New report identifies four moon sites for crewed missions to explore to advance scientific discovery

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report recommends four sites for future crewed moon missions: Bhabha Crater, Mons Hadley, the Orientale Basin and the Aristarchus Plateau. Exploring these areas could help scientists better understand the moon’s history, the solar system and potential resources that could support future human exploration.

“Exploring these lunar sites will allow scientists to unlock new information about the moon that has never been available to us before,” said James Day, professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California, San Diego, and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. “Returning to the moon will be a great achievement for humanity, and setting foot where we never have before will be a major moment for science.”

The far side of the moon is shielded from radio frequency interference from Earth, making it an ideal place for groundbreaking discoveries in radio astronomy and other observations that could open new windows to investigating the universe. There are also important questions related to biology and human health that could be addressed — for example, how lunar soil could be used to benefit long-term human habitation on the moon.

“The four sites that our report recommends would give astronauts the chance to study questions as varied as how to use lunar soil to grow plants, to understanding the sources of gravitational waves,” said committee co-chair Daniel Dumbacher, professor of engineering practice in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. “These sites give science the best shot at learning as much as possible from a crewed mission beyond the South Pole of the moon.”

Bhabha Crater
Bhabha Crater would be the farthest and most isolated location humans have ever explored. Human explorers would be able to access material from the moon’s oldest preserved impact basin, investigate the lunar crust on the far side of the moon, and deploy radio and optical astronomy experiments.

Mons Hadley
On the near side of the moon, the Mons Hadley region is near the landing site for the Apollo 15 mission. Revisiting the site would provide new information for future crewed missions by allowing the study of hardware and biological materials left exposed to the lunar environment for more than 50 years. At Mons Hadley, explorers could collect new geological samples and samples from the Apollo 15 site to inform the Artemis program and moon-to-Mars planning. This site would also be suitable for a space weather observatory and an experiment to assess how material from the moon’s surface may mitigate radiation hazards, the report says.

Orientale Basin
On the outer edge of the moon’s disk as seen from Earth, the Orientale Basin provides access to the best-preserved, large, multi-ringed impact basin in the solar system. Visiting this site would offer an unmatched variety of geological materials and a seismically quiet environment that will yield insight into the deep structure and origin of the moon, the report says. Mission crews should return samples from the basin to Earth to better understand how the basin was formed, as well as deploy a gravitational wave observatory.

Aristarchus Plateau
Rising dramatically from ancient lava flows on the near side of the moon, the Aristarchus Plateau is a geologically rich volcanic landscape. This site would provide the opportunity to collect samples that will yield insight into the variety of volcanic processes that have shaped the moon and potentially important resources that could support future exploration. This site would also be suitable for establishing a space weather observatory to improve space weather forecasting and for assessing how material from the moon’s surface may mitigate radiation hazards.

Improving Science Capabilities
The report also makes recommendations for NASA that would enhance the ability of astronauts to explore these locations and pursue scientific discovery. NASA should develop the capability for astronauts to travel farther than the current maximum of 2 kilometers for extravehicular exploration, and ensure that instruments deployed by astronauts can operate over many day-to-night cycles on the moon.

NASA should also develop a high-resolution observational tool to be placed in orbit above the moon to ensure continued safety and planning for lunar missions, as well as a simple, unpressurized crewed rover for short excursions, and continuous communications capabilities to be used by humans working on the surface of the moon.

For more information: National Academies

OHIO researchers Faiz Rahman, Savas Kaya receive $550,000 NSF award for next-generation nanolithography

A new U.S. National Science Foundation award will support Dr. Faiz Rahman and Dr. Savas Kaya in developing an advanced electron-beam lithography technique capable of creating features smaller than 5 nanometers. The three-year, $550,000 project runs from Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2029.

Electron-beam lithography is an important tool for fabricating extremely small customized structures, but producing features approaching molecular dimensions remains technically challenging.

