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Simulating the Photochemical Birth of the Hydrated Electron in Liquid Water

Source: {'href': 'https://www.nature.com', 'title': 'Nature'} Published: 2026-03-10 17:42:06

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Nature Communications , Article number: (2026) Cite this article We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply. The photochemistry of UV-irradiated liquid water underlies many physical, chemical, and biological processes, with the formation of the hydrated electron as a central event. Despite extensive experimental and theoretical efforts, its microscopic origin remains incompletely understood. Using excited state molecular dynamics simulations of photoexcited liquid water, we resolve the sequence of chemical events leading to hydrated electron formation on the excited state. The excitation localizes on specific hydrogen-bond network defects, followed by two competing pathways. The first produces a hydrogen atom and undergoes ultrafast non-radiative decay to the ground state within 100 femtoseconds. The other proceeds via proton-coupled electron transfer, generating hydronium ions, hydroxyl radicals, and an excited state hydrated electron. This mechanism is driven by ultrafast coupled rotational and translational motions of water molecules, forming water-mediated ion-radical pairs that persist on picosecond timescales and influence visible emission. These results provide a unified framework for interpreting time-resolved spectroscopic observations and guide future experimental and theoretical investigations. All data generated in this study, including ESMD trajectories, cube files for representative pathways, geometries for the water dimer, input files for all calculations, and scripts for the analysis of spin density, have been deposited in the Zenodo database (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17714130). Source data are provided with this paper. Hart, E. J. & Boag, J. W. Absorption spectrum of the hydrated electron in water and in aqueous solutions. Am. Soc. Google Scholar Garrett, B. C. et al. Role of water in electron-initiated processes and radical chemistry: Issues and scientific advances. Google Scholar Young, R. M. & Neumark, D. M. Dynamics of solvated electrons in clusters. Google Scholar Wang, C.-R., Nguyen, J. Bond breaks of nucleotides by dissociative electron transfer of nonequilibrium prehydrated electrons: a new molecular mechanism for reductive DNA damage. Am. Soc. Google Scholar Boudaıffa, B., Cloutier, P., Hunting, D., Huels, M. A. & Sanche, L. 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Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. and A.H. also acknowledge MareNostrum5 (project EHPC-EXT-2023E01-029) for computational resources. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Chemical Physics and Interfacial Sciences Program, FWP 16249. Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics, The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy Gonzalo Díaz Mirón, Solana Di Pino, Diganta Dasgupta & Ali Hassanali SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Trieste, Italy Cesare Malosso & Diganta Dasgupta Laboratory of Computational Science and Modeling, IMX, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Cesare Malosso Initiative for Computational Catalysis, Flatiron Institute, New York, USA Colin K. Egan Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA Christopher J. Mundy Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Christopher J. Mundy Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar and A.H. conceived and designed the research. performed the ground state MLIP simulations, and G.D.M. carried out the ESMD simulations. G.D.M., S.D.P., C.K.E., and D.D. performed the data analysis. G.D.M., C.J.M., and A.H. contributed to the interpretation and discussion of the results. and A.H. wrote the original manuscript with input from all authors. All authors discussed the findings and contributed to the final version of the manuscript. Correspondence to Gonzalo Díaz Mirón or Ali Hassanali. The authors declare no competing interests. Nature Communications thanks Jinggang Lan, who co-reviewed with Yifan Li, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available. Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Reprints and permissions Díaz Mirón, G., Malosso, C., Di Pino, S. et al. Simulating the Photochemical Birth of the Hydrated Electron in Liquid Water. Nat Commun (2026). Download citation Received: 04 September 2025 Accepted: 16 February 2026 Published: 10 March 2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70045-7 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. 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Reconstitution of woody biomass framework via dual-functional lignin engineering toward efficient and salt-resistant solar desalination

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Forget SkinTok: the real science of skincare and why it matters for your health

