In a paper published in the journal Science, researchers at the University of Liverpool have discovered a solid material that rapidly conducts lithium ions. Such lithium electrolytes are essential components in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and many electronic devices.

Consisting of non-toxic earth-abundant elements, the new material has high enough Li ion conductivity to replace the liquid electrolytes in current Li ion battery technology, improving safety and energy capacity.

Using a transformative scientific approach to design the material, the interdisciplinary research team from the University synthesised the material in the laboratory, determined its structure (the arrangement of the atoms in space) and demonstrated it in a battery cell.

The new material is one of a very small number of solid materials that achieve Li ion conductivity high enough to replace liquid electrolytes, and operates in a new way because of its structure.

Its discovery was achieved through a collaborative computational and experimental workflow that used AI and physics-based calculations to support decisions made by chemistry experts at the University.

The new material provides a platform for the optimisation of chemistry to further enhance the properties of the material itself, and to identify other materials based on the new understanding provided by the study.

Professor Matt Rosseinsky, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry, said: “This research demonstrates the design and discovery of a material that is both new and functional. The structure of this material changes previous understanding of what a high-performance solid-state electrolyte looks like.

“Specifically, solids with many different environments for the mobile ions can perform very well, not just the small number of solids where there is a very narrow range of ionic environments. This dramatically opens up the chemical space available for further discoveries.

Recent reports and media coverage herald the use of AI tools to find potentially new materials. In these cases, the AI tools are working independently and thus are likely to recreate what they were trained on in various ways, generating materials that may be very similar to known ones.

“This discovery research paper shows that AI and computers marshalled by experts can tackle the complex problem of real-world materials discovery, where we seek meaningful differences in composition and structure whose impact on properties is assessed based on understanding.”

“Our disruptive design approach offers a new route to discovery of these and other high-performance materials that rely on the fast motion of ions in solids.”

The study undertaken was a combined effort between researchers in University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry, Materials Innovation Factory, Leverhulme Research Centre for Functional Materials Design, Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, Albert Crewe Centre, and School of Engineering.

The work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Leverhulme Trust, and the Faraday Institution.

The findings, reported today in the journal Science, provide a new window into the electronic structure of molecules in the liquid phase on a timescale previously unattainable with X-rays. The new technique reveals the immediate electronic response when a target is hit with an X-ray, an important step in understanding the effects of radiation exposure on objects and people.

“The chemical reactions induced by radiation that we want to study are the result of the electronic response of the target that happens on the attosecond timescale,” said Linda Young, a senior author of the research and Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. “Until now radiation chemists could only resolve events at the picosecond timescale, a million times slower than an attosecond. It’s kind of like saying ‘I was born and then I died.’ You’d like to know what happens in between. That’s what we are now able to do.”

A multi-institutional group of scientists from several Department of Energy national laboratories and universities in the U.S. and Germany combined experiments and theory to reveal in real-time the consequences when ionizing radiation from an X-ray source hits matter.

Working on the time scales where the action happens will allow the research team to understand complex radiation-induced chemistry more deeply. Indeed, these researchers initially came together to develop the tools needed to understand the effect of prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation on the chemicals found in nuclear waste. The research is supported by the Interfacial Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM) Energy Frontier Research Center sponsored by the Department of Energy and headquartered at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

“Members of our early-career network participated in the experiment, and then joined our full experimental and theoretical teams to analyze and understand the data,” said Carolyn Pearce, IDREAM EFRC director and a PNNL chemist. “We couldn’t have done this without the IDREAM partnerships.”

From the Nobel Prize to the field

Subatomic particles move so fast that capturing their actions requires a probe capable of measuring time in attoseconds, a time frame so small that there are more attoseconds in a second than there have been seconds in the history of the universe.

The current investigation builds upon the new science of attosecond physics, recognized with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. Attosecond X-ray pulses are only available in a handful of specialized facilities worldwide. This research team conducted their experimental work at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), located at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, in Menlo Park, Calif, where the local team pioneered the development of attosecond X-ray free-electron lasers.

