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A team of scientists from around the world has created the first system that can predict when and where extremely powerful solar storms, called superflares, are most likely to happen. These storms can disrupt power grids, communications, and satellites, and even pose dangers to astronauts in space.

Why can the human immune system often remember a vaccination for a whole lifetime? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have now investigated this question. Their study provides a surprisingly clear answer: The immune cells responsible for immunological memory seem to switch to a type of standby mode at an early stage. They can survive for many decades in this state. The findings have now been published in the journal Nature Immunology.

Shrinking ferroelectric tunnel junctions can significantly boost their performance in memory devices, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. The team fabricated nanoscale junctions directly on silicon substrates and analyzed conduction mechanisms across a wide temperature range and multiple device scales. They found that smaller junction areas produced much larger resistance contrasts between the "ON" and "OFF" states, demonstrating that miniaturization could directly improve both efficiency and reliability in future non-volatile memory technologies.

Beaver dams are critical to river health and a source of biodiversity. They create wetlands, slow water and improve water quality. They also reduce flood peaks and delay runoff. But beaver dams are often blamed when extreme rainstorms cause flooding—especially when they fail.

Declines in cervical cancer incidence among young U.S. women during the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination era vary by geographic region, according to a study published online Feb. 23 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumors from the inside out. "Bacteria spores enter the tumor, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size," said Dr. Marc Aucoin, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo. "So, we are now colonizing that central space, and the bacterium is essentially ridding the body of the tumor."

Never-before-seen 3D reconstructions of human liver tissue have been created at a cellular level. The details obtained by a team of UW Medicine and University of Washington engineers and physicians capture the spatial microstructure of multiple lobes of this multitasking organ.

A recently published research article examines the microscopic remains of clothing and burial items dating back roughly 7,000 years. The study focused on the Skateholm I and II cemeteries in Scania, southern Sweden, with a total of 87 graves. In archaeological excavations carried out in the 1980s, objects made of stone as well as animal bones, antlers and teeth were recovered from the grounds. Skateholm is one of the most significant Mesolithic Stone Age burial sites in northern Europe. The findings are published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

A research team at Kumamoto University has discovered that a natural compound found in pomegranate leaves and branches can directly break down harmful protein aggregates linked to transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis, a progressive and potentially life-threatening disease affecting the nerves and heart.

Subtle changes in how blood flows through the brain and how brain tissue uses oxygen may be closely linked to Alzheimer's disease risk, according to new research from the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Chemists in South Korea have created a stable color-changing sensor that displays an easily quantifiable response to the pH of its surroundings. Published in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Dong-Hwan Kim and colleagues at Sungkyunkwan University say their approach could pave the way for more reliable, affordable pH measurements across a broad range of real-world scenarios.

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a multi-source co-evaporation recipe that markedly enhances the crystal quality of vacuum-deposited perovskite films. This advance brings all vacuum-deposited single-junction perovskite cells as well as perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells closer to scalable production. The research has been reported in Nature Materials, in a paper titled "Crystal-facet-directed all-vacuum-deposited perovskite solar cells."

When cancer-driving proteins resist various treatments, Northwestern University scientists have uncovered a new solution. Don't fight them—throw them in the cellular trash. In a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists developed protein-like polymers (PLPs) capable of grabbing proteins and directing them to the cell's waste-disposal machinery. From there, the proteins are degraded and disposed of, triggering cancer cell death.

An international study has revealed a surprising connection between quantum physics and the theoretical models underlying artificial intelligence. The study results from a collaboration between the Institute of Nanotechnology of the National Research Council (Cnr-Nanotec), the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), and Sapienza University of Rome, together with international research institutions. The research paper was published recently in the journal Physical Review Letters.

A team from the Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville (US), has developed a new hybrid device that allows energy to be captured from both the sun and rain simultaneously. A thin film created and patented by the research team not only protects and improves the durability of perovskite solar cells, even in adverse weather conditions, but also allows nanogenerators to produce more than 100 volts from the impact of a single drop of water, enough to power small portable devices.

So-called "yo-yo dieting" confers long-term health benefits, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers. "Yo-yo dieting" is a pattern in which individuals lose weight through lifestyle interventions but gradually regain it over time, leading to repeated attempts at weight loss. These cycles may affect not only body weight, but also body composition, particularly visceral (intra-abdominal) fat, a metabolically active tissue linked to cardiometabolic disease. Thus, for many individuals, the key question is not whether to lose weight once, but whether repeated attempts confer long-term health benefits or risks.

