bridging therapy was required for most patients receiving cilta-cel and ide-cel in clinical trials (75 and 87%, respectively) (7, 9, 11, 12). Although use of bridging therapy may not affect ORR, CRR, or PFS, it is associated with worse overall survival (15). Similarly, as wait times for CAR T cell product increase, so does risk of mortality as effectiveness of the therapy decreases (16, 17), highlighting the need for improved CAR T cell products with faster and more reliable manufacturing.

Another issue associated with traditionally manufactured CAR T cell products is T cell exhaustion due to extended periods of in vitro stimulation and expansion during manufacturing (18). Higher levels of exhausted T cells were also observed in the leukapheresis material and final products from patients who later experienced PD (18). T cell exhaustion can result in poor persistence of CAR T cells in the body, thereby impeding function as the proliferation and survival of transferred T cells strongly correlate with their antitumor activity (19–22). Specific T cell populations have varying abilities to expand and persist in vivo. Memory (CD8+CD45RO−CD27+) and naive T cell (TN cell) subsets are associated with improved clinical response, given their ability to proliferate and persist after infusion, whereas effector T cell subsets comparatively exhibit lower self-renewal and survival capabilities (19, 23, 24). Although these patient-specific parameters are initially established in leukapheresis material, preservation of such cell populations in the final product via manufacturing techniques may improve the antitumor activity of a patient’s CAR T cell therapy (18, 19, 23, 24).

Durcabtagene autoleucel (PHE885) is an autologous, BCMA-targeting CAR T cell therapy carrying a CAR construct with a fully human anti-BCMA single-chain fragment variable (scFv) fused to 4-1BB/CD3ζ signaling domains manufactured on a next-generation platform. Prior work has shown that this platform can successfully manufacture product in fewer than 2 days by eliminating the need for ex vivo expansion, thereby preserving overall T cell stemness (the ability of T cells to self-renew and mature), which results in a final product with greater proliferative potential and fewer exhausted T cells (18). Here, we present the findings of part A of the phase 1 study (NCT04318327) of durcabtagene autoleucel in r/r MM, along with correlative analyses of the product before and after infusion.

Ripples in fire-ant collectives suggest motions are driven by neighbor alignments

Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling “waves” of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.

Described in a new paper published in Journal of Applied Physics, Alberto Fernandez-Nieves and colleagues at the University of Barcelona are hopeful that their predictions could be confirmed in future experiments—potentially leading to deeper insights into the complex motions of active materials.

The strange quantum property of tomorrow’s insulator

Ultra-fast data transfer and superconductivity: Quantum materials offer significant technological prospects—if we can understand them at the atomic scale. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the University of Salerno, the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, and the National Research Council of Italy, has succeeded in observing the “quantum metric” in a topological insulator—a unique geometric property of these materials, which conduct electricity only on their surface.

Published in Nature Materials, this work represents a major step toward mastering the materials of the future.

Not all materials conduct electricity in the same way. These differences arise from the behavior of the electrons that make up the material. Among them, topological insulators—discovered in 2006—are of particular interest to scientists. Like conventional insulators, they block the flow of electric current through their interior, yet, remarkably, allow it to flow freely across their surface.

A More Accurate Prediction of Band-Gap Energies

Temperature is a tuning knob for semiconductor-band-gap energies, which in turn play a key role in the performance of optoelectronic devices. But computational tools for predicting this temperature dependence from first principles struggle to capture the influence of one main factor: many-electron effects in electron–phonon interactions. Xiaoxun Gong at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues now demonstrate a computational framework that properly accounts for these effects [1]. Their framework could aid the design of materials and devices with precisely tailored electronic and optical properties.

Theoretical calculations consistently underestimate the strength of electron–phonon interactions and how they modify band gaps at different temperatures. Previous studies indicated that this discrepancy likely stems from insufficient treatment of many-electron effects. To quantify the role of electron–phonon interactions more accurately, Gong and his colleagues have proposed a new framework that breaks down the total temperature-dependent modification of the band gap into various contributions. Within this framework, they analyzed electron–phonon interactions using a many-body perturbation theory, in which electrons’ energies and their perturbation by phonons are captured by the “GW” approximation.

To test their framework, the researchers computed the band gaps of diamond, silicon, and gallium phosphide at different temperatures. They found that the temperature-dependent band-gap modification was enhanced using the GW-based perturbation theory—especially compared to a description based on density-functional theory (DFT), the workhorse tool for first-principles electronic calculations. The new predictions for all three materials showed excellent agreement with previous measurements.

Rethinking hysteresis—a thermodynamic framework for history-dependent solids

Many solid materials “remember” their past. A piece of metal may respond differently after being stretched, heated, or cooled, and memory materials rely precisely on this kind of history-dependent behavior. This phenomenon, known as hysteresis, is central to technologies such as memory devices, energy conversion materials, and durable structural materials.

However, hysteresis has long posed a problem for thermodynamics. In conventional thinking, the state of a material should be described by state variables, such as temperature and volume. But in solids, the same temperature and volume can correspond to different material properties depending on the material’s past treatment.

For this reason, hysteresis has traditionally been treated as a nonequilibrium phenomenon, outside the standard framework of thermodynamics.

Renal Oncocytic Neoplasms: Review of Classification Updates, Imaging, and Management

Renal oncocytic neoplasms present diagnostic challenges, both at imaging and pathologic evaluation. The World Health Organization classification of renal neoplasms defines a spectrum of oncocytic neoplasms, including emerging entities that help define previously uncharacterized or mischaracterized tumors. Low-grade oncocytic tumors and eosinophilic vacuolated tumors are distinguishable from other oncocytic neoplasms at pathologic evaluation and typically demonstrate indolent behavior. Nomenclature regarding hybrid neoplasms has been clarified in reference to hereditary cases associated with Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome. Preoperative diagnostic difficulties at imaging contribute to high rates of resected benign renal tumors, the majority being renal oncocytomas. The imaging appearances of oncocytic neoplasms are similar, and the inability to confidently diagnose them at imaging has led to increased resection rates. Preoperative renal mass biopsy may be preventative, but its utilization remains low, diagnoses can be equivocal, and establishing tumor aggressiveness may not always be reliable. Malignant renal oncocytic tumors, including chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, are generally considered the less aggressive subtypes of renal cell carcinoma. However, distinguishing them from the more aggressive clear cell subtype remains challenging, despite imaging frameworks designed to aid categorization. Active surveillance is a safe management option among biopsy-confirmed renal oncocytic neoplasms, but it remains uncertain which patients are suitable for this approach. Diagnostic imaging may assist in risk-stratifying oncocytic neoplasms, with mass enhancement, heterogeneity, and calcification potentially differentiating benign from malignant oncocytic neoplasms. Mass attenuation and heterogeneity may differentiate low-grade and high-grade cancers. Molecular imaging and other emerging techniques, such as MR fingerprinting, may play a role in the future.

©RSNA, 2026

Supplemental material is available for this article.

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