Paint it black(er): A new way to make cars darker than ever

Cell Press

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Scientists have developed a practical way to make ultra-black coatings fit to meet the demand for trendy, luxury vehicles in China. The coating, described in a paper publishing June 18 in the Cell Press journal Matter & Light, is made up of a composite of carbon black pigment and carbon nanotubes. The resulting color is a deep jet black that also meets automotive standards, opening the door for car manufacturers to develop distinguished, high-end models in darker-than-ever hues. 

“In China, car color has become a key selling point,” says author Zhiwei Liu, a research chemist with the Color Technology, Group Core R&D Shanghai, Nipsea Group. “Deep black finishes have long been the premium choice and signature color for luxury cars due to their elegant appearance, powerful visual impact, and luxurious undertone. As a result, automotive coating companies have been actively pursuing innovations in color technology to develop mass-processable ultra-black coating solutions with extreme blackness.” 

In 2019, a BMW concept car with a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) array coating set off a race in the automotive industry to develop coatings that similarly absorb almost all light, creating a “black hole” effect that gives vehicles a pronounced, dark appearance. The industry has been on the hunt for more practical ways to achieve this ultra-black effect with automotive coating-grade properties.  

Liu’s team developed a stable, nano-sized carbon black pigment-carbon nanotube composite, which they incorporated into a coating binder and sprayed onto a car model as an automotive coating. 

While current approaches to making black coatings rely on carbon black dispersions alone to absorb intrinsic light, imposing a limit on how black the coating can be, the team’s new approach uses “structural absorption,” pushing the material’s light absorption efficiency to new levels and enabling it to absorb an average of 99.90% of visible light wavelengths. The film also showed excellent long-term stability even when the researchers exposed it to water and humidity tests, pointing to its value for industrial applications.  

“With the rapid development of dispersing technology and equipment, there is still room for improvements in practical processability of carbon-nanotube-containing nanomaterials,” says Liu. 

Making the coating with a higher proportion of carbon nanotubes can further increase its capacity to absorb light, he added, although this would also bring difficulties in industrial-grade processability. In the future, he said, the researchers may also develop an ultra-black coating that contains multiple layers, with a gradient refractive index that reduces interface reflection and further enhances light absorption efficiency for an even darker look. 

While the researchers have completed the technical proof-of-concept design for the coating’s manufacturing process, it may still be a while before ultra-black cars made with this film will be able to hit the road.   

“Further efforts will focus on the verification of coating application window and the comprehensive film performance validations of carbon black pigment-carbon nanotubule composite-based ultra-black automotive coating,” says Liu. 

### 

This work was supported by Color Technology, Group Core R&D (Shanghai), NIPSEA Group. 

Matter & Light, Liu et al., “Robust ultra-black automotive coating with structural absorption and high absorption efficiency based on waterborne carbon black/CNT composite” https://www.cell.com/matter-light/fulltext/S3117-5848(26)00015-3

Matter & Light, published by Cell Press, is a journal publishing review articles and research that enhance the understanding of the intricate interactions between light and materials across various scales. The journal aims to advance theoretical understanding of light-matter interactions and push the boundaries of practical applications and technological solutions. To learn more, visit https://www.cell.com/matter-light/home. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com. 

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Journal

Matter & Light

DOI

10.1016/j.matlit.2026.100015 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Robust ultra-black automotive coating with structural absorption and high absorption efficiency based on waterborne carbon black/CNT composite

Article Publication Date

18-Jun-2026

 

Early-career scientists build national infrastructure to bridge science and policy

American Institute of Biological Sciences

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A new Special Report in the journal BioScience introduces the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP), a student-led nonpartisan grassroots coalition founded in 2025 to empower early-career researchers to engage with science policy, advocacy, and public communication. The report details the ways in which SNAP is reshaping the role of scientists in their communities.