Asteroid mining companies are finally getting off the ground, and that is raising some concerns about the impact those activities will have on the space environment. A new paper published in Acta Astronautica by Anna Marie Brenna of the University of Waikato in New Zealand discusses a framework that she thinks might work to solve the legal challenges facing those who want to protect the space environment and those who want to exploit it.

A new study led by researchers at Vanderbilt Health has identified medical conditions that often precede an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. The findings, published in the journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, could open opportunities to develop interventions that reduce Alzheimer's disease risk.

Researchers from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are helping poultry farmers protect their flocks and their employees, while improving poultry production. ARS researchers recently developed an indoor air scrubber that purifies the air in chicken houses and reduces ammonia levels by 87% to 99%.

Whether people follow a general trend when choosing a partner or consciously decide against it has a noticeable impact on the diversity of phenotypes to choose from. This is shown by a new study by the University of Würzburg.

Recent technological advances have opened new possibilities for the development of advanced medical devices, including tiny robots that can safely move inside the human body. Some of these systems could help to simplify complex medical procedures, including delicate surgeries and the targeted delivery of drugs to specific sites.

DNA, the genetic blueprints in every living organism, is nature's most efficient storage mechanism, capable of storing about 215 million gigabytes of data per gram. That storage capacity, if applied to electronics, could enable significantly more efficient data centers, speedier data processing and the ability to process far more complicated data. The trick to making this technological leap is getting DNA, a biological material, to work with electronics. A team led by Penn State researchers has figured out how to bridge the wide compatibility gap.

From summer evenings to global disease prevention, mosquito repellents are a daily defense for billions of people, yet until now, scientists didn't fully understand how mosquitoes themselves perceive these "keep away" signals. A new study has pinpointed an odorant receptor that helps mosquitoes detect a repellent odor and steer away. The researchers found that activating this receptor switches on a dedicated neural pathway that can override the insects' attraction to human scents, producing clear avoidance behavior.

After years of research, teaching, and service, a faculty member's tenure and future in academia hinge on the evaluations of their peers—senior faculty who serve on promotion and tenure committees. These evaluations can make or break a career—deciding whether a faculty member continues to grow in their field or faces an abrupt halt in their career.

The problem with many types of modern batteries is that they rely on harsh chemicals to work. Not only can these corrosive liquids damage internal parts over time, but they can also leach into soil and water when disposed of, contaminating it. But researchers from the City University of Hong Kong and Southern University of Science and Technology have developed an alternative, a new kind of eco-friendly battery that runs on a solution similar to the minerals used in tofu brine.

Indian astronomers have investigated an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar in the galaxy NGC 4631, designated X-8. The new study, described in a paper published Feb. 16 on the arXiv preprint server, provides essential information regarding the magnetic field evolution of this pulsar.

Deep in our cells, a wide range of processes are occurring constantly. These cellular processes rely on enzymes to act as catalysts and set off a series of molecular interactions. There are still many processes within the body that are not fully understood. Discovering exactly how these cellular pathways work can help researchers better understand how some diseases proliferate and develop new treatments that target part of these processes.

For the first time, researchers have observed and measured weak electrical discharges, known as coronae, on trees during thunderstorms. A new study describes the near-invisible sparkles appearing similarly on branches of several tree species up and down the U.S. East Coast during the summer of 2024, implying that thunderstorms may paint entire canopies with a scintillating blue glow, albeit too faintly for human eyes to see.

A Dartmouth study challenges the conventional view that the amygdala—the two-sided structure deep in the brain involved in emotion, learning, and decision making—is simply the brain's primitive "fear center," reflexively driving us to avoid the things we fear, from high places and tight spaces to spiders and large crowds. The researchers report in Nature Communications that the amygdala is far more complex, acting as a sophisticated arbiter to help the brain choose between competing strategies for learning and decision-making.

Researchers from the University of Münster, ETH Zurich, Stanford University, and the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production (FFB) used AI-supported patent analysis to show how strongly battery technologies build upon one another. The findings suggest that industrial and innovation strategies must account for these technological dependencies far more rigorously.

An Oregon State University scientist and a team of undergraduate students have uncovered real-time insights into a chemical process linked with Alzheimer's disease, paving the way toward better drug designs. The researchers used a molecule measuring technique to observe in a laboratory setting how certain metals can promote the protein clumping that leads to the blocked neural pathways associated with Alzheimer's. Led by Marilyn Rampersad Mackiewicz, associate professor of chemistry in the OSU College of Science, the research team also watched molecules known as chelators disrupt or reverse the clumping. The findings are published in ACS Omega.