The new project seeks to overcome these limits by combining a very fine electron beam with deep-ultraviolet radiation and singlet oxygen, a highly reactive form of oxygen. The electron beam breaks long polymer chains in the resist into smaller fragments, while singlet oxygen helps remove those fragments during patterning. This approach could allow extremely small openings to be produced directly in the resist in a single-step process.

The research aims to demonstrate patterning at the sub-5-nm scale, a capability increasingly important for semiconductor manufacturing and potentially valuable in photonics, bioengineering, nanomaterials and biomedical applications. The resulting nanoscale patterns could also be used as templates for removing or depositing materials and for fabricating photomasks needed for future generations of microelectronic devices.

The work will be conducted at Ohio University’s Russ Research Opportunity Center (RROC) and will strengthen NQPI’s experimental capabilities in nanofabrication and nanoscale science.

According to Rahman, an existing scanning electron microscope will be converted into an electron-beam lithography system for the project. The research will also provide training opportunities for postdoctoral and graduate researchers.

The award highlights the interdisciplinary strengths of NQPI and Ohio University in nanotechnology, advanced manufacturing, materials science and device fabrication, while establishing new capabilities for creating structures at dimensions of only a few nanometers.

For more information: National Science Foundation

Locusts get a sensory assist from nanomaterials

Researchers are exploring how insects could serve as sensing systems in environments that are difficult or dangerous for humans to access. Research from Washington University in St. Louis combines insects’ biological abilities with engineering to potentially detect hazards, map areas and gather information in challenging environments.

“We marry the best biology has to offer with engineering principles to create a superior sensing system,” said Barani Raman, the Dennis & Barbara Kessler Professor in biomedical engineering at the WashU McKelvey School of Engineering.

Raman and his colleague Srikanth Singamaneni, the Lilyan & E. Lisle Hughes Professor in mechanical engineering and materials science, are senior authors of the research.

Both biological and artificial chemical sensing systems have drawbacks, Singamaneni said. A locust’s olfactory system is extremely sensitive and can detect faint odors that guide its behavior. But even with 50,000 olfactory receptor neurons in each antenna, it can’t identify a wide enough range of chemical compounds. Meanwhile, synthetic sensors don’t perform as well as more nimble living creatures, but they can be very accurate at detecting specific compounds. Why not combine the two?

“Both biological and artificial chemical sensing approaches have their strengths and drawbacks,” said Singamaneni, but by combining them, “you can cast a broader net.” Here, they added an ultralight, highly porous nanomaterial coating, known as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, to the locusts’ antennae.

SERS is a technique that boosts signals from molecules on or near nanostructure metal surfaces; it’s especially useful for detecting trace chemicals. In this case, researchers used a collagen foam applied to the antennae or wings. The foam augmented the insect’s odor-detecting skills without interfering with its other functions.

Singamaneni’s lab specializes in designing and synthesizing these types of nanomaterials. He has been working with plasmonic nanostructures as long as Raman has been mapping locust sensory circuits. They melded their research, and it paid off. Locusts equipped with the foam outperformed non-SERS locusts as well as synthetic chemical sensors, improving odor-detection performance across all chemicals tested, including the chemical signature for TNT.

In a series of tests, their hybrid systems successfully detected a wider range of smells without affecting the insect’s normal functions.

Raman said a key challenge in chemical sensing is they often don’t know what molecules they’re targeting. The foam attached to the antenna helps identify particular chemical species, he noted. The biology and the chemical sensing parts complement each other.

“It clearly showed the best of the two worlds can be merged,” he said.

For more information: Advanced Materials

Image: A future hybrid system could deploy locusts like this one to detect chemical vapors in search-and-rescue operations, or war zones, quickly identifying particular chemicals based on neural response signatures in the organism and pinpointing their locations before responders enter the scene. The foam on the antenna and wing can enhance an organism’s innate sensory system, collect samples and detect trace chemical signatures. (Photo: Raman lab)

Enhancing hidden defects to strengthen metal materials

Scientists have discovered a way to use defects in crystals to create stronger materials. By organizing these imperfections into dense networks, researchers strengthened two metal alloys without changing their chemical composition.