SNAP emerged in response to a long-recognized gap: most academic training leaves scientists underprepared to navigate policy and civic discourse. As the authors write, "civic engagement is not an 'add-on' but a core part of scientific practice, particularly for early-career researchers."

The coalition's first major initiative, the McClintock Letters—named for Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock—encouraged scientists to write op-eds for their hometown newspapers about the value of federally funded research. Over 200 letters have been published across at least 45 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. A second initiative brought congressional advocacy to local district offices, lowering barriers to participation. Inspired by AIBS's annual Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits, SNAP coordinated 54 visits spanning 29 states, engaging both Democratic and Republican offices.

Continuing this momentum, SNAP is organizing Stance on Science, an initiative to track candidates’ science-related positions, along with an open-access Science Policy 101 curriculum and a Science Policy Hackathon.

The authors argue that lasting change requires institutional investment: "Universities and funding agencies must recognize civic engagement as a core competency and invest in long-term capacity-building." They further point out that, when scientists are equipped to engage, "they can strengthen democratic institutions, inform policy, and help ensure that science serves the public good."

The full article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biag053

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Journal

BioScience

DOI

10.1093/biosci/biag053 

Method of Research

News article

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

The Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP): building infrastructure for early-career scientists in policy and public engagement

Article Publication Date

18-Jun-2026

 

How do flocking birds and schools of fish move? New research offers crystal-clear answer

Study shows that group movement is akin to a soft crystalline material, with individual animals acting as “atoms”

New York University

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image: 

Birds and fish can influence one another through the flows they generate, helping shape group flight and swimming patterns. The gray arrow pointing from right to left in front of the flyers indicates the resulting propulsive direction while the thick vertical blue lines directly above the flyers illustrate the instantaneous flapping velocity direction of each flyer, with the smaller blue arrows that follow representing wake velocity. The black dashed line indicates that the flyers are constrained to move along a one-dimensional horizontal path, one behind the other.

view more 

Credit: Images of birds by Boyce Fitzgerald and Neophytos Charalambides.

Flocking birds and schools of fish are a familiar sight. While previous research has uncovered the broad dynamics driving these movements, their underlying intricacies remain a mystery. 

A study by a team of New York University mathematicians offers some new insights into these phenomena. It reveals that flocks and schools behave in ways that are similar to a soft crystalline material, with individual birds and fish serving as “atoms” that are evenly spaced in a lattice-like formation. 

The findings, which are reported in the journal Physical Review Fluids, offer detailed insights into the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic interactions crucial in aerospace and automotive engineering, robotics, and energy harvesting.

“Our findings offer a new way to understand how animal collectives coordinate movement and respond to their environment,” says Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, a researcher at NYU’s Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science at the time of the study and now a fellow at Oxford University’s Mathematical Institute. “More specifically, lines of birds or fish behave like an elastic material with regularly spaced individuals held together by flexible, or spring-like, bonds—akin to soft crystalline substances in which atoms are arranged in an orderly, repeating pattern.”

“Because these movements are similar to those that form the building blocks of materials, the work opens new avenues for analyzing—and potentially manipulating—how these components interact,” adds Courant Professor Leif Ristroph, director of NYU’s Applied Mathematics Laboratory, where the research was conducted. 

The laboratory previously uncovered how birds and fish move together without colliding and the underlying aerodynamics of these movements. However, the detailed nature of these orchestrated motions had been less clear.

The research team, which also included Jiajie Wu, an NYU undergraduate at the time of the study, proposed a mathematical model to explain these movements—one that was akin to those of soft crystalline materials, or soft crystals. These ordered solid materials can change their properties in response to stimuli, such as temperature or physical force, which make its atomic organization fragile. The researchers, then, saw a connection between crystalline organization and how birds or fish move together while adjusting their movements and formation in response to air or water flows, predators, or objects, such as rocks or buildings. 