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You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). Gemma Conroy is a freelance science journalist in Mexico City. Although social-media influencers often show elaborate skincare routines, dermatologists recommend simple steps for most people. Over the past five years, dermatologist Rajani Katta has noticed a change in the people who come into her office. Their skincare routines have been getting more complicated — some stretching to 12 steps — and often involve products that they found through social media, many of which don't have a lot of scientific backing. The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation They didn't realize that some of those products were doing damage to their skin, says Katta, who specializes in sensitive skin and allergies at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “People are much more likely to experiment on themselves” than they have been in the past, she says. Globally, there seems to be more interest in skincare than ever before, with the industry expected to generate more than US$200 billion worldwide in 2026. Social-media platforms such as TikTok seem to be a main driver of the hot pursuit of youthful, glowing skin, with hashtags such as #SkinTok generating more than one billion views per month. They're also rife with harmful misinformation, such as the false claim that sunscreens cause skin cancer and vitamin-D deficiency. There's plenty of evidence that lifestyle factors are important — arguably more important — than products and daily rituals for keeping skin healthy. Often, the recommendations from physicians about skin run counter to what is circulating on social media. What's more, new research is elucidating the connections between the skin and other organ systems, and it has become clear that keeping skin healthy has effects far beyond one's outward appearance, says Mao-Qing Man, a dermatologist at Hebei Medical University in Shijiazhuang, China. “It has a lot of different dimensions,” says Daniel Kaplan, a dermatologist who focuses on immunology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Skin is made up of three main layers: the hypodermis (bottom), dermis (middle) and epidermis (top). This waterproof shield is made of corneocytes — flat, dead cells filled with the protein keratin. These tough cells are surrounded by lipids called ceramides, which lock in moisture and keep invaders out of the skin. Although biology textbooks often compare the skin barrier to a brick wall, it's more like a thriving ecosystem of physical, chemical, microbial and immune functions, says Peter Lio, a dermatologist who specializes in eczema at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. “Our skin barrier is incredibly dynamic and complex,” he says. For instance, some popular cosmetic procedures, such as chemical peels — which temporarily remove the outer layers of the skin to reduce wrinkles and acne scars — can cause lasting harm to the skin barrier and result in chronic sensitivity if done incorrectly or too frequently. “The skin does have powerful abilities to regenerate”, but some treatments can override that, says Katta. The surprisingly big health benefits of just a little exercise The surprisingly big health benefits of just a little exercise This damage can increase a person's risk of developing more chronic skin conditions, such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and even allergies, says Katta. It can also make it easier for pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium that can cause abscesses and, in more severe cases, blood infections, to slip past the barrier. A common mistake that many people make at home is overusing harsh soaps, detergents and astringents — liquids that shrink body tissues by drawing water out of them, says Kaplan. The barrier also has an acid mantle — a thin, filmy layer of oils, fatty acids and amino acids — which helps to keep the skin stable and creates the conditions needed for a healthy microbiome to flourish (see ‘A home for beneficial bacteria'). Wiping out lipids with harsh products raises pH levels. This, in turn, weakens the community of beneficial microorganisms and enables pathogenic types to flourish. Taking scalding hot showers is another way to damage the skin barrier, says Tamia Harris-Tryon, a physician scientist who studies the skin microbiome at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “If it's hot enough to clean your pots and pans of oil, it will clean your body of natural oils,” she says. Whereas gentle cleansers, moisturizers and sunscreen are generally safe for kids, potent serums and anti-ageing products for mature skin can wreak havoc on younger skin, he says. Over the long term, few things are worse for the skin than overexposure to UV radiation, either through natural sunlight or tanning beds, says Elsemieke Plasmeijer, a dermatologist and epidemiologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. In 2022, almost 60,000 people died from melanoma, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer. Meanwhile, UVB only reaches the epidermis, but causes sunburn and DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer. A 2019 study found that both types of UV radiation disrupt a protein that helps cells to stick together in the skin barrier1. This resulted in weaker bonds between corneocytes, leading to a less resilient skin barrier. Stress is wrecking your health: how can science help? Stress is wrecking your health: how can science help? In December, Pedram Gerami, a dermatologist who specializes in skin cancer at Northwestern University, and his colleagues reported that