Notably, this method significantly increased both the amount of stress the metals could withstand and their resistance to gradual warping at high temperatures. These results suggest that adding a layer of engineered defects to structural materials could complement conventional materials design, said Andreas Bezold, lead author of the study and an adjunct assistant professor of materials science and engineering at The Ohio State University.

“Defects are very important to learn more about, because by understanding how they interact with a material’s internal structure helps us design stronger materials,” he said.

Built on previous Ohio State research that showed how microscopic defects that form during deformation can be turned into layers that strengthen the structure, this team’s approach is the first to introduce densities that fully enrich these alloys. Using this method to develop alloys with more advanced properties could help scientists create more sustainable, longer-lasting materials.

“We wanted to make these strengthening structures a deliberate part of the material’s design,” said Bezold. “So it was fascinating to see how defects could have such a positive effect on the overall durability of the alloys.”

To measure how defects could strengthen metal, researchers first deformed the crystals in a cobalt-nickel-based superalloy and a cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy, then used heat to slowly age them. This process created atomically thin, dense features in the structure that scientists could analyze.

Utilizing a combination of two techniques, transmission electron microscopy and computer simulations, the team found that the resulting boost in strength was linked to how atoms were arranged around the structural defects. Altering this complex formation could influence the strength of the material.

“Seeing the strengthening process on the atomic scale was quite stunning, since despite being associated with damage, the right defects with the right structure and chemistry can actually make a material stronger,” said Michael Mills, co-author of the study and a professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State.

In the future, this method could be used to create high-strength alloys for technologies that have to withstand high temperatures, such as aircraft turbine engines or power plant machinery. For now, Bezold’s team is helping pave the way for richer design principles in engineering.

“This is a field that is quickly becoming very exciting,” he said. “We hope that this idea becomes a new lever that strengthens and pushes the limits of material engineering even further.”

For more information: Science

Thermo Fisher introduces new RaptIR X FTIR Microscope

Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Mass.) recently launched the Thermo Scientific Nicolet RaptIR X FTIR Microscope. The new equipment is the latest advancement in FTIR microscopy designed to make chemical analysis of microscopic samples more accessible, intuitive and efficient for laboratories.

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Common metal could unlock a cheaper path to quantum materials

Researchers have created a cobalt-based thin film that could offer a lower-cost approach to developing materials for quantum research. By adding about 4% cobalt to sodium antimonate, scientists created localized honeycomb structures that produce strong magnetic interactions associated with Kitaev-type quantum materials without disrupting the material’s larger crystal structure.

Kitaev materials are studied because some may support quantum spin liquids, unusual states in which atomic spins remain dynamic instead of settling into conventional magnetic order. Research has often relied on compounds containing scarce metals such as ruthenium and iridium.

“Previous work in this area has largely been limited to rare metals like ruthenium and iridium,” says lead author Hao-Bo Li. “We asked whether cobalt, one of the most common transition metals on Earth, could be made to form the same honeycomb structure and display the same intriguing physics.”

Microscopy confirmed that the cobalt atoms clustered into the predicted honeycomb motifs without creating unwanted secondary phases.

“What excites us is that these cobalt honeycombs appear to form naturally, without any special coaxing,” explains senior author Hidekazu Tanaka. “They even produce a clear magnetic signal that matches what theory predicts for this type of structure.”

Magnetic measurements showed a ferromagnetic-like state near 88 K, or about minus 301 degrees Fahrenheit. Calculations indicate that this behavior comes from the local arrangement of cobalt atoms within the CoO6 structures.

The material has not been shown to host a quantum spin liquid, but it provides a cobalt-based system for studying Kitaev-type magnetism without relying on rare metals.

“Cobalt is relatively cheap, widely available, and already used in semiconductor manufacturing,” remarks Li. “This approach could eventually lead to quantum computing components that are far more practical to produce at scale.”

The researchers are now working to further engineer the material and test its quantum properties in greater detail.