“Attosecond time-resolved experiments are one of the flagship R&D developments at the Linac Coherent Light Source,” said Ago Marinelli from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, who, together with James Cryan, led the development of the synchronized pair of X-ray attosecond pump/probe pulses that this experiment used. “It’s exciting to see these developments being applied to new kinds of experiments and taking attosecond science into new directions.”

The technique developed in this study, all X-ray attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in liquids, allowed them to “watch” electrons energized by X-rays as they move into an excited state, all before the bulkier atomic nucleus has time to move. They chose the liquid water as their test case for an experiment.

“We now have a tool where, in principle, you can follow the movement of electrons and see newly ionized molecules as they’re formed in real-time,” said Young, who is also a professor in the Department of Physics and James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago.

These newly reported findings resolve a long-standing scientific debate about whether X-ray signals seen in previous experiments are the result of different structural shapes, or “motifs,” of water or hydrogen atom dynamics. These experiments demonstrate conclusively that those signals are not evidence for two structural motifs in ambient liquid water.

“Basically, what people were seeing in previous experiments was the blur caused by moving hydrogen atoms,” said Young. “We were able to eliminate that movement by doing all of our recording before the atoms had time to move.”

From simple to complex reactions

The researchers envision the current study as the beginning of a whole new direction for attosecond science.

To make the discovery, PNNL experimental chemists teamed with physicists at Argonne and the University of Chicago, X-ray spectroscopy specialists and accelerator physicists at SLAC, theoretical chemists at the University of Washington, and attosecond science theoreticians from the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging and the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), in Hamburg, Germany.

During the global pandemic, in 2021 and into 2022, the PNNL team used techniques developed at SLAC to spray an ultra-thin sheet of pure water across the X-ray pump pulse path.

“We needed a nice, flat, thin sheet of water where we could focus the X-rays,” said Emily Nienhuis, an early-career chemist at PNNL, who started the project as a post-doctoral research associate. “This capability was developed at the LCLS.” At PNNL, Nienhuis demonstrated that this technique can also be used to study the specific concentrated solutions that are central to the IDREAM EFRC and will be investigated at the next stage of the research.

From experiment to theory

Once the X-ray data had been collected, theoretical chemist Xiaosong Li and graduate student Lixin Lu from the University of Washington applied their knowledge of interpreting the X-ray signals to reproduce the signals observed at SLAC. The CFEL team, led by theoretician Robin Santra, modelled the liquid water response to attosecond X-rays to verify that the observed signal was indeed confined to the attosecond timescale.

“Using the Hyak supercomputer at the University of Washington, we developed a cutting-edge computational chemistry technique that enabled detailed characterization of the transient high-energy quantum states in water,” said Li, the Larry R. Dalton Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Washington and a Laboratory Fellow at PNNL. “This methodological breakthrough yielded a pivotal advancement in the quantum-level understanding of ultrafast chemical transformation, with exceptional accuracy and atomic-level detail.”

Principal Investigator Young originated the study and supervised its execution, which was led on-site by first author and postdoc Shuai Li. Physicist Gilles Doumy, also of Argonne, and graduate student Kai Li of the University of Chicago were part of the team that conducted the experiments and analyzed the data. Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials, a DOE Office of Science user facility, helped characterize the water sheet jet target.

Together, the research team got a peek at the real-time motion of electrons in liquid water while the rest of the world stood still.

“The methodology we developed permits the study of the origin and evolution of reactive species produced by radiation-induced processes, such as encountered in space travel, cancer treatments, nuclear reactors and legacy waste,” said Young.

The study has three co-first authors: S. Li, Lu, and Swarnendu Bhattacharyya of DESY. The three corresponding authors are X. Li, Santra and Young. A full author list is available here.

