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Researchers affiliated with ETH Zurich have devised a multifunction picture element, or pixel, that can both emit and measure light. Traditional pixels generally do one or the other – illuminating a display screen or capturing light in a camera sensor. A team led by David Norris, professor at ETH Zurich's Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory, has found a way to combine the two functions. The research raises the possibility of two-way screens that take and present pictures, holographic displays, optical communication systems, and quantum information processing. As described in the Nature article "Fourier pixels for bidirectional light control," the ETH Zurich boffins developed a technique that involves measuring light wave interference patterns over a metallic surface. By doing so, they're able to generate "Fourier pixels" that can create and detect the amplitude, phase and polarization of optical fields. The Fourier transform is a mathematical technique that takes a function like a sound wave and returns a function representing the specific frequencies present in that sound. A Fourier pixel represents the spatial frequency of light rather than the specific brightness at a given point in an image. "Thanks to the fact that the relevant surface profiles of the pixels can be determined using Fourier analysis, we can combine the control and analysis of amplitude, phase and polarisation on a single pixel," said post-doc Sander Vonk in an ETH Zurich press release. In the near term, Norris expects to put Fourier pixels into a matrix that can be used to construct more sophisticated camera displays. The other authors included Yannik M. Glauser, David B. Seda, Hannah Niese, Boris de Jong, Matthieu F. Bidaut, Daniel Petter, Erwan Bossavit, Gabriel Nagamine, and Nolan Lassaline. ®

While impressive new shows are coming out all the time, many series that have already completed their run are impossible to beat. Fortunately, in the age of binge-watching, streaming services allow subscribers to access and fall in love with shows long after their conclusion. This enables such shows to remain relevant and, in some cases, gain an entirely new audience. The phenomenon can be seen in the reemergence of series like Gilmore Girls,Suits, and, more recently, Las Vegas has joined this group. The NBC series may be 23 years old, but even after all that time, it is a popular purchase on the Apple Store, proving that this five-season show has a lot to offer.

Thief: The Dark Project is a brilliant game for many reasons, among which is that it has one of the best mapping communities of any game. While the Doom and Quake mapping scenes are larger and more prolific, Thief's mappers consistently punch so far above their weight they should probably get into boxing sims rather than stealth games. They regularly deliver maps, missions and entire campaigns that are orders of magnitude more ambitious than what exists in the base game.Hence, any remaster of Thief worth its salt would ensure the fan mission scene is well supported, and that's exactly what Nightdive plans to do with Thief: The Dark Project Remastered. Speaking on Nightdive's Deep Dive podcast, producer Daniel Grayshon delved into the significance of community creations for the remaster:"There's been a very dedicated community that has created all sorts of wonderful additions to the game, and a lot of that has not gone unnoticed, " Grayshon explained. "Compatibility with those is extremely important, and that's what we're working on very heavily to ensure that when you buy a copy of the game on PC, you'll be able to very easily and very quickly get set up with whatever fan mission you would like to play."Given the number of fan missions that are out there, this is pretty ambitious, and Grayshon does say that, while they want to support as many FMs as they can, Nightdive's resources are not unlimited. "We're doing our best to make sure that we have a good compatibility across the board with everything that we can test given the time that we have. There's a lot of content out there, but we're doing our best."There is one specific fan campaign that you'll definitely be able to play out of the gate, and that's The Black Parade. Released in 2023, The Black Parade is a 10-mission campaign with its own story, overseen by Arkane Lyon level designer Romain Barrilliot. A majestic ode to Thief, each of its levels is preposterously ambitious, richly detailed, and often bloody terrifying, and I'd count it among Deathloop and the System Shock remake as one of the best immersive sim experiences from this decade.Nightdive is very much aware of The Black Parade's reputation. "Obviously the big one in the room is The Black Parade," Grayshon says. "It won ModDB's number one mod of the year, I think, that year. And just by looking at people's reactions to our announcement, I noticed that they will talk about 'Oh, I can't wait to see how The Black Parade runs in this.'"I knew this would be a thing that people would be wanting right from the very beginning, and the reactions to the announcement have proved that I wasn't wrong there in that. So we're working as quickly and as thoroughly as we can to make sure that compatibility is there for the things that people want to play."I can personally attest to the fact that fan-mission compatibility is a big draw for Thief fans, and I can't wait to give The Black Parade a whirl in the overhauled game. Indeed, it's an oddly good time to be a Thief fan right now. Alongside the Remaster, Eidos Montreal just announced a graphic novel set between Thief 1 and 2, along with a bunch of other nifty merch like a new soundtrack. Now all we need is a new game from someone who understands the series. I don't hold out much hope for this, but stranger things have happened.2026 games: All the upcoming gamesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together