For more information: Physical Review Materials

Physicists find evidence for ‘third’ type of magnetism

Altermagnets are a recently described class of materials that have no net magnetization but display magnetic-like electron behavior. Their unique properties could support advances in spintronics, which uses electron spin to develop faster, more efficient electronics. Because altermagnets do not produce stray magnetic fields, they could also allow devices to be placed closer together without interference.

“Ferromagnetism produces the behavior most people associate with everyday magnets,” said senior author University of Central Florida’s Professor Madhab Neupane and colleagues.

“In these materials, magnetic moments align in the same direction, creating a magnetic field. That property can be useful in electronics, but the resulting stray magnetic fields can interfere with nearby components.”

“Antiferromagnets behave differently. Their magnetic moments point in opposing directions and cancel one another out, largely avoiding the stray fields. However, they lack some of the useful electronic properties found in ferromagnets.”

“Altermagnets offer another possibility by combining desirable characteristics of both,” they added.

“Like antiferromagnets, they can avoid producing unwanted stray magnetic fields. But they can also generate and detect spin currents — the movement of electron spins through a material — that researchers hope to use for future electronics.”

In the study, the researchers used a technique called angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which maps how electrons move inside a crystal, including measurements that distinguish between spin ‘up’ and spin ‘down’ electrons.

They first detected a characteristic splitting in the electronic bands of Co1/4TaSe2.

They then used spin-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to take a closer look and found that those split states carried opposite spin polarizations, key evidence of altermagnetism.

“The significance became clear once the experimental measurements consistently matched our theoretical predictions,” Professor Neupane said.

“Seeing those independent pieces of evidence converge gave us confidence that we had identified a genuine layered altermagnet.”

According to the scientists, the material is distinctive because it is a layered, van der Waals crystal, which could make it easier to combine with other exotic materials, such as superconductors, in layered devices.

Other altermagnet candidates studied so far, mainly manganese telluride and chromium antimonide, are not layered in this way.

“Evidence for altermagnetism in a versatile materials platform opens a lot of new possibilities,” said first author Milo Sprague, also from the University of Central Florida.

“There’s currently a lot of debate in altermagnetic theory about how the spin-polarized electronic states interact with other magnetic phenomena.”

“Now we have a material that we can easily modify to explore these new questions.”

For more information: Nature Communications

Image: Establishment of altermagnetic crystal and magnetic structure in Co1/4TaSe2. Image credit: Sprague et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-76784-x.

Waste milk proteins transformed into sustainable materials

Grouse Fibre is developing ways to transform casein, the main protein in milk, into technical fibers and other advanced materials. The work aims to create value from dairy by-products while supporting a more sustainable, circular economy. Based at SRUC’s Barony Campus in Dumfries, the company has access to specialized laboratories, processing equipment and fresh milk for its research.

The project brought together dairy science and advanced materials engineering. Each day began with fresh milk collected directly from the farm before being processed in the Dairy Research and Innovation Centre, where the milk was separated and the casein recovered. The protein was then refined and tested as the raw material for Grouse Fibre’s fiber-forming technology.

Over the course of the project, the team progressed from laboratory trials to producing casein-based materials at kilogram scale, demonstrating the commercial potential of the technology.

Since completing the Digital Dairy Chain project, Grouse Fibre has continued developing its fibers for technical applications with support from Scottish Enterprise and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Dr Tom O’Haire, CEO of Grouse Fibre, said, “The Digital Dairy Chain project has been catalytic for us. The funding enabled our research and unlocked a collaboration with SRUC that has been fundamental to our progress. Exposure to the dairy expertise on campus has allowed us to make significant leaps forward. Access to the Maker Space and laboratory facilities at the Dairy Research and Innovation Centre has provided such an advantage that we have extended our presence beyond the project.”

The collaboration is one example of how SRUC is helping businesses develop innovative products that add value to the dairy sector while supporting sustainable economic growth.