This work was primarily supported by IDREAM, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program. Use of the LCLS, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and resources from the Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, are supported by the DOE Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program. Additional support came from DESY and Cluster of Excellence, “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter,” of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Mesophotic (‘middle-light’) coral ecosystems are light dependent tropical or subtropical habitats found at depths of 30 to 150 meters. They are unique because they host more native species compared to shallow-water coral ecosystems. Despite this, they are largely unexplored, and more research is needed to understand their basic biology.

Researchers studying corals access these invertebrate reef builders by snorkeling and scuba diving, but these methods have limitations, especially when identifying corals at deeper depths. Using genetic material that organisms shed from their bodies into their environment — environmental DNA or eDNA — scientists can identify types of corals and other organisms living in a particular habitat, providing a powerful tool for biodiversity assessment.

Importantly, studying the eDNA of corals offers unique advantages. First, unlike fish, corals are stationary, eliminating uncertainties about their location. Second, they constantly secrete mucus into the sea, providing plenty of coral eDNA for sampling. For this study, the researchers analyzed mitochondrial DNA, which is more abundant and of higher quality compared to nuclear DNA, improving the accuracy of their findings. To learn more about the coral eDNA metabarcording analysis methods used in this study, see here.

Faster and easier monitoring of coral reefs

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) in Japan have some of the highest diversity of stony corals (Scleractinia) in the world, making them particularly important for researchers, but difficult to monitor because they are often located at deeper depths. Additionally, to accurately monitor corals, scientists require both scuba diving and taxonomy skills, which can be challenging. Existing methods for monitoring MCEs therefore impose limitations on conducting thorough surveys, and new methods are needed.

In October 2022, Prof. Noriyuki Satoh, leader of the Marine Genomics Unit, was approached by Mr. Shinichiro Nagahama of NTT Communications who had read about his research on coral eDNA methods. Mr. Nagahama suggested using their underwater drones to collect samples from deeper coral reefs for eDNA analysis. Prof. Satoh then put forward the idea of using the drones to conduct extensive surveys of mesophotic corals at greater depths.

Kerama National Park in Japan, about 30 km west of Okinawa Island, boasts some of the most transparent water in the Okinawa Archipelago. Often referred to as ‘Kerama blue’, these waters provided an excellent opportunity for the researchers to test this new sampling technique. They collected seawater samples — each measuring 0.5 liters — from 1 to 2 meters above the coral reefs (between 20 and 80 meters deep). The sampling sites were chosen across 24 locations within 6 different areas around the picturesque Zamami Island. The next step involved subjecting these samples to coral metabarcoding analyses, which uses Scleractinian-specific genetic markers to identify the different genera of corals present in each sample.

From the eDNA analysis results, the researchers successfully identified corals at the genus level. The presence and absence of certain genera of stony corals shown by this method indicated that reefs around the Kerama Islands exhibited different compositions of stony corals depending on location and depth. For example, the genus Acropora had the highest ratios at 11 sites, indicating that these corals are common at Zamami Island reefs. The researchers also found that the proportion of Acropora eDNA was higher at shallow reefs and upper ridges of slopes, while the proportion of the genus Porites increased at mesophotic sites. Regarding depth, Acropora was readily detected at shallow reefs (≤15 meters), while other genera were more frequently found at deeper reefs (>20 meters).

To study corals using eDNA metabarcoding methods, further sequencing of mitochondrial genomes of stony corals is needed, and this study suggests that it may be possible to more efficiently monitor mesophotic corals at the generic level using eDNA collected by underwater drones.

Collaborative innovation ahead

NTT Communications has developed a new version of the original drone used for this study. In response to a request from Prof. Satoh, an additional sampler was added so that two samples can be collected during a single dive. Additionally, the cable length between the controller and drone was extended from 150 meters to 300 meters and the battery is now changeable, so researchers can continue their survey work for an entire day.

Prof. Satoh is now working with two mesophotic coral specialists at the University of the Ryukyus, Dr. Frederick Singer and Dr. Saki Harii, to further test this method at study sites near Sesoko Island, using the new and improved drones. He hopes to revolutionize the way coral surveys are conducted. Currently, surveys are limited to very restricted spots, but with the help of these advanced underwater drones, scientists can extend their research from the shallowest regions to depths of 60 meters and beyond. “My ideal survey would include the entire spectrum of the coral reef, from the shallow waters to the mesophotic zones, and even the sandy depths. These machines provide an excellent method for conducting broader eDNA monitoring studies,” he remarked.