people who use indoor tanning beds were three times more likely to get melanoma than those who don't use them2. They were more likely to have multiple melanomas, even in parts of the body that usually have low levels of Sun damage, such as the thighs. The indoor tanning industry often argues that tanning beds are safer than natural sunlight because they emit more UVA than they do DNA-damaging UVB light. But this claim is often false, says Gerami. The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation The surprisingly big health benefits of just a little exercise Stress is wrecking your health: how can science help? Do smartphones and social media really harm teens' mental health? These brain cells clear proteins that contribute to Alzheimer's Mechanism of co-transcriptional cap snatching by influenza polymerase Microbiota-mediated induction of beige adipocytes in response to dietary cues What my cave stay taught me about sensors Recruiting an Academic Lead in Computational Biomedical Imaging to build a vibrant research community engaged in imaging and its clinical translation. UMass Chan Medical School (FBGao Lab) Post Doc Position to study pathogenic mechanisms of Frontotemporal Dementia using patient iPSC-derived neurons No.1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation The surprisingly big health benefits of just a little exercise Stress is wrecking your health: how can science help? Do smartphones and social media really harm teens' mental health? An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Mesoporous ruthenium titanium oxide solid solution with efficient three phase reaction interface for water electrolysis

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This 2-pound dinosaur is rewriting what scientists know about evolution

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The discovery was led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities scientist Peter Makovicky along with Argentine paleontologist Sebastian Apesteguía. Their findings, published in the peer reviewed journal Nature, describe a nearly complete skeleton of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. This dinosaur belonged to a peculiar group of bird like theropods called alvarezsaurs. These animals are known for their tiny teeth and unusually short arms that end in a single enlarged thumb claw. For decades, scientists struggled to understand this group because most well preserved fossils had been discovered in Asia. Fossils from South America were often incomplete, leaving major gaps in the evolutionary story. The almost complete Alnashetri fossil was uncovered in 2014 in northern Patagonia, Argentina, at a fossil rich site famous for exceptionally preserved Cretaceous animals. Preparing the specimen was a slow and careful process. "Going from fragmentary skeletons that are hard to interpret, to having a near complete and articulated animal is like finding a paleontological Rosetta Stone," said Peter Makovicky, lead author of the study and a professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. "We now have a reference point that allows us to accurately identify more scrappy finds and map out evolutionary transitions in anatomy and body size." The fossil is providing scientists with valuable insight into how this lineage of dinosaurs evolved, became smaller, and spread across ancient continents. The skeleton reveals that Alnashetri differed from its later relatives in several ways. It had longer arms and larger teeth, showing that some alvarezsaurs had already evolved very small body sizes before developing the specialized features that later species used for what scientists believe was an "ant-eating" diet. Alnashetri itself weighed less than 2 lbs, making it one of the smallest dinosaurs discovered in South America. By studying additional alvarezsaur fossils preserved in museum collections across North America and Europe, the team also found evidence that these animals appeared much earlier than scientists previously believed. Previous finds from the site include early snakes and small saber toothed mammals. "After more than 20 years of work, the La Buitrera fossil area has given us a unique insight into small dinosaurs and other vertebrates like no other site in South America," said Apesteguía, a researcher at Universidad Maimónides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Scientists are still actively studying fossils from the same region, and more discoveries may soon add to the story of these unusual dinosaurs. The Moon Was Hit Again: NASA Scientists Discover a Newly Formed Crater Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic and Wegovy Show Surprising Heart Health Benefits Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

Cosmic voids look empty but they may be tearing the universe apart

