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  • 🎡 World's tallest spokeless Ferris Wheel to crown Seoul’s skyline

🎡 World's tallest spokeless Ferris Wheel to crown Seoul’s skyline

Plus: Femtosecond laser transforms glass into semiconductors, time can run both ways in some materials

High above South Korea’s winding Han River, an architectural wonder is taking shape to offer a lofty vantage point on Seoul’s glittering towers, historic palaces and sweeping cityscape.

With an ingenious stability-focused form as visually striking as the views it reveals, the Seoul Twin Eye combines futuristic looks and sustainability. Rising high over the capital city, it will stand as a symbol of Seoul's ambition and progress by 2027. Learn more about its unique construction and features in today’s Must Read.

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MUST READ

UNStudio has collaborated with partners on a striking new addition to Seoul's skyline - the Seoul Twin Eye, set to be the world's tallest spokeless Ferris wheel at 220 meters high. The innovative structure features two rotating rings with intersecting tracks that will carry up to 1,400 passengers in 64 capsules. Perched atop a 40-meter cultural complex along the Han River, the wheel promises panoramic views from its highest point.

Inspired by an ancient Korean astronomical clock, the Ferris wheel's unique stability-focused design represents national ambition and spirit. As both a symbolic landmark and vibrant destination, the wheel integrates retail, dining, performance venues, and exhibit spaces into an accessible hub. Enhancing access and experience, the complex addition includes plans for a monorail, and even an adventurous zipline.

Swiss and Japanese researchers transformed ordinary glass into electricity-generating semiconductors by simply etching tellurium nanocrystal patterns using rapid high-intensity laser pulses. Requiring no extra materials, the light-activated crystallization method coded durable photoconductive traces activated by UV through visible frequencies. If the process can be scaled up, smart window, touchscreen and sensor applications are likely.

German physicists discovered certain molecular motions statistically reverse when observed against the framework of a material’s internal clock rather than real-world time. This “material time” ticks faster or slower based on rearrangement rates in glass or plastics. Experiments tracking microscopic particle dances over long spans initially suggested disorder always grows one way. But deeper analysis showed that around half contribute nothing to irreversible aging. Learn more about what makes material time tick.

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It was a huge experimental challenge… However, this does not mean that the aging of materials can be reversed”

Prof. Thomas Blochowicz, Technical University of Darmstadt

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