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L'Equipe ran with an image of a forlorn Kylian Mbappe and the headline of "fallen star" - adding the team were "powerless" to stop Spain.

The paper also published their brutal player ratings, with some big stars given low scores. No player was given above a 5/10.

Lucas Digne was given 2/10 for his role in giving away the Spain penalty, but Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise also got the same score after ineffective displays in attack.

Kylian Mbappe was given a 3/10 - along with France head coach Didier Deschamps, who takes charge of his final match in charge of the national team in Saturday's third-place play-off.

Le Parisien went with the headline "rude awakening" - saying the team "never found the key to break down the Spanish Armada".

Corse Martin went for the Spanish word for "disappointment" on their front page - adding Didier Deschamps' side were "outclassed" by their opponents.

Le Figaro said Spain "taught France a lesson" while Ouest France described the loss as the "end of the American dream".

Every single French paper went with a disappointed looking Kylian Mbappe as their front-page image.

'We lost to ourselves' - how the team reacted

France midfielder Rayan Cherki:

"It's a huge disappointment, huge because today we lost to ourselves. We didn't lose to the referee, we didn't lose to Spain, we lost to ourselves.

"Here, you all know, we all know we were a force to be reckoned with. The only team capable of eliminating us was ourselves, and today that's exactly what happened."

France head coach Didier Deschamps:

"The Spanish team is a strong one. It is tough and proved their skills today. We were below our standard, we committed more technical flaws than before.

"And even though I believed the entire would recover, they did not. I have really skilled and top-notch players on the bench, but William Saliba got injured, Adrien Rabiot was at risk because of the yellow card.

"It is mainly due to that - and we know the skills of the Spanish team. And to hope for victory, we should have been at our maximum and given it all and we did not, unfortunately.

"Therefore, we are extremely disappointed tonight. And the first part is the important one - some decisions were questionable." %!s()

Researchers are now identifying materials that combine properties previously thought to be mutually exclusive. This could lead to new technological applications.

Antiferroelectric materials

Antiferroelectric materials are different. They exhibit an alternating up-down arrangement of tiny electric dipoles. These materials possess unique properties that can be exploited in applications such as energy storage and novel cooling technologies. Until recently, however, researchers believed that such materials could not also be polar.

"Unfortunately, these electric dipoles cancel each other out, making the antiferroelectric material nonpolar. This limits their potential applications in a broader context," says Dennis Meier.

Meier is an adjunct professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NTNU. He is involved in two research projects, one paper published in Nature Nanotechnology and a Perspective published in Nature Materials.

Materials that break the rules

But does a material really need to have this strict up-down arrangement to retain its antiferroelectric properties? "For many years, researchers assumed this was the case, although several scientists discussed more complex patterns," says researcher Ivan Ushakov of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is the lead author of the first paper.

These more complex patterns can range from simple tilts and irregularities in the up-down arrangement to waves and spirals. Combinations of several patterns are also possible.

"Our findings show that this cancellation is not always necessary after all. This means that antiferroelectric materials represent a much broader and richer class of materials than previously assumed. It requires a redefinition of the entire concept," says Meier.

Forming complex patterns

One example is the compound K₃[Nb₃O₆|(BO₃)₂], which has long been known to exhibit indications of both polar and antiferroelectric properties.

"In this material, the up-down pattern is not completely canceled out because of a slight tilt. By examining the structure in detail, we have identified the exact mechanisms that make it possible for both ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity to coexist in a single material," says Ushakov.

Surprisingly, the compound not only combines properties of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric materials. By taking a closer look at the electrically controllable regions, known as domains, the researchers found that the material also exhibits unique "hybrid" properties.

"Using advanced microscopy, we observe that the domains are separated by highly extended and extremely thin boundaries with properties that are very unusual compared with similar boundaries in both classical ferroelectric and antiferroelectric materials," says Meier.

The work points toward a new class of materials whose electrical properties no longer fit into a single category.

Such hybrid systems could open up new opportunities in energy storage, sensors and other electronic technologies, while at the same time forcing a reconsideration of what antiferroelectricity actually is.

Publication details

Ivan N. Ushakov et al, Hybrid antiferroelectric–ferroelectric domain walls in noncollinear antipolar oxides, Nature Nanotechnology (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-026-02139-8

Gustau Catalan et al, A modern perspective on antiferroelectrics, Nature Materials (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-026-02483-z

Who's behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

Citation: Hybrid material confirms antiferroelectricity can coexist with switchable polarization (2026, July 16) retrieved 16 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hybrid-material-antiferroelectricity-coexist-switchable.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. %!s()

Iván stars as Joseph Santiago, a former felon who uncovers a corporate cover-up while investigating a car accident on behalf of a victim’s family. Howard plays Benjamin Drake, a revered attorney looking to serve justice to the uber-rich elite. Bosworth appears as Kathleen Sloane, a corporate defense attorney whose morals are called into question when her clients ask for the unthinkable.

In a statement dissecting the themes surrounding “Broken Ones,” Howard said, “What are we doing all of this for? At the end of the day, are we turning stone into bread to feed ourselves or are we turning stone into bread to feed others? This film explores those questions in a deeply human way. Benjamin Drake’s journey became a personal one for me, even though the story reaches far beyond my own perspective.”

A companion film, “Real Ones,” which likewise pulls from Zavala’s memoir, is also in the works.

Howard is best known for his film roles in “Iron Man” and “Hustle & Flow.” He earned a best actor Oscar nomination for the latter. Howard also led the cast of Fox’s Emmy-nominated drama series “Empire” from 2015 to 2020. His latest credits include films like “Alicia in Wonderland,” “Miami Nights” and “BFFs.”

Bosworth, who played Lois Lane in 2006’s “Superman Returns,” recently appeared in the psychological thriller “The Immaculate Room.” Iván can be seen in the upcoming films “Exorcist Archives” and “As Good as Dead 2.”

“Broken Ones” is produced by Zavala, Justin Nesbitt, Micah Brandt for UFO Pictures and Michael Pizzimenti for Al Bravo Films. Executive producers include Zavala, Drake of Drake Law Firm, Paul Hughes, Vanessa Hughes and David Block of Block and Company Inc.

Howard is represented by Paul Santana of Independent Artist Group and Universal Bridges Management. Iván is repped by BRS, Gage Talent, Ellen O’Farrell Personal Management and Gabriel Blanco Iglesias. Bosworth is repped by Independent Artist Group (IAG) and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich and Goodell & Gellman.

The release date and further casting for “Broken Ones” will be announced in the near future. %!s()

Already, a majority of small businesses are using AI for a wide range of purposes, said Jordan Crenshaw, senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Engagement Center. Last year, 58% of small firms nationwide reported using generative artificial intelligence, an increase from 40% in 2024 and 23% in 2023, he told lawmakers. But the real kicker, he added, is that 82% of small businesses that reported using AI had increased their staff headcounts over the past year. “These businesses are not using AI to replace people,” Crenshaw said. “They’re using it to help employees focus on high value work that requires judgment, creativity and relationships.”

So what’s the best way for a small business to deploy AI?

