News

Asst. Prof. Matjaž Gomilšek from the from the Condensed Matter Physics Department F5 at the Jožef Stefan Institute and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana has recently been elected to represent the magnetism community of Slovenia in the General Council (GC) of the European Magnetism Association (EMA) for a three-year term.
EMA is a non-profit organisation promoting the development of magnetism and magnetic materials in Europe by raising the visibility and impact of research on fundamental and applied magnetism.
The GC consists of representatives of the European countries active in magnetism research and defines the general policy of EMA, overseeing key activities such as the Joint European Magnetic Symposia (JEMS) conference and the European School on Magnetism (ESM).
Members of Slovenia’s magnetism community are warmly encouraged to reach out to Asst. Prof. Matjaž Gomilšek to share ideas, raise topics of interest, or explore opportunities to get involved in EMA activities (for additional information, see magnetism.eu).

Researchers from the Jožef Stefan Institute and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, together with collaborators from Japan, the USA, and Greece, have reported the discovery of a robust metallic state in the molecular material Yb2CsC60. The study has been published in Nature Communications.

The work explores how strong electronic correlations behave in fullerene-based molecular solids containing a single “hole” in multiorbital electronic states. Using synchrotron X-ray diffraction, neutron scattering, Raman spectroscopy, NMR, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations, the team demonstrated that Yb2CsC60 remains metallic without undergoing a Mott transition.

The results reveal a remarkable analogy between correlated molecular p-electron systems and transition-metal d-electron materials, providing new insight into Hund-coupling physics and strongly correlated quantum matter. The newly synthesized orthorhombic fulleride may also open pathways toward discovering unconventional superconductivity in related molecular systems.

The paper:
“Survival of the metallic state in a single-hole multiband p-orbital molecular system”
K. Matsui, R. A. Klein, N. Yoshikane, J. Arvanitidis, M. Gomilšek, U. Klopčič, S. Kawaguchi, H. Yamaoka, N. Hiraoka, H. Ishii, Q. Zhang, S. Mori, H. Ishibashi, Y. Kubota, Craig M. Brown, Denis Arčon, and Kosmas Prassides. Nature Communications 2026.

Marta Lavrič, Luka Racman Knez and Andraž Rešetič, in collaboration with Valentina Domenici (Università degli studi di Pisa), have published an article entitled “Mechanical anisotropy in compressive-stress shape-programmed liquid crystal elastomers and polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomer composites” in the Nature Portfolio journal Soft Matter. This article provides insight into the mechanical properties of liquid crystal elastomers and polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) composites (PDLCEs) with a high-temperature persistent glass phase. It specifically focuses on compressive programming, which induces transverse mechanical anisotropy and a mesogen configuration with a negative order parameter. Directional stress–strain and thermomechanical tests reveal that, despite the elastic matrix, PDLCEs retain mechanical properties comparable to pure LCEs, highlighting the role of mechanical anisotropy together with inclusion alignment and geometry. The degree of mesogen ordering is evaluated in LCEs, while a modified Halpin–Tsai model captures the mechanical response of PDLCEs.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s44431-026-00022-z
 

Laure Bar, Marta Lavrič, Miha Škarabot, and George Cordoyiannis (F5), in collaboration with Maja Caf and Slavko Kralj (K8, Jožef Stefan Institute), Aleš Iglič (University of Ljubljana), Patricia Losada-Pérez (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium), and Raj Kumar Sadhu (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India), have published an article entitled “Lipid-phase-modulated interactions of gold nanoparticles with supported vesicular and planar membranes” in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. This article provides new insights into the impact of lipid phase on interactions between lipid membranes and nanoparticles. Using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, complemented by atomic force microscopy and simulations, it demonstrates that vesicle rupture – induced by nanoparticles – is enhanced in rigid membranes (gel-ordered or ripple phase) compared to fluid (liquid-disordered phase) membranes. Importantly, the effect of lipid phase is decoupled from other physicochemical parameters, such as the lipid acyl chain length and the presence of charge in either the membrane or the nanoparticles. These findings establish lipid phase as a key determinant of nanoparticle-membrane interactions and advance fundamental understanding. This insight is essential, as dynamic changes in bilayer rigidity, composition, and surface charge regulate these interactions.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2026.115665

Honeybees and bee products, such as honey, royal jelly, propolis, pollen, and others, are often found to contain residues of different types of pesticides, including insecticides, acaricides (against varroa mite), fungicides, and herbicides. Bees are exposed either through direct veterinary treatment or by interactions with the environment. Monitoring bees and bee products is thus important both in view of food safety and environmental monitoring. In the review paper, we analysed literature published between 2019 and 2024 and conducted a relational co-occurrence analysis. Our study identified the gaps of the monitored matrices and calls for standardized quality control and reporting practices. The work was partially supported by the ARIS grant J7–50040.

The paper was published in the journal Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221415882600005X#spnsr1