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Imagine removing everything from the deepest regions of cosmic voids. What remains appears to be nothing but empty space. It may sound contradictory, but these enormous voids are filled with the vacuum of spacetime. In quantum field theory, the particles that make up our world such as electrons, top quarks, neutrinos, and even dark matter are not independent objects in the usual sense. These fields permeate every cubic centimeter of space and time. When we observe a particle, such as an electron moving through space, we are really detecting a ripple or vibration in its underlying field. The particle is a traveling excitation of that field. Even if all particles were removed, the fields would still remain. When physicists attempt to calculate how much energy exists in empty space, the results can range from extremely large values to theoretically infinite ones…which is also another episode. What matters is that this vacuum energy produces a measurable effect. In most environments across the universe, its influence is negligible. Regions filled with matter completely dominate the local behavior of space. Here on Earth, for example, matter is so dense that dark energy has no noticeable impact. If dark energy suddenly vanished, everyday physics would remain unchanged. The path of a thrown baseball would be identical. Galaxies, galaxy clusters, filaments, and walls of the cosmic web are all regions packed with matter. In these environments, dark energy plays almost no role. Voids are enormous regions where matter is largely absent. In fact, voids are where dark energy carries out its most important work. Instead, it takes place within the vast empty voids. Cosmic voids are not just empty gaps between structures in the universe. Over immense spans of time, this process gradually pulls the universe's large-scale structure apart. The intricate network of galaxies, clusters, and filaments that astronomers see today will not last forever. In that sense, cosmic voids are far from empty. They are filled with the subtle energy of quantum fields. That energy influences the entire universe by driving its accelerating expansion. Voids are the only regions where this effect becomes dominant, precisely because they contain almost nothing else. But their lack of matter means they are filled with dark energy. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. These Tiny Teeth Could Change What We Know About Human Origins Hormone Therapy May Supercharge Popular Weight-Loss Drugs After Menopause Nearly Half of Americans Don't Know This Popular Food Increases Colon Cancer Risk Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

Two-dimensional crystalline hard masks for high-aspect-ratio nanofabrication

Source: {'href': 'https://www.nature.com', 'title': 'Nature'} Published: 2026-03-10 10:06:12

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. (2026)Cite this article Hard masks with high etch selectivity are essential for fabricating high-aspect-ratio nanostructures via deep and anisotropic plasma etching. While most two-dimensional materials are susceptible to plasma damage, we report that van der Waals metal oxyhalides, specifically CrOCl and FeOCl, exhibit extraordinary resistance to aggressive SF6/O2 plasma, far surpassing conventional hard mask materials. CrOCl achieves etch rates as low as ~2.4 nm min−1 and an etch selectivity >200:1 relative to silicon, representing improvements of ~30× over Si3N4, ~2.3× over Al2O3 and ~20× over TiN under identical conditions. CrOCl maintains subnanometre surface roughness after etching, even exhibiting plasma-induced surface smoothening. Beyond its inherent etch resistance, CrOCl can be chemically patterned using Cl2 plasma and mechanically transferred onto a broad range of substrates, including perovskite oxides, polymers, glasses and monolayer two-dimensional semiconductors, enabling patterning on materials that are typically incompatible with conventional hard masks. Using CrOCl masks, we demonstrate deep silicon etching with aspect ratios exceeding 39:1 and minimal feature distortion. These findings establish van der Waals metal oxyhalides as a versatile and scalable platform for next-generation nanofabrication, combining extreme plasma robustness, high-resolution patternability and broad substrate compatibility in one material system. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription cancel any time Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Buy this article Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Source data are provided with this paper. The codes used to plot the data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Huff, M. Recent advances in reactive ion etching and applications of high-aspect-ratio microfabrication. Kumar, D. et al. Highly efficient back-end-of-line compatible flexible Si-based optical memristive crossbar array for edge neuromorphic physiological signal processing and bionic machine vision. Google Scholar Hsieh, A. C. & Hwang, T. TSV redundancy: architecture and design issues in 3-D IC. VLSI Syst. Google Scholar Yuvaraja, S. et al. Enhancement-mode ambipolar thin-film transistors and CMOS logic circuits using bilayer Ga2O3/NiO semiconductors. ACS Appl. Raman, S. & Sindhuja, M. Advances in silicon nanowire applications in energy generation, storage, sensing, and electronics: a review. Nela, L. et al. Multi-channel nanowire devices for efficient power conversion. Hazra, S. et al. A novel hardmask-to-substrate pattern transfer method for creating 3D, multi-level, hierarchical, high aspect-ratio structures for applications in microfluidics and cooling technologies. Shulaker, M. M., Saraswat, K., Wong, H. S. P. & Mitra, S. Monolithic three-dimensional integration of carbon nanotube FETs with silicon CMOS. In 2014 Symposium on VLSI Technology: Digest of Technical Papers