“Crystalline organization is inherently fragile as positions are susceptible to deformations and instabilities,” explains Mavroyiakoumou. “In similar ways, birds and fish must sense and respond quickly to other forces in order to maintain long columnar formations. So while soft crystals, flocks of birds, and schools of fish are fragile in their makeup, such fragility may also be advantageous as it can be responsive to its surroundings.”

The study’s authors considered previous experiments to determine if the model matched these experimental results. Among these was an experiment that mimicked  the columnar formations of birds—in which they line up one directly behind the other—using mechanized flappers that act like birds’ wings. The wings were 3D-printed from plastic and driven by motors to flap in water, which captured how air flows around bird wings during flight. This “mock flock” propelled through water at different speeds and could freely arrange itself within a line or queue, as seen in a video of the experiment (caption: A live recording of the experimental apparatus in operation. Five foils are driven to flap up and down in unison, and they freely and interactively propel around a water tank. Courtesy of NYU's Applied Mathematics Laboratory at the Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.).

Overall, the flappers as a group behaved as the researchers had conceptualized—one of several experiments that offered support for their proposed model.

The research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DMS-1847955).

# # #

Editor’s Note: In November 2025, NYU announced the establishment of the Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science. The newly established school recognizes the storied history of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences—and its strengths in both applied and pure mathematics—while encompassing NYU’s Center for Data Science and linking the computer science departments at Courant and the Tandon School of Engineering.  

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Journal

Physical Review Fluids

DOI

10.1103/tp8s-76vr 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Modeling flying formations as flow-mediated matter

Article Publication Date

18-Jun-2026

World’s highest-consuming 10% cause up to $5.7 trillion a year in environmental damage - more than the global climate and biodiversity funding gaps combined

Biodiversity loss, not climate change, is the largest component of the global damage bill, a new University of Oxford and University of Leiden study finds

University of Oxford

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The environmental damage caused by the world’s highest-consuming 10% of people is worth $1.7 trillion to $5.7 trillion a year. At the central and upper estimates this is several times more than the international community has committed to spend on climate action and biodiversity conservation combined, and is on the scale of the funding estimated to be needed globally to address these crises.

This finding, published in Communications Sustainability, puts a price on the harm this group inflicts across four planetary boundaries: climate change, biodiversity loss, nutrient pollution, and freshwater use.

The average annual damage bill for a person in the global top 10% is $2,300 to $7,500. In the United States, where per-person impacts are highest, the figure rises to $19,000 to $63,000 - equivalent to 6–20% of their income or 0.8–3% of their wealth. More than 60% of the global top 10% live in the US and EU. In the EU 40-45% of the population falls within this highest consuming group, and in the US it is over half the population. 

Biodiversity loss is the single largest contributor to the global damage bill, accounting for 47–56% of the total. Climate change accounts for 36–45%. The finding underlines recent calls to tackle biodiversity and climate crises together rather than treating them as separate policy challenges.

The figures are likely conservative. They cover only four of nine planetary boundaries and reflect direct consumption alone. For the highest-income individuals, roughly half of emissions come from investments rather than personal consumption - impacts not captured in this analysis.

The scale of the damage bill illustrates the potential revenue if polluter-pays principles were applied to high-consuming groups. The researchers note that environmental taxation focused on luxury consumption rather than basic goods tends to be more progressive and more effective at reducing emissions, though they stress that pricing is one tool among several and does not justify or compensate for the damage itself.

Read the full study: Environmental damages of the top ten percent consumers exceed global climate and biodiversity funding gaps

Key findings

• The top 10% of global consumers cause $1.7–$5.7 trillion in annual environmental damage, exceeding current international climate and biodiversity financing commitments several times and comparable to estimated global funding needs.

