Researchers at Hiroshima University have developed a new way to detect subtle, early-stage changes in human skin collagen using advanced optical imaging and chiroptical spectroscopy. The study reveals that the molecular organization and supramolecular chirality of dermal collagen collapses prior to visible fiber thinning or fragmentation.
Scientists create a porous silica microrod material that can form dense dispersions in nematic liquid crystals, overcoming the challenge of strong surface anchoring. This enables the reconfigurable self-assembly of micrometer-sized particles, opening up new possibilities for optical and biomedical applications.
Researchers created particle-like vortex knots in chiral nematic liquid crystals and discovered they can be reversibly switched between different knotted forms using electric pulses. The study provides a physical testbed for mathematical ideas, opening possible new routes toward knot-based electro-optic and photonic technologies.
Japanese physicists have shown that knots can arise in a realistic particle physics framework, potentially explaining the origin of the universe's matter surplus. By combining two long-studied extensions of the Standard Model, the team found a stable knot configuration that could have formed and dominated in the early universe.
Researchers have proposed a new model explaining neutron star glitches, suggesting that the power-law behavior of glitch energies is due to the formation of twisted clusters of superfluid vortices. The study found that the exponent for the power-law behavior closely matched the observed data.