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🇫🇷 French researchers launch world-first motorway that charges electric vehicles while driving

France has begun real-traffic trials of the world’s first dynamic wireless charging motorway, allowing electric vehicles, including trucks and buses, to recharge while driving. A 1.5 km section of the A10 near Paris uses inductive coils embedded in the road to deliver over 200 kW of average power, enabling smaller batteries and reducing vehicle downtime. Developed by VINCI Autoroutes, Electreon, and partners, the system could significantly lower emissions from freight transport and reduce reliance on critical raw materials.

🇺🇸 US scientists complete first flight of X-59 jet aiming to bring back quiet supersonic travel

NASA and Lockheed Martin have successfully flown the X-59, an experimental supersonic jet designed to eliminate sonic booms by producing a soft "thump" instead. Developed under a $518 million NASA program, the aircraft could enable commercial supersonic flights over land by reducing disruptive noise that has long restricted such travel. The data collected will help shape future regulations for quiet, faster air transport.

🇬🇧 UK engineers unveil first underwater habitat in decades to enable week-long ocean research missions

DEEP, a British subsea engineering company, has introduced Vanguard, the first underwater habitat of its kind in decades, allowing scientists to live and work beneath the sea for up to a week. Revealed in Miami and classified by DNV, the modular habitat operates at 20 meters depth and supports real-time ecosystem observation without resurfacing. This marks a major step toward continuous ocean exploration, with future designs targeting depths up to 200 meters.

🇨🇳 Chinese scientists turn polluted soils into self-cleaning systems that recover rare earth elements

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a nature-based method called microbial iron mining, which uses soil microbes and iron minerals to clean polluted land and recover valuable rare earths. Tested in wetlands and rice fields, the system turns soil into a self-sustaining cleanup reactor by using agricultural waste to boost microbial activity, immobilizing toxins like arsenic and lead without chemicals or excavation. Published in Nature Sustainability, the method offers a low-cost, scalable alternative to conventional remediation and supports both environmental recovery and strategic resource extraction.

🇨🇳 Chinese researchers develop 99% EV battery recycling framework, slashing raw material waste and mining demand

A new Chinese-led initiative has established enforceable national recycling standards that allow over 99% of critical metals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese in EV batteries to be recovered. With lithium recovery reaching 96.5%, this standardized approach - spanning dismantling, energy detection, and chemical processing - makes retired batteries a viable source of high-quality materials. The breakthrough could significantly reduce the environmental impact of mining while boosting the circular economy.

Nanalyze, our go-to source for no-BS analysis on disruptive tech, released the following interesting pieces this week:

🇰🇷 South Korean scientists develop transparent UV sensor to prevent skin damage in real time

Researchers at Kyung Hee University have created a fully transparent UVA sensor that alerts users via smartphone before sun exposure reaches harmful levels. Built from oxide semiconductors on glass, the lightweight device can be integrated into wearables like smartwatches or glasses, offering accurate real-time monitoring without blocking visible light. Published in Science Advances, the innovation supports early prevention of skin cancer, aging, and eye damage, and boosts South Korea’s position in transparent electronics and health tech.

🇬🇧 🇺🇸 UK and US scientists engineer “Velcro bomb” to help immune cells destroy solid tumors

Researchers from Imperial College London and UCLA have developed a breakthrough CAR-T cell therapy that attaches a modified immune “bomb” to tumor collagen, allowing precise attack on solid cancers without harming healthy tissue. Published in Nature, the approach fused IL-12 with a collagen-binding protein, enabling immune cells to localize and destroy large tumors in mice with no toxicity. This modular “Velcro bomb” system could finally make CAR-T therapy viable for solid tumors like prostate and bladder cancer.

🇨🇭 Swiss scientists create MetaGraph, a DNA search engine that scans global genomes in seconds

ETH Zurich researchers have developed MetaGraph, a Google-like search engine for DNA and RNA that compresses global genomic datasets 300-fold and enables real-time searches across trillions of sequences. Published in Nature, the tool removes the need to download massive files, making it dramatically faster and cheaper to detect mutations, track pathogens, or study drug resistance. MetaGraph could revolutionize genetic research, biomedical diagnostics, and even everyday applications as sequencing becomes more accessible.

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