• Globally, biodiversity loss accounts for 47–56% of total damages; climate change accounts for 36–45%

• The top 10% of US consumers face an annual damage bill of $19,000–$63,000 per person, equal to 6–20% of income

• The figures are conservative: they cover four of nine planetary boundaries and exclude investment-linked emissions

Quotes

Paul Behrens, British Academy Global Professor at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, and co-author of the study:

“The top 10% are important not only because they cause the most damage but also because they hold the most leverage to reduce it. The capital they invest, from pensions to infrastructure, decides which industries expand, the firms they run set the choices for everyone else, and the lifestyles they pursue shape what people consider as normal. They often have out-sized agency, not only individually as consumers, but also as investors, employers, trend makers, and market shapers. Their power to cut emissions is even larger than their share of them."

 

Lead author, Inge Schrijver, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Netherlands:

“While I find it uncomfortable to put a price on the environment, as nature’s true value is infinite, showing total damage in money terms does show the size of both the damages and responsibility of the top 10%. The damage bill is higher than the money needed internationally for climate and biodiversity funds. If the polluter pays and that money goes to solutions, it would make a huge difference. But it is not just about money. Most importantly, damage must be prevented. Apart from financial measures, stricter rules and regulations are crucial.”

Background

The study combines consumption-based environmental footprints with prices from the Environmental Prices Handbook 2024 to estimate the monetary cost of damage across climate change (CO₂), biodiversity loss (mean species abundance loss), nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and freshwater use. Prices were scaled across countries using GDP per capita. The underlying consumption data is from 2017, the most recent year for which globally comparable footprints are available.

Differences between countries reflect inequalities in consumption. The US has the highest per-person bill of any country studied; the lowest are in India and Egypt. The study examines six countries (Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, India, USA) and global totals.

The authors emphasise that monetising environmental damage does not equate to commodifying nature, and that monetary figures capture only part of what ecosystems are worth. The purpose is to make the scale of concentrated environmental harm visible and to illustrate the revenue that could be generated if the polluter-pays principle were adopted.

— ENDS —

Notes to editors

Publication details

Journal: Communications Sustainability (Nature Portfolio)

Title: “Environmental damages of the top ten percent consumers exceed global climate and biodiversity funding gaps”

Publication date: 18 June 2026 16:00 GMT

• DOI: 10.1038/s44458-026-00079-x
• Link: www.nature.com/articles/s44458-026-00079-x

 

Authors and affiliations

• Inge Schrijver – Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Netherlands

• Rutger Hoekstra – Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Netherlands

• Paul Behrens – Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University; Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford; Wellbeing Research Centre, University of Oxford

Media contact

Sara Davis

sara.davis@oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk

01865 287365

About Professor Paul Behrens

Professor Paul Behrens is a British Academy Global Professor at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. His research focuses on food systems and environmental change, and has been featured in outlets including the BBC, The Guardian and Nature journals.

Background information for journalists

What does “environmental cost” mean?

These are not literal bills. The figures represent estimated economic damages linked to environmental impacts, calculated using established scientific pricing methods. Monetary valuation makes it possible to compare very different types of damage (climate, biodiversity, pollution, water) on a common scale.

Who are the top 10%?

The highest-consuming individuals globally, defined by expenditure rather than location. More than 60% are in the US and EU; around 2% are in India. The “top 10% within a single country” is a different, smaller group. For example, the within-country US top 10% has the highest per-person bill of any group in the study.

Do the authors propose a $5.7 trillion tax?

No. The figures show the scale of damage, not a recommended tax rate. Any policy would need to be designed in national or regional context. The authors note that environmental taxation is one tool among several, including regulation, public investment and shifts in consumption norms. They also stress that taxation does not justify or compensate for the damage.

Why put a monetary figure on environmental damage?

It allows different types of environmental harm to be compared on a common scale and connects them to economic and fiscal debates. The authors are clear this does not mean treating nature as a tradable commodity, and that monetary figures capture only part of what ecosystems are worth.

How reliable are these estimates?

The study presents lower, central and upper estimates to reflect uncertainty. The biodiversity component carries the widest uncertainty because it relies on transferring European willingness-to-pay studies to other contexts. Even under the most conservative biodiversity price, the core finding holds: a small group of consumers accounts for a disproportionate share of environmental damage.