https://doi.org/10.1109/VLSIT.2014.6894422 (IEEE, 2014). Lee, C., Kim, S., Kim, G. & Choi, C. Heterogeneous monolithic 3D integration for hybrid vertical CMOS inverter using n-type IGTO TFT on p-type Si FET. Reda, S. 3D integration advances computing. Jayachandran, D. et al. Three-dimensional integration of two-dimensional field-effect transistors. Sadaf, M. U. K. et al. Enabling static random-access memory cell scaling with monolithic 3D integration of 2D field-effect transistors. Pendurthi, R. et al. Monolithic three-dimensional integration of complementary two-dimensional field-effect transistors. Ghosh, S. et al. Monolithic and heterogeneous three-dimensional integration of two-dimensional materials with high-density vias. Yang, S. & Cheng, B. in Precision Machining Process and Technology (ed. Yang, S.) 1–43 (Springer Nature Singapore, 2025). Wu, B., Kumar, A. & Pamarthy, S. High aspect ratio silicon etch: a review. Lee, D. H. et al. Low-loss silicon waveguides with sidewall roughness reduction using a SiO2 hard mask and fluorine-based dry etching. Darnon, M. et al. Etching characteristics of TiN used as hard mask in dielectric etch process. Mechanical response of atomic layer deposition alumina coatings on stiff and compliant substrates. Jansen, H., de Boer, M., Burger, J., Legtenberg, R. & Elwenspoek, M. The black silicon method II: the effect of mask material and loading on the reactive ion etching of deep silicon trenches. Honjo, H. et al. Influence of hard mask materials on the magnetic properties of perpendicular MTJs with double CoFeB/MgO interface. Donaton, R. et al. Integration of Cu and low-k dielectrics: effect of hard mask and dry etch on electrical performance of damascene structures. Tang, Y. et al. A hard mask process and alignment device aims to achieve high consistency and mass-scale production of gas sensors based on spraying hydrothermal gas sensing material. Li, Z. et al. Spin-on metal oxide hard mask as underlayer for EUV lithography with chemically amplified resist. Padmanaban, M. et al. Progress in spin-on hard mask materials for advanced lithography. Lee, S. et al. Preparation and analysis of amorphous carbon films deposited from (C6H12)/Ar/He chemistry for application as the dry etch hard mask in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Thin Solid Films 519, 6737–6740 (2011). Schwierz, F., Granzner, R. & Pezoldt, J. Two-dimensional materials and their prospects in transistor electronics. Huang, Y. et al. An innovative way of etching MoS2: characterization and mechanistic investigation. Nano Res. Son, J. et al. Atomically precise graphene etch stops for three dimensional integrated systems from two dimensional material heterostructures. Wood, J. Koepke, and J. Lyding, "Graphene as an etch mask for silicon,". Master's thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Stehle, Y. Y. et al. Anisotropic etching of hexagonal boron nitride and graphene: question of edge terminations. (in eng). Danielsen, D. R. et al. Super-resolution nanolithography of two-dimensional materials by anisotropic etching. ACS Appl. Söll, A. et al. High-κ wide-gap layered dielectric for two-dimensional van Der Waals heterostructures. ACS Nano 18, 10397–10406 (2024). Abdelwahab, I. et al. Highly efficient sum-frequency generation in niobium oxydichloride NbOCl2 nanosheets. Zeng, Y. et al. 2D FeOCl: a highly in-plane anisotropic antiferromagnetic semiconductor synthesized via temperature-oscillation chemical vapor transport. Zhang, L. et al. Bias voltage driven tunneling magnetoresistance polarity reversal in 2D stripy antiferromagnet CrOCl. Gu, P. et al. Multi-state data storage in a two-dimensional stripy antiferromagnet implemented by magnetoelectric effect. Momma, K. & Izumi, F. VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data. Ekinci, H., Jahed, N. M. S., Soltani, M. & Cui, B. The role of oxygen on anisotropy in chromium oxide hard mask etching for sub-micron fabrication. Goodwin, M. J., Harteveld, C. A. M., de Boer, M. J. & Vos, W. L. Deep reactive ion etching of cylindrical nanopores in silicon for photonic crystals. Tegen, S. & Moll, P. Etch characteristics of Al2O3 in ICP and MERIE plasma etchers. Gottscho, R. A., Jurgensen, C. W. & Vitkavage, D. J. Microscopic uniformity in plasma etching. Chang, B., Leussink, P., Jensen, F., Hübner, J. & Jansen, H. DREM: infinite etch selectivity and optimized scallop size distribution with conventional photoresists in an adapted multiplexed Bosch DRIE process. Azarnouche, L. et al. Unbiased line width roughness measurements with critical dimension scanning electron microscopy and critical dimension atomic force microscopy. Bunday, B. D. et al. Determination of optimal parameters for CD-SEM measurement of line-edge roughness. Manley, R. G. et al. P-40: glass substrate charging in flat panel display manufacturing. Nimbalkar, P. et al. A review of glass substrate technologies. Banerjee, R. et al. Controllable synthesis of environmentally stable vdW antiferromagnetic oxyhalide CrOCl. Pawbake, A. et al. Magnetic phases and zone-folded phonons in a frustrated van der Waals magnet. ACS Nano 19, 23693–23702 (2025). Giza, M. et al. Contact resistance engineering in WS2-based FET with MoS2 under-contact interlayer: a statistical approach. ACS Appl. Seah, M. P. Summary of ISO/TC 201 Standard: VII ISO 15472: 2001—surface chemical analysis—X-ray photoelectron spectrometers—calibration of energy scales. Interface Anal. We thank S. Miller and G. Lavallee for their discussions and insights on this study. We thank B. Liu for providing valuable suggestions regarding the SEM images taken for this Article. We acknowledge funding support from the NSF under NSF Career (grant no. ECCS-2042154), NSF Fuse (grant no. ECCS-2328741), the ONR (grant no. N00014-24-1-2565) and the ARO (grant no. W911NF-23-1-0279) (all four to S.D.). was supported by ERC-CZ programme (project LL2101) from the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MEYS) and by the project Advanced Functional Nanorobots (reg. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000444 financed by the ERDF). was supported by project LUAUS23049 from MEYS. was supported by project LUAUS23049 from Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MEYS). acknowledges the assistance provided by the Advanced Multiscale Materials for Key Enabling Technologies project, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic, project no. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004558, co-funded by the European Union. and Y. Y. acknowledge support from the NSF CAREER award (DMR-2145455). These authors contributed equally: Pranavram Venkatram, Ziheng Chen. Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA Pranavram Venkatram, Ziheng Chen, Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, Lei Ding, Yang Yang & Saptarshi Das Materials Characterization Lab, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Vlastimil Mazanek & Zdenek Sofer Nuclear Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA Electrical Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar conceived the idea. designed the experiments, analysed the data, discussed the results and agreed on their implications. helped with the AFM measurements. grew the CrOCl crystals. performed the STEM characterization and analysis under the supervision of Y.Y. helped with the XPS measurements and analysis. All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript. Correspondence to Saptarshi Das. The authors declare no competing interests. Nature Materials thanks Ralu Divan, Aaron Stein and the other, anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available. Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. (a) Optical images of three representative CrOCl flakes selectively etched by masking specific regions to compare surface roughness between protected and exposed areas. (b) Corresponding roughness distributions showing a consistent decrease in surface roughness after etching relative to the pre-etch state. (c) Grouped bar plots of the median roughness for each flake further confirm that surface roughness decreases systematically post-etch, supporting the correlation between etching and surface morphology evolution in CrOCl. (a) Overview of the CrOCl hard mask structure, highlighting both the etched and unetched regions. The vertical yellow dashed line denotes the interface between the two regions, with the unetched region on the left and the etched region on the right. The two horizontal markers indicate the respective heights of the CrOCl hard mask before and after etching. (b-c) High-resolution STEM images of the unetched and etched regions of the CrOCl hard mask, respectively, corresponding to the areas outlined by the two boxes in (a). (d-e) Corresponding STEM-EDX maps acquired from the unetched and etched regions for CrOCl, respectively. (a) Raman spectroscopy, along with corresponding optical microscopy images, was conducted on a FeOCl flake before and after plasma exposure. The results exhibit negligible spectral changes, indicating minimal structural modification. (b) Shows the high-resolution XPS analysis of the Fe 2p and O 1 s core levels, evaluate chemical alterations induced by the plasma process. Additionally, XPS measurements of the F 1 s core level revealed the incorporation of fluorine species, suggesting the formation of non-volatile fluorinated by-products on the flake surface. (c) RMS surface roughness of the FeOCl flake pre- and post-plasma treatment measured by AFM. In contrast to CrOCl, a noticeable increase in surface roughness was observed following plasma exposure. (d) Optical images of three representative FeOCl flakes selectively etched by masking specific regions to compare surface roughness between protected and exposed areas. (e) Corresponding roughness distributions showing a consistent increase in surface roughness after etching relative to the pre-etch state. (f) Grouped bar plots of the median roughness for each flake further confirm that surface roughness increases systematically post-etch, supporting the correlation between etching and surface morphology evolution in FeOCl. (a) Overview of the FeOCl hard-mask structure, highlighting both the etched and unetched regions. The vertical yellow dashed line denotes the interface between the two regions, with the etched region on the left and the unetched region on the right. (b-c) High-resolution STEM images of the etched and unetched regions of the FeOCl hard mask, respectively, corresponding to the areas outlined by the two boxes in (a). (d-e) Corresponding STEM-EDX maps acquired from the etched and unetched regions for FeOCl, respectively. (a–c) demonstrates optical images overlaid with EDX elemental maps (F, O, and