Structure determination workloads in neutron diffractometry are computationally expensive and routinely require several hours to many days to determine the structure of a material from its neutron diffraction patterns. The potential for machine learning models trained on simulated neutron scattering patterns to significantly speed up these tasks have been reported recently. However, the amount of simulated data needed to train these models grows exponentially with the number of structural parameters to be predicted and poses a significant computational challenge. To overcome this challenge, we introduce a novel batch-mode active learning (AL) policy that uses uncertainty sampling to simulate training data drawn from a probability distribution that prefers labelled examples about which the model is least certain. We confirm its efficacy in training the same models with about 75% less training data while improving the accuracy. We then discuss the design of an efficient stream-based training workflow that uses this AL policy and present a performance study on two heterogeneous platforms to demonstrate that, compared with a conventional training workflow, the streaming workflow delivers about 20% shorter training time without any loss of accuracy.

Recent advances in Foundation Models for Materials Science are poised to revolutionize the discovery, manufacture, and design of novel materials with tailored properties and responses. Although great strides have been made, successes have been restricted to materials classes where multi-million sample data repositories can be readily curated (e.g., atomistic structures). Unfortunately, for many structural and functional materials (e.g., mesoscale structured metal alloys), such datasets are too costly or prohibitive to construct; instead, datasets are limited to very few examples. To address this challenge, we introduce a novel machine learning approach for learning from hyper-sparse, complex spatial data in scientific domains. Our core contribution is a physics-driven data augmentation scheme that leverages an ensemble of local generative models, trained on as few as five experimental observations, and coordinates them through a novel diversity curation strategy to generate a large-scale, physically diverse dataset. We utilize this framework to construct PolyMicros, the first Foundation Model for polycrystalline materials (a structural material class important across a broad range of industrial and scientific applications). We demonstrate the utility of PolyMicros by zero-shot solving several long standing challenges related to accelerating 3D experimental microscopy. Finally, we make both our models and datasets openly available to the community.

The renewed U.S.-China trade truce struck in London left a key area of export restrictions tied to national security untouched, an unresolved conflict that threatens a more comprehensive deal, two people briefed on detailed outcomes of the talks have said. Beijing has not committed to grant export clearance for some specialized rare-earth magnets that U.S. military suppliers need for fighter jets and missile systems, the people said. The United States maintains export curbs on China's purchases of advanced artificial intelligence chips out of concern that they also have military applications. At talks in London last week, China's negotiators appeared to link progress in lifting export controls on military-use rare earth magnets with the longstanding U.S. curbs on exports of the most advanced AI chips to China. That marked a new twist in trade talks that began with opioid trafficking, tariff rates and China's trade surplus, but have since shifted to focus on export controls.

Beneath this caution lingers a fundamental question about whether these annual gatherings are still worth it, given Mr Trump's clear disdain. He prefers bilateral dealmaking to multilateral consensus-building. This is the president's first such foray onto the world stage since his inauguration and his six partners will be looking anxiously to see whether he wants to pick a fight - or look statesmanlike - for voters back home. Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: "The question now is not so much'is this an awkward family gathering?' I think the question is: 'is this still a family?'"

Israel and Iran have carried out a new wave of attacks on key cities, fuelling fears of an all-out sustained war, with heavy exchanges now entering a third day. Iranian missiles struck northern Israel, killing at least three people and wounding 13 others, late Saturday into Sunday, according to Israeli media. Israel targeted the Iranian defence ministry headquarters in Tehran early Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iranian officials also said the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, was struck by Israel. Tasnim News said operational and rescue forces arrived at the scene and are still working to extinguish the fire.

With demonstrations ramping up against the Trump administration, this week was all about protests. With President Donald Trump taking the historic step to deploy US Marines and the National Guard to Los Angeles, we dove into the "long-term dangers" of sending troops to LA, as well as what those troops are permitted to do while they're there. Of course, it's not just the military getting involved in the LA protests against the heavy crackdowns by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There's also Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which further escalated federal involvement by flying Predator drones over LA. And there are local and state authorities, who've used "nonlethal" weapons and chemical agents like tear gas against protesters.

Workers in the UK should turn their trepidation over AI into "exhilaration" by giving it a try or they risk being left behind by those who have, the technology secretary has said. Peter Kyle called on employees and businesses to "act now" on getting to grips with the tech, with the generational gap in usage needing only two and a half hours of training to bridge. Breakthroughs such as the emergence of ChatGPT have sparked an investment boom in the technology, but also led to forecasts that a host of jobs in sectors ranging from law to financial services will be affected. However, Kyle said: "I think most people are approaching this with trepidation. Once they start [using AI], it turns to exhilaration, because it is a lot more straightforward than people realise, and it is far more rewarding than people expect."

Waymo will temporarily limit robotaxi service in all of its nationwide markets, the company said Friday, as US cities prepare for a wave of protests of federal immigration policies and law enforcement and military crackdowns on demonstrators. The Alphabet subsidiary will stop service in Los Angeles altogether. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp confirmed the service pause and adjustments but declined to comment further. There is no indication how long the service changes will last. The adjustments will affect service in San Francisco; Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and Phoenix, Arizona.

State Armor founder and CEO Michael Lucci on CCP-linked researchers residing at American universities, national security threats from China and the need to block the subversion with legislation. National security and China experts are warning that Israel's attack on Iran is an example of why Beijing's efforts to purchase land and other assets within the United States need to be stopped immediately. After the initial attacks began on Friday, news reports began surfacing indicating that Israel had secretly built a drone base on Iranian soil that it used to launch its attacks. The operation was years in the making, one Israeli security official told the Jewish Chronicle, adding that weapons systems and soldiers had been smuggled into the country ahead of time. "Look at the ways Israel penetrated Iran for sabotage operations. Now look at the Chinese companies and assets permeating the US power grid (solar converters), local law enforcement (DJI drones), and social media (TikTok)," China policy expert Michael Sobolik wrote in a post on X. "The CCP is preparing to paralyze us in a crisis."

"I teach computer science, and that is all," wrote Boaz Barak, of Harvard University, in a recent op-ed in The New York Times.a The main point of the op-ed was to protest the growing politicization of U.S. higher education, especially at elite universities, where we have seen many faculty members proceed from scholarship to advocacy. But in spite of the provocative title, the content of Barak's op-ed is quite more nuanced. "We should not normalize bringing one's ideology to the classroom," wrote Barak, and I could not agree more. But he also wrote that "The interaction of computer science and policy sometimes arises in my classes, and I make sure to present multiple perspectives." Here, Barak is advocating fairness and balance, rather than neutrality and avoidance of non-technical topics.