Are these figures up to date?

They use 2017 data, the most recent year for which globally comparable consumption-based footprints are available. The pattern of inequality is expected to remain similar.

What’s not included?

The bill covers four of nine planetary boundaries. Land-system change, ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosol loading, stratospheric ozone depletion and novel entities are excluded because suitable data were not available. The figures also reflect direct consumption only, not investment-linked emissions. Both omissions mean the total is likely conservative.

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Journal

Communications Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s44458-026-00079-x 

Article Title

Environmental damages of the top ten percent consumers exceed global climate and biodiversity funding gaps

Article Publication Date

18-Jun-2026

 

New study projects thousands of preventable deaths if US federal support for syringe service programs is reduced

Modeling study estimates up to 39,600 additional deaths over five years among people who inject drugs

University of Colorado Anschutz

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Key findings:

• Researchers modeled a variety of scenarios that include 11%-80% cuts to syringe service program funding.

• All-cause mortality increased up to 5.0% across modeled scenarios; overdose mortality increased up to 6.9%.

• The worst-case scenario projected:
• 39,600 additional deaths
• 15,600 additional overdose deaths

• Increased mortality was observed in most analyses

 

AURORA, Colo. (June 18, 2026) – A new study published today in JAMA Network Open projects that reductions in federal funding for syringe service programs (SSPs) could lead to substantial increases in mortality among people who inject drugs in the United States.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz examined the potential long-term effects of federal funding cuts to SSPs using a microsimulation model representing people who inject drugs nationwide in a variety of funding reduction scenarios over a five-year period. SSPs provide evidence-based harm reduction services, including sterile syringe access, naloxone distribution and wound care as well as provide access to medications for opioid use disorder and connections to health and social services.

“Our findings suggest that disruptions to SSP funding like the ones currently proposed are likely to have serious and measurable consequences for public health,” says Kirk Fetters, MD, infectious disease clinical fellow at CU Anschutz and study co-first author. “Even relatively modest reductions in services will be associated with increased mortality, while sustained, large-scale funding losses could be catastrophic.”

Researchers modeled scenarios in which total SSP funding was cut by 11% and 80%, lower and upper estimates of how much funding comes to SSPs from federal sources across the US. Across all scenarios, all-cause mortality increased 0.1-5%, and overdose mortality increased 0.2-6.9% over five years. In the worst-case scenario, at 80% sustained reduction in federal funding, the model projected 39,600 additional deaths overall among people who inject drugs nationwide, 15,600 of which would be due to overdose.

“These estimates underscore the critical role that SSPs play in preventing overdose deaths and supporting the health of vulnerable populations,” says Josh Barocas, MD, associate professor at CU Anschutz and study senior author. “Policies that reduce access to these services will have far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond the immediate funding cuts themselves and impede our ability to end the overdose crisis. This is a time we should be doubling down on evidence-based strategies to curtail overdoses, not cutting funding.”

The researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system and other published sources to create a representative cohort of people who inject drugs across the United States. The study found that increased mortality was observed across most analyses, reinforcing the conclusions that cuts to or restrictions on SSP funding will worsen health outcomes.

“SSPs are a cornerstone of evidence-based harm reduction,” says Pranav Padmanabhan, MPH, epidemiology PhD student at CU Anschutz and study co-first author. “This study provides important data for policymakers evaluating the public health implications of funding decisions affecting overdose prevention and related services.”

 

About the University of Colorado Anschutz
The University of Colorado Anschutz is a world-class academic medical campus leading transformative advances in science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus includes the University of Colorado’s health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado - which see nearly three million adult and pediatric patient visits each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, CU Anschutz delivers life-changing treatments, exceptional patient care and top-tier professional training. The campus conducts world-renowned research supported by $890 million in funding, including $762 million in sponsored awards and $128 million in philanthropic gifts for research.

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.19402 

Article Publication Date

18-Jun-2026