Cl for FeOCl; Ti, O, and Cl for TiOCl; Nb, O, and Cl for NbOCl). Corresponding high-resolution AFM measurement reveals the height profile to quantify the etch rates, underscoring FeOCl's comparable plasma resistance to CrOCl and the relatively faster etching of TiOCl and NbOCl. EDX mapping confirms uniform elemental distribution confirming the presence of the respective elements. (a) Cross-sectional STEM images of three representative Si pillars with a depth of ~1.5 μm patterned with CrOCl hard mask. (b–d) Shows the corresponding edges of the boxed regions in (a), across which LER values were extracted. The edge profiles are indicated by the yellow solid lines. (a) SEM image of a representative array of Si pillars capped with the CrOCl hard mask, with the corresponding EDX mapping confirming the presence of Cr and Cl on the pillar tops. (b) After exposure to a Cl2/O2 plasma (plasma process 3) etch for 1 min, the CrOCl mask is completely removed without any visible surface damage or measurable reduction in pillar height, confirming clean mask removal and preservation of the underlying Si structure. Optical and SEM images of the CrOCl mask on a standard 285 nm SiO2/p++-Si substrate with predefined line trench patterns, followed by corresponding optical and SEM images of the same CrOCl mask pattern transferred onto a silicon substrate. (a) Etch rates of CrOCl flakes measured under various industry-relevant chemistries. Roughness distributions corresponding to (b), BCl3/Cl2; (c), CF4/Ar; (d), CHF3/O2; and (e), Cl2/O2 are shown. Overall, CrOCl exhibits greater resistance to fluorine-based plasmas, underscoring its broad applicability as a robust hard mask, while its higher etch rates in chlorine-based chemistries highlight its suitability for precise pattern transfer. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. Reprints and permissions Venkatram, P., Chen, Z., Mukhopadhyay, K. et al. Two-dimensional crystalline hard masks for high-aspect-ratio nanofabrication. Accepted: 30 January 2026 Published: 10 March 2026 Version of record: 10 March 2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02524-7 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative © 2026 Springer Nature Limited Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Stanford scientists say colorblindness may hide a deadly bladder cancer warning

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For many people, noticing this symptom prompts a medical visit that can lead to an early diagnosis of bladder cancer. However, for people with colorblindness, detecting that warning sign may be far more difficult. Because many forms of color vision deficiency make it hard to perceive red tones, blood in urine can go unnoticed. Researchers from Stanford Medicine and collaborating institutions report that missing this early symptom may have serious consequences. After analyzing health records, the team found that people who had both bladder cancer and colorblindness faced a 52% higher mortality rate over 20 years compared with bladder cancer patients who have normal vision. The researchers believe that people with colorblindness may delay seeking care because they fail to recognize blood in their urine. "I'm hopeful that this study raises some awareness, not only for patients with colorblindness, but for our colleagues who see these patients," said Ehsan Rahimy, MD, adjunct clinical associate professor of ophthalmology and senior author of the study published in Nature Health. The study's lead author is Mustafa Fattah, a medical student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Colorblindness, also known as color vision deficiency, is more common than many people realize. The most widespread types interfere with distinguishing between red and green shades. This can create everyday challenges such as interpreting traffic lights, coordinating clothing, or judging whether meat is fully cooked. In 2025, roughly 85,000 Americans were expected to receive a bladder cancer diagnosis. Earlier reports and smaller studies had already suggested that colorblindness might delay the diagnosis of certain diseases. Another experiment conducted in 2001 asked participants to identify which images of saliva, urine, and stool contained blood. These earlier findings prompted Rahimy and his colleagues to investigate whether colorblindness might ultimately affect survival in people diagnosed with bladder cancer or colorectal cancer. To explore the question, researchers used a large research platform called TriNetX. "The power in this type of study is the ability to curate a particular population of interest -- in this case, patients who are colorblind who develop bladder cancer or colorectal cancer," Rahimy said. From roughly 100 million U.S. patient records, the researchers identified 135 people diagnosed with both colorblindness and bladder cancer, along with 187 patients who had both colorblindness and colorectal cancer. For each group, the team created a comparable control group of patients with the same cancer diagnosis and similar demographic and health characteristics but with normal vision. "That was our working hypothesis, based on the previous studies," Rahimy said. The researchers expected to observe a similar pattern among people with colorectal cancer. Instead, they found no statistically significant difference in survival