ENG: Doom, the video game released in 1993, later became more than a form of entertainment. Over the years, researchers started to use it in scientific studies and technical experiments. Its role in science grew after the game’s source code was released publicly in 1997, because scientists and developers could then modify it and adapt it to many different systems. As a result, Doom became a research tool and a widely recognized example of experimental computing.
ENG: A University of Houston scientist and an international research team have identified serious weaknesses in many of the world’s long-span bridges and proposed a practical way to detect problems earlier. In a study of 744 bridges, they found that bridges in North America are in the poorest condition, followed by those in Africa. The findings are linked in part to bridge age, especially in North America, where construction peaked in the 1960s and many structures are now close to or beyond their intended design life. The researchers argue that satellite-based monitoring can help authorities track bridge stability more regularly and respond before damage becomes severe.
ENG: Caltech researchers have developed a photonic chip platform that allows light to propagate through on chip waveguides with extremely low loss, approaching optical fiber like performance even at visible wavelengths. Achieving such low loss on a chip is important because it preserves optical coherence, which improves the stability of lasers and supports photonic systems for precision sensing, timing, and quantum technologies.
ENG: As the world creates more data every day, scientists are looking for ways to store information in much smaller spaces without losing reliability. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart report a promising step in that direction. By introducing a very small twist between ultra thin layers of a magnetic material called chromium iodide, they produced tiny, stable magnetic swirls known as skyrmions. These structures are extremely robust, which is why they are so interesting as potential building blocks for future high density data storage.
