Tomáš Šikola

A tiny vanadium oxide particle behaves like a window with adjustable transparency: in one state it lets infrared light through, and in another it starts absorbing it. The switch doesn't happen abruptly but smoothly, like turning a dimmer knob to adjust a lamp's brightness.

A platinum plate sits in a chamber with rarefied gas, and waves run across it. Not water waves, but chemical ones: patches where the surface is covered with oxygen give way to patches where carbon monoxide sits. Previously, these waves were seen as dark and light areas in images, but it was impossible to tell exactly which patch corresponded to what.