Recent research by Professor Joseph MICHALSKI, a geologist in the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has revealed intriguing insights into the volcanic activity on Mars. He proposes that Mars has significantly more diverse volcanism than previously realised, driven by an early form of crust recycling called vertical tectonics. The findings, recently published in Nature Astronomy, shed light on the ancient crust of Mars and its potential implications for understanding early crustal recycling on both Mars and Earth.

Traditionally, Mars has been known to have large shield volcanoes similar to those in Hawaii. However, it was not known that Mars also possessed the diverse, explosive volcanoes that form on Earth due to crustal recycling.

The recent research conducted by Professor Michalski and his international team discover a vast number of diverse volcanoes in the ancient crust of Mars. ‘We have known for decades that Mars has volcanoes, but most of the recognised volcanoes correspond to large basaltic shield volcanoes similar to the ones that make up Hawaii,’ he explains. ‘In this work, we show that the ancient crust has many other types of volcanoes such as lava domes, stratovolcanoes, calderas and large shields of ash, not lava. Further, most scientists see Mars as a planet composed of basalt, which has low silica content and represents little crustal evolution, but these volcanoes have high silica content which means they formed from a complex process of magma evolution not known before.’

The paper suggests that intense volcanism occurred on ancient Mars, causing the crust to collapse into the mantle, where the rocks re-melted, resulting in magmas that have high silica. This tectonic process, called vertical tectonics, is hypothesised to have occurred on the ancient Earth, but rocks on Earth from that period (the Archean, more than 3 billion years ago) are highly modified by later geological activity, so we cannot see evidence for this process clearly on this planet. Therefore, exploring other planets like Mars, which has volcanism but no plate tectonics, can help reveal the mysteries of early crustal recycling on both the Red Planet, and by analogy, on early Earth.

Professor Michalski concluded, ‘Mars contains critical geological puzzle pieces that help us understand not only that planet, but the Earth as well. Martian volcanism is much more complex and diverse than has been previously thought.’

‘This is a significant discovery because it has revealed that crustal recycling can occur not only in plate tectonic regimes dominated by horizontal movements, but can also occur in pre-plate tectonic regimes dominated by vertical movements. This finding can help earth scientists revolve the long-term controversial issues of how and when felsic continents formed in our planet (Earth)’, said Professor Guochun ZHAO, the Chair Professor of HKU Earth Sciences.

The study by Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber and her team from MedUni Vienna’s Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology builds on earlier research on immune disorders and the intestinal barrier function in patients with ME/CFS. It is well known that ME/CFS patients often differ greatly in the clinical manifestations of their disease. However, despite intensive research, there is still no measurable parameter (biomarker) that clearly indicates the disease.

As the MedUni Vienna research team shows, ME/CFS patients can be divided into subgroups based on the function of their immune system. The study was able to identify various biomarkers in the patients that indicate immune system disorders or reduced intestinal barrier function. As a result, differences relevant to clinical care were identified in ME/CFS patients that would have remained undetected without the previous immunological stratification of the ME/CFS patient group. “In our study, we see that the immunological evaluation of ME/CFS patients is of crucial importance. Patients suffering from immunodeficiencies are characterised by an altered innate immune function. In ME/CFS patients with an intact immune system, the intestinal barrier function was reduced,” explains the study’s principal investigator Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber. According to the researchers, this not only provides a more detailed insight in different disease mechanisms, but also indicates that depending on the patient’s immune competence, some treatment approaches might be more suitable than others.

The next step will be to review the study results on a larger scale. In order to advance research in the field, the first ME/CFS Biobank in Austria is currently being set up at MedUni Vienna with the support of the WE&ME Foundation. “ME/CFS Biobank Austria” collects human samples, which will be made available for future research projects. Untersmayr-Elsenhuber: “To ensure that ME/CFS research can take place quickly and transnationally in the future, we have been coordinating with research groups in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany from the outset.”