The project also highlights the role of SRUC’s innovation facilities in bringing together researchers and industry to accelerate the development of new technologies. This collaborative approach will continue through SRUC’s Innovation Centre approach, which spans the whole of Scotland, providing businesses with opportunities to access specialist expertise, facilities and partnerships to develop new products and processes.

Dante Coulton, Process Engineer at Grouse Fibre and Technical Lead of the DDC project, said, “Working on the Digital Dairy Chain project with SRUC gave us access to high-quality dairy processing and laboratory equipment, as well as the expertise needed to make the most of it. This was a key factor in the project’s success and led to new ideas and innovative processes that have significantly transformed our production methods and strengthened our expertise in casein and fiber production. It also provided valuable insights into our proteins, from the macro to the micro scale, opening up exciting new opportunities for the future of our business.”

The project was awarded £175,000 as part of the Digital Dairy Chain Collaborative Research and Development Grant Competition, which supports businesses developing innovative solutions for the dairy industry.

Grouse Fibre’s project focused on biorefining waste milk from the dairy industry to create casein-based fibrous materials with multiple use cases ranging from high value technical applications, textile fibers and even as an additive in horticultural growing media

Led by SRUC, the Digital Dairy Chain is transforming the dairy supply chain through innovation, collaboration and business growth across Cumbria and south and west Scotland.

The five-year program is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its flagship Strength in Places Fund, with £21 million awarded to help transform the regional dairy sector and strengthen the rural economy.

The program supports businesses across the dairy supply chain through collaborative research, innovation funding, skills development and access to specialist facilities, helping bring new ideas from concept to commercial reality.

For more information: Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)
Image: Grouse Fibre has been converting protein found in milk into technical fibers.

Researchers use eggshells to make stronger, lighter metal alloys

Researchers have developed a technique that uses powdered eggshells to produce high-quality magnesium alloys for automotive, aerospace and biomedical applications. The approach offers a low-cost, more sustainable alternative to conventional calcium materials, which require energy-intensive processing from ore.

“For example, calcium carbonate and calcium oxide are important materials for manufacturing metal alloys,” says Bharat Gwalani, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at North Carolina State University. “But producing those calcium materials relies on a complex process making use of mined materials. We’ve demonstrated a technique that allows us to skip a step. Rather than processing ore to make calcium materials and then using those materials to produce metals or metal alloys, we’ve shown that you can produce a high-quality metal alloy using eggshells.”

Eggshells are 95% calcium carbonate, and the process the researchers use to incorporate the eggshell into alloys converts it into calcium oxide and nascent calcium.

“There are many benefits to this,” Gwalani says. “There are fewer steps. You have a reliable, sustainable supply chain. Eggshells are inexpensive. And you use far less energy, because you do not have to go through the process of creating calcium products from ore.”

For this proof-of-concept work, the researchers used eggshells to produce stronger, harder magnesium alloys, which have a combination of strength and weight that makes them useful for things like electronics and aerospace equipment.

“Calcium is added to magnesium to improve its mechanical properties,” says Gwalani. “We wanted to see if we could use biogenic waste – eggshells – to produce the necessary calcium materials during the manufacturing process.”

For this process, the researchers begin by drilling a series of evenly spaced holes into a cylindrical block of magnesium. Those holes are then filled with finely ground eggshells. This block is then placed into a steel cylinder. A steel mandrel with a hole in the center is then lowered into the cylinder. The mandrel essentially serves as a pestle in a mortar, pressing down on the magnesium block and spinning at 300 rotations per minute.

This process is called friction stir extrusion. As the mandrel presses down and spins, several things happen at about the same time. The eggshell powder is mixed into the surrounding magnesium, creating friction between the particles of eggshell and the metal. This friction converts the calcium carbonate into calcium oxide and calcium – and produces the high-strength alloy Mg2Ca. Lastly, the downward pressure of the mandrel forces the magnesium alloy out through the hole, producing an extruded rod of the finished product.

“This work shows that you can produce high-value, high-quality magnesium alloys using an inexpensive, sustainable, biogenic waste material,” says Gwalani. “This is a scalable, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible way to produce magnesium-based composites using biogenic waste materials.