between patients with and without colorblindness. One reason may be that colorectal cancer typically presents with several early symptoms. Studies show that nearly two thirds of colorectal cancer patients first report abdominal pain, and more than half notice changes in bowel habits. By contrast, between 80% and 90% of bladder cancer patients initially notice blood in their urine without any pain. Colorectal cancer screening is widely recommended for most people between the ages of 45 and 75, which reduces reliance on noticing blood in stool as the first sign of trouble. Many people with colorblindness never receive a formal diagnosis, which means they would be classified as having normal vision in the database. "Most people with color vision deficiency are typically functioning fine. Many affected individuals may not even know they have it," Rahimy said. When we're seeing certain trends and things that warrant further investigation, they deserve their own more in-depth analyses or studies," Rahimy said. Rahimy said urologists and gastroenterologists, including a colleague who is colorblind, told him they had never considered colorblindness as a possible factor in cancer diagnosis. Some clinicians said they might start including questions about colorblindness in screening questionnaires. Doctors recommend getting a urine test during annual checkups, and some individuals may want to ask a partner or family member for help monitoring changes. "If you don't trust yourself to know that there's a change in the color of your urine, it could be worth having a partner or somebody you live with periodically checking it for blood, just to make sure," Rahimy said. These Tiny Teeth Could Change What We Know About Human Origins Nearly Half of Americans Don't Know This Popular Food Increases Colon Cancer Risk Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

NASA's DART asteroid smash shows we could deflect a future threat

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Dimorphos and its larger partner Didymos are bound together by gravity. "This is a tiny change to the orbit, but given enough time, even a tiny change can grow to a significant deflection," said Thomas Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The team's amazingly precise measurement again validates kinetic impact as a technique for defending Earth against asteroid hazards and shows how a binary asteroid might be deflected by impacting just one member of the pair." When the DART spacecraft struck Dimorphos, it blasted a massive plume of rocky debris into space and reshaped the asteroid, which is about 560 feet (170 meters) wide. Scientists refer to this effect as the momentum enhancement factor. Earlier studies had already shown that the collision shortened Dimorphos' orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos, which measures nearly half a mile across (805 meters), by 33 minutes from its original 12-hour period. Specifically, the system's orbital period changed by about 0.15 seconds. "Over time, such a small change in an asteroid's motion can make the difference between a hazardous object hitting or missing our planet." However, the small shift in orbital speed demonstrates how spacecraft could be used to redirect a threatening asteroid if scientists detect it early enough. In that scenario, a spacecraft would strike the object and slightly alter its velocity. To improve early detection of such threats, NASA is developing the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the mission will deploy the first space telescope specifically designed for planetary defense. The telescope will search for difficult to detect near-Earth objects, including dark asteroids and comets that reflect very little visible light. In addition to radar and other ground based observations, they relied on stellar occultations. Observing that momentary disappearance allows scientists to calculate the asteroid's position, speed, and shape with remarkable precision. This often requires multiple observation stations spread miles apart. Researchers depended on volunteer astronomers around the world who recorded 22 stellar occultations between October 2022 and March 2025. "When combined with years of existing ground-based observations, these stellar occultation observations became key in helping us calculate how DART had changed Didymos' orbit," said study co-lead Steve Chesley, a senior research scientist at JPL. "This work is highly weather dependent and often requires travel to remote regions with no guarantee of success. The results suggest that Dimorphos is slightly less dense than previously believed. This finding supports the idea that Dimorphos formed from debris shed by a rapidly spinning Didymos. Over time, the loose rocky material likely gathered together under gravity, creating what scientists call a "rubble pile" asteroid. The DART spacecraft was designed, built, and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This office leads NASA's work to protect Earth from potential asteroid threats. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. These Tiny Teeth Could Change What We Know About Human Origins Hormone Therapy May Supercharge Popular Weight-Loss Drugs After Menopause Nearly Half of Americans Don't Know This Popular Food Increases Colon Cancer Risk Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.