25 per cent of those affected are bedridden

ME/CFS is a severe multisystemic disease that often leads to a high degree of disability. 60 per cent of patients are unable to work full-time and 25 per cent are bedridden. The exact causes of the disease are still unclear. As diagnosis is difficult due to the lack of biomarkers, the number of people affected cannot be precisely quantified. According to current studies, between 26,000 and 80,000 people in Austria suffer from chronic fatigue. Due to Covid-19, this number could double in the next few years. The links between infection with SARS-CoV-2 and ME/CFS are also the subject of intensive research.

Medical resources are generally stretched during holidays (including weekends) due to factors like staffing and hospital policies. This may amplify holiday effects: disparities and variations of health outcomes between holidays and weekdays. Dr. Sassa and colleagues studied this holiday effect with a focus on birth, especially high-risk births as measured by babies born preterm and/or with a low birthweight.

The authors used birth certificate data from over 21 million individuals born from 1979-2018 (which included birthday, birthweight, and gestational age) to categorize individuals into five groups: low birthweight (<2,500g), preterm birth (<37 weeks), low birthweight and preterm birth, and full-term birth. For this analysis, the authors compared weekdays (Monday-Friday) with weekend days (Saturday and Sunday), national holidays, substitute holidays, Golden Week (four consecutive spring festival days in Japan April 29 — May 5), and the new year period (December 29 — January 3). Leap days and multiple births were excluded.

They found that all births were significantly less common on weekend or holiday periods versus weekends (p < 0.01). High-risk births became more frequent over the four decades studied, and the trend of non-weekend or holiday births was especially evident for high-risk births, which were found to take place particularly frequently on Thursday and Friday. Though this study doesn’t include data on medical interventions or pregnancies that didn’t end in a live birth, which could potentially impact the findings, its broad scale suggests medical staff may often control births so that they take place before a weekend or holiday, especially for high-risk births. The authors note that this may be prudent since there are often fewer staff or resources available on weekend/holiday days, but since some holiday births are inevitable, it’s critical for hospitals to plan to minimize risks to those mothers who do give birth on non-weekdays.

The authors add: “Delving into decades of birth data in Japan, our research illuminates a fascinating trend — deliveries on holidays, especially those deemed high-risk, show a distinct decline. This discovery prompts a call for innovative solutions and systemic strategies to safeguard maternal and neonatal well-being anytime, demonstrating the need for creative thinking in optimizing medical resources for everyone.”

Vittrup Man is the nickname of a Stone Age skeleton recovered from a peat bog in Northwest Denmark, dating to between 3300-3100 BC. The fragmented nature of the remains, including a smashed skull, indicate that he was killed in a ritualistic sacrifice, a common practice in this region at this time. After a DNA study found Vittrup Man’s genetic signature to be distinct from contemporary, local skeletons, Fischer and colleagues were inspired to combine additional evidence to reconstruct the life history of this Stone Age individual at an unprecedented resolution.

Strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes from Vittrup Man’s tooth enamel indicate a childhood spent along the coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Corroborating this, genetic analysis found a close relationship between Vittrup Man and Mesolithic people from Norway and Sweden. Additional isotope and protein analysis of the teeth and bones indicate a shift in diet from coastal food (marine mammals and fish) in early life to farm food (including sheep or goat) in later life, a transition that happened in the later teen years.

These results suggest that Vittrup Man spent his early years in a northern foraging society before relocating to a farming society in Denmark. It isn’t clear why this individual moved, though the authors suggest he might have been a trader or captive who became integrated into local society. Mysteries remain about Vittrup Man, but this detailed understanding of his geographic and dietary life history provides new insights into interactions between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies in Europe.

The authors add: “To our knowledge, this is the first time that research has been able to map a north European inhabitant’s life history in such a high degree of detail and in such high distance of time.”