“And we’ve already demonstrated that this approach has applications beyond magnesium and eggshells,” Gwalani says. “We demonstrated earlier this year that you can use the same approach – friction stir extrusion – to produce magnetic composites by grinding magnetic samarium-cobalt (SmCo5) powder into scrap aluminum.”

For more information: Journal of Magnesium and Alloys

Photo credit: Bharat Gwalani.

A 0.42-nanometer breakthrough could push transistors beyond silicon

A working transistor requires an extremely thin insulating layer known as the gate dielectric. This layer sits above the semiconductor and helps control the movement of electrons. As transistors shrink, making this insulating layer thinner can improve electrical control. The difficulty is that adding such layers to atomically thin semiconductors can disturb the delicate interface between the materials. That disruption can scatter electrons and erase some of the performance gains engineers are trying to achieve.

For years, researchers have therefore faced a difficult tradeoff. They could strengthen control over the transistor gate, or they could protect the mobility of the charge carriers moving through the device. Achieving both at once has been much harder.

Researchers at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan, working with TSMC Corporate Research, Taiwan, have now demonstrated a new way to address this problem by focusing on the interface itself.

The work, published in Nature Electronics, shows that carefully controlling the atomic boundary between a semiconductor and its insulating layer can allow the dielectric to be made extremely thin while maintaining strong electrical performance. Rather than searching for a completely different semiconductor, the researchers concentrated on the narrow region where the two materials meet, an area only a few atoms thick.

Instead of changing either the semiconductor or the gate dielectric, the NYCU researchers redesigned the interface connecting them.

The team first placed an ultrathin epitaxial aluminum layer directly onto monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). They then carefully oxidized the aluminum, producing an aluminum oxide layer about 0.42 nanometers thick. After that, they added the high κ hafnium oxide gate dielectric.

Despite being only a fraction of a nanometer thick, the engineered interface performs two important jobs.

First, it creates a smooth and continuous surface that allows the hafnium oxide to grow more uniformly over the MoS2. Second, it works as an atomic buffer that limits unwanted electrical interactions between the dielectric and the semiconductor. This protection helps electrons continue moving efficiently through the transistor channel.

In this design, the interface does more than simply keep two materials apart. It becomes a functional part of the transistor and helps the materials work together more effectively.
Using the new interface design, the researchers fabricated short-channel top-gate transistors from CVD-grown monolayer MoS2. The devices had an equivalent oxide thickness of roughly one nanometer.

Testing showed low leakage current, minimal hysteresis, and maximum transconductance of 0.45 mS μm-1 in transistors with channels measuring about 100 nanometers.

More importantly, the devices demonstrated a combination that has been difficult to achieve in atomically thin transistors: very thin dielectric scaling, strong electrostatic control, and sustained carrier transport.

Because the researchers used CVD-grown monolayer MoS2 rather than mechanically exfoliated flakes, they believe the approach brings the technology closer to materials and processes that could eventually be suitable for wafer-scale manufacturing.

The findings also point to a broader change in the way semiconductor researchers think about transistor design.

For decades, much of the effort to improve transistors has centered on discovering better semiconductor materials or making devices smaller. As transistor components approach atomic dimensions, however, the interfaces separating different materials become increasingly important.

These regions may be only a few atoms thick, yet they can strongly influence how well the materials on either side work together. The new results add to growing evidence that controlling these atomic interfaces could become as important as developing new semiconductor materials themselves.

 

Image – Researchers from NYCU and TSMC show that redefining the atomic boundary between materials can address a major engineering barrier restricting the development of next-generation semiconductor devices. Courtesy of: Springer Nature.

 

For more information:

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
https://www.nycu.edu.tw/nycu/en/index

New analog memory may make smart devices even smarter

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed electro-thermo-chemical random-access memory, a technology that uses localized heating and electrical pulses to store a range of analog values instead of binary ones and zeros, making future electronics more energy efficient.

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