• Focus on what you’re not doing now, that could increase sales. “So many small businesses don’t have a website,” observed Chike Aguh, the head of innovation and strategy at the Kapor Center, which promotes inclusion in tech. “So many small businesses are not advertising in any way, shape or form because they can’t hire a designer. AI can make those things happen.” It’s not just about a web site, but about a mind set. “Small businesses need to think about, ‘What is not happening in my business that AI can help make happen,’ versus, ‘What is the thing that's happening now that potentially could be done by someone else?’” Aguh told lawmakers.
• Start with something that needs to be fixed. “I always advise businesses to start with the problem that is most at hand. What is the thing that bothers them day to day? That's where to get started,” said France Hoang, the founder and CEO of AI firm BoodleBox, which creates online spaces where teams in education, law or business can use AI tools securely and collaboratively. He cited a small coffee company owner in Detroit, Tekeyah Gaines, who he said has used AI to more accurately price her products, and also to bolster her marketing footprint. The result, Hoang said, is that Gaines’ average orders have risen from $38 to $47.
• Invest in training workers on Al and listen to their ideas. Instead of replacing workers with AI, Aguh said, businesses should instead be investing in training their workers on how best to use new AI tools, and should even be consulting their staff on how and where to put AI to use.
• Think of AI as a force multiplier. “AI is a force multiplier that helps small businesses do more with limited time, staff and resources,’’ said Crenshaw. For example, he said, “A retailer can use AI to understand demand and personalize marketing. A restaurant can improve scheduling and inventory. A professional services firm can automate routine drafting and research. A manufacturer can reduce waste and improve operations.”
• Make your back office more efficient. Aguh said small businesses are already finding AI useful for back office tasks such as accounting, tax payments, bookkeeping, and marketing and sales lead generation.
• Use AI to simplify onboarding and training for new staff. Anthony Qaiyum, the owner of Chicago-based Merz Apothecary, told committee members he recently used AI voice transcription and writing tools to create a multi-month onboarding program for a new hire. “She later told me it was the clearest roadmap she’d ever received when starting a new job,” he said.
• Make sure you pick the right AI tool for the job. There are a wide array of AI models now available for low to no cost online, with different strengths and weaknesses. It’s important for users to learn which models are the best for the job they want AI to tackle. “It is tempting to believe that everything is a nail and that is amenable to the AI hammer,” said Aguh. “Helping these small business leaders pick the exact hammer for the exact right nail is so important. It might be Claude, it might be ChatGPT.”
• Find a secure AI system that you can trust. The more candid a business owner can be with an AI system about internal finances and sensitive data, the more useful AI models can be to companies. So it’s important to find an AI system the business owner feels is secure. “AI is only as good as the information you put into it, the context. A lot of businesses are fearful of putting their proprietary data in. That's unfortunate because that's how you get the best results from AI,” Hoang said. “Find a platform where you feel the privacy and security allow you to use your data.”
• Look for AI accelerators, coaches and government-funded training. The experts agreed that more AI literacy programs will be needed to properly educate entrepreneurs on how best to utilize new models, and emphasized there are already some such resources available, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Basics program. “For those of us who are athletes at any point in our lives, you didn’t read a book on how to do a jump shot or throw a football. You did it in the field, with a coach,” Aguh said. “AI is ironically showing the need for more work in the field, in the place of work…classes are good. Real life experience is better.”
• Consider paying for AI if necessary. There’s been so much progress and competition in AI in the last few years that there’s an abundance of tools available online free of charge, but some of the more advanced and valuable tools still come at a price. Those may be worth paying for, depending on the job. “Basic AI is cheap and it is everywhere,” Hoang said. “The premium AI that delivers real results still costs money, and a new divide is opening up between Wall Street and Main Street.”

Qaiyum also told lawmakers that since his company has begun utilizing AI more heavily, he’s increased his staff by 20%, from 50 to 60 employees. “We look at (AI) as a set of tools to help us increase our capacity and then bring more people on,” Qaiyum said. “Right now, we’re building an AI agent to handle routine accounts payable work that takes one employee more than 20 hours per week, hours we’d rather have her helping with strategic problems to grow our business.”

Qaiyum said Merz Apothecary - which sells health, beauty and grooming products - also relies on AI tools to get analysis of cash flows, track inventory, keep tabs on investments, record expenses, manage payroll, and look out for possible financial risks.

“And we’re still hiring,” Qaiyum said. “We’re at the point now where we'd like to bring someone in who has more experience (with AI) because we see so much opportunity ahead.” Qaiyum repeatedly insisted that AI is a new technological advantage, while “humans are the durable advantage that you have.”

Crenshaw also warned that small businesses will suffer if Congress fails to act on regulating AI, and leaves the issue to the states, which would create a costly national “patchwork” of business rules that smaller firms would be hard-pressed to navigate.

He cited a study from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (a nonprofit think tank that gets much of its support from the tech sector and other big companies). It concluded that without a national set of AI data privacy rules, it will cost the nation roughly $1 trillion over the next decade, with $200 billion of that being borne by the small business community. He also singled out a relatively new California state law, the California Consumer Privacy Act, which underwent rulemaking involving AI after it was signed into law in 2020; Crenshaw said it’s now estimated that it will cost small businesses $16,000 annually to comply with the AI portion of the law.

The bottom line, experts told lawmakers, is that AI will not be able to replace truly human capabilities, but rather should empower workers with new tools to become more efficient, productive and skilled. The four urged Congress to approve more funding for AI literacy training for businesses and workers, and to set up a national regulatory framework for AI models to follow, instead of the current state-by-state regulatory patchwork that is developing in the absence of federal AI rules.

Although the committee took no action on any specific bills or proposals on Tuesday, several House members said they believe it’s important for Congress to approve some type of national regulatory framework for AI and tech companies, along with funding AI literacy programs through the Small Business Administration.

“Our goal is to make every small business and entrepreneur make sure they have the opportunity to succeed in the emerging age of AI,” Committee Chairman Roger Williams, a Texas Republican, said at the outset of Tuesday’s hearing.

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ForbesPoll: Small Business Only American Institution With Bipartisan SupportBy John SchroyerForbesWhy Small Businesses Aren’t Hiring: They Can’t Find Qualified WorkersBy John SchroyerForbesMillennials Are Buying Blue Collar Small Businesses To AI-Proof Their FutureBy John Schroyer %!s()

"It's not a junk rally," Matt Bartolini, the firm's global head of research strategists, told CNBC's "ETF Edge" this week.

Bartolini cited a promising trend: more Wall Street firms are upgrading small-cap earnings expectations than downgrading them. This means higher earnings per share estimates for this year, including for the upcoming third and fourth quarters. He added that this quarter will likely see over 20% EPS growth.

He also cited stronger relative momentum, and the "depth and breadth" associated with the small-cap stock market. "You have all 11 small-cap GICS sectors outperforming their respective large-cap GICS sectors. That hasn't happened in over 30 years," Bartolini said.

He added that not-so-heavily shorted small-cap stocks are outperforming heavily shorted ones, which is a signpost of a sustainable rally. "If this was a snapback junk rally where it was a short squeeze, it would be the inverse," he said.

State Street's SPSM and SLYG, exchange-traded funds which track the S&P 600 Small-Cap and S&P 600 Small-Cap Growth indexes, respectively, are both up more than 20% this year, according to CNBC data. In the same timeframe last year, SPSM fell almost 2% and SLYG increased just 0.86%. 

The Russell 2000 Index – the most popular small-cap stock benchmark and the index underlying IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF – is also up close to 20% this year, its best first half since 1991 when George H.W. Bush was in office.

"You have that fundamental momentum, the relative price momentum, [and] the idea that [the small cap trade] is more enduring," Bartolini said.

Performance of small-cap stocks versus large-cap stocks over the past year.

Phil McInnis, chief investment strategist at Avantis Investors, says the historic small-cap rally should be a signal to investors to look beyond the large-cap trade. "Some investors … don't even realize [that] if you're buying the S&P 500, yes, that's giving you pretty decent exposure to the stock market, but it's nowhere close to the full stock market," he said on "ETF Edge."

"I still see large-cap flows getting a lot more attention versus small caps," he added, citing combined mutual fund and ETF data. "I still think small caps are maybe being overlooked by a lot of investors, and I think there's a massive reason to have them in your portfolio."

Along with small-caps, McInnis — whose firm manages multiple small-cap funds among other stock and bond investments — is stressing non-U.S. developed markets, emerging markets, and mid-caps as other asset classes where investors should consider adding exposure. Emerging markets, in particular, have performed "tremendously well" over the last year, he said.

IEMG, the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund, is up more than 18% this year.

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