Large language models (LLMs), artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can process human language and generate texts in response to specific user queries, are now used daily by a growing number of people worldwide. While initially these models were primarily used to quickly source information or produce texts for specific uses, some people have now also started approaching the models with personal issues or concerns.

Tirzepatide is one of the drugs that has revolutionized the treatment of obesity and other conditions such as diabetes in recent years. Despite its clinical success, its precise molecular and cellular mechanisms are still not fully understood. A study in mice shows that the drug has a direct impact on improving metabolism by activating brown adipose tissue, a type of fat specialized in energy expenditure.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a major health crisis that challenged citizens' information management routines. Epistemic ideals guided how people scanned and filtered information, engaged with it and adapted their behavior accordingly.

A University of Ottawa team has developed a new way to protect free-space quantum key distribution (QKD) from atmospheric turbulence, one of the main causes of distortion and errors when sending quantum information through air. Their paper, "All-optical turbulence mitigation for free-space quantum key distribution using stimulated parametric down-conversion," appears in the journal Optica.

NYU scientists are using light to precisely control how tiny particles organize themselves into crystals. Their research, published in Chem, provides a simple and reversible method for forming crystals that can be used to develop a new generation of adaptable materials.

Understanding the connection between behavior and brain cell activity is a major goal of neuroscience. To make progress, neuroscientists often choose simple, transparent lab animals because it's possible to see all their neurons fluoresce to indicate their electrical activity as the animals behave. But visibility isn't enough. Precisely tracking each cell's position and identity as the animals wiggle and warp during their complex movements is a huge challenge. In a new study in eLife, MIT neuroscientists debut three AI-infused tools to solve the problem.

Every winter, thousands of tourists travel to high-latitude regions like Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska hoping to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. Vincent Ledvina, an aurora guide and Ph.D. student in space physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, estimates he leads 1,000 people on aurora tours each year. Some ask Ledvina how the dazzling curtains of light are created, and he tells them that auroras occur when high-energy particles from space are funneled by Earth's magnetosphere into the polar atmosphere and collide with different molecules in the air. Ledvina says that more specific questions can be difficult to answer.

A leading cause of disability in the United States is hemiparesis, a condition where impaired motor control, muscle weakness, and spasticity affect one side of the body. Occurring in 80% of stroke survivors, reduced mobility and decreased quality of life are challenges that impact millions of individuals.

Researchers with the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience have modified a well-known immune protein to spark the growth of new neurons, ease brain inflammation, and improve cognition in old mice. The findings, published in the journal Immunity, could open new avenues for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

Many women who become pregnant while taking antidepressants face a difficult decision: Should they continue their medication to protect themselves against severe depression, or stop to avoid possible risks to the baby? New research from the University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital suggests using a standard dose of antidepressants during pregnancy appears to be safe for the baby. Persistently high doses, however, may be linked to changes in the placenta and a higher chance that the newborn needs intensive care.

An international team led by Jaime de Juan-Sanz at the Paris Brain Institute has shown that slightly increasing the metabolic capacity of neurons can enhance long-term memory in both fruit flies and mice. The study, published in Nature Metabolism, suggests that energy is not merely a prerequisite for brain function but may also serve as a lever to improve cognitive performance.

In laboratory experiments, researchers have produced ear cartilage that remains form-stable in animal models. Only one element is missing to make the tissue as elastic as a natural ear.

New research led by the London School of Economics reveals that high-income countries once suffered severe child stunting comparable to rates seen in many low- and middle-income countries today, offering powerful evidence that child stunting can be eliminated globally. The study is published in the journal BMJ Global Health.

Researchers have developed a tool for identifying children at risk of speech disorders, reducing unnecessary treatment for common speech errors that often resolve on their own. The research, led by Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, identifies red flags to help guide speech therapy referrals. Additionally, the data confirms for the first time in more than two decades that speech errors are common and vary widely up to six years of age.

In Switzerland, 0.02% of the population lives beyond the age of 100. Could there be biological characteristics associated with this exceptional longevity? As part of the "SWISS100" study, the first large-scale Swiss research project dedicated to centenarians, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL) compared the blood profiles of centenarians with those of octogenarians, and then with those of individuals aged 30 to 60.

More than 300,000 people suffer a heart attack in Germany every year. The heart muscle is then no longer supplied with sufficient blood and oxygen, and part of the tissue dies and scars. Unlike the liver, the heart of an adult human can hardly regenerate. However, it is capable of initiating limited repair processes. Macrophages play an important role in this process. These giant phagocytes of the innate immune system remove dead tissue and initiate the subsequent—albeit limited—self-healing process. However, the immune cells are ambivalent and can also trigger negative processes that lead to chronic heart failure (cardiac insufficiency).

When we learn a new motor skill—whether mastering a piano passage or refining balance while walking—the brain must reorganize the circuits that control movement. For decades, this process of synaptic remodeling has been attributed primarily to neurons strengthening or weakening their connections. However, a new study reveals that another cell type in the brain called astrocytes actively participates in this rewiring process.

Pancreatic cancer continues to be a devastating disease, with an overall 5-year survival rate of around 13%. Accounting for about 3% of all cancers, it is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Difficulties in diagnosis—due to the anatomic location of the pancreas and patients being asymptomatic or having ambiguous symptoms in early stages—cause treatment options to be limited. Surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other interventions present significant challenges, prompting researchers to continue to seek new alternatives.

A study by researchers at UTHealth Houston concludes that fetoscopic ablation is an alternative treatment for select cases of vasa previa. The findings were published in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Industrial quality inspection plays a critical role in manufacturing, from ensuring the reliability of electronics and vehicles to preventing costly failures in aerospace and energy systems. Traditional vision-based inspection systems typically rely on Red, Green, Blue (RGB) cameras, which are fast and inexpensive but often miss defects related to geometry (scratches or dents), material structure, or heat dissipation.

New strategies may be needed to protect infants older than six months against the highly infectious Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV, new University of Queensland research has found. The study examined 18,683 cases of RSV among Queensland children under 2 years of age between 2022 and 2023, finding particularly high rates of the virus in children aged 0–15 months. The findings are published in the journal BMC Public Health.

A new study from researchers at the University of Liverpool and King's College London reveals that while women may value the convenience of virtual postpartum care, they remain concerned about the need for physical examinations and how to access them.

For the many patients with depression who haven't found relief through medication, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)—a noninvasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain—has become an increasingly important treatment option. But the standard course of treatment requires daily clinic visits over six-to-eight weeks, a schedule that can be difficult for many patients to manage.

It is not easy to bring new technologies from the laboratory to market. Researchers and companies face very different demands for new developments and do not always find common ground. Scientists at Empa and other institutions have analyzed two emerging solar cell technologies to identify the greatest risks. Their conclusion: Research and industry must start collaborating much earlier.

A landmark social media addiction trial resumed Monday with a YouTube executive insisting that the Google-owned company's aim was to give people value, not hook them on harmful binge-viewing.

Researchers at the University of Oulu, Finland, have developed new high-performance bio-based resins that can replace conventional oil-based materials in composite products—without compromising strength, cost, or industrial scalability. As composite materials continue to play a critical role in renewable energy, transportation, marine industries and construction, biobased resins may become a driver of sustainable industrial production.

A research team led by Professor Taesung Kim from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University has developed a technology that precisely controls the internal structure of semiconductors using heat, much like stamping out "bungeoppang" (fish-shaped pastry) in a mold. The team report that this approach improves the performance of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) hardware. With this technology, complex AI computations can be processed more quickly using significantly less electricity than before. The findings are published in the journal ACS Nano.

Large language models (LLMs) are dealing with an increasing amount of morally sensitive information as people turn to them for medical advice, companionship and therapy. However, they are not exactly known for possessing a moral compass.

AI users and developers can now measure the amount of electricity various AI models consume to complete tasks with an open-source software and online leaderboard developed at the University of Michigan. Companies can download the software to evaluate private models run on private hardware. And while the software can't evaluate the energy costs of queries run on proprietary AI models at private data centers, it has allowed University of Michigan engineers to measure the power used by open-weight AI models in which the parameters under the hood are publicly available.

As marijuana legalization expands across the U.S., it is outpacing research on the impact of cannabis use behind the wheel. Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) recently spent two years collecting real-world driving data from cannabis users to help fill in the gaps.

Superhydrophobic surfaces—those famously "never-wet" materials that make water bead up and roll away—have a stubborn weakness: hot water. Once temperatures climb above roughly 40 degrees Celsius, many superhydrophobic coatings abruptly lose their magic. Instead of skittering off, hot droplets start sticking, soaking into the surface texture and leaving behind wet patches and residue.

In everyday life, designing spaces that both let air flow and absorb sound can be a tricky balancing act. Usually, materials that allow air to pass through—like vents—also let sound escape, making it hard to reduce noise effectively. Conversely, sound-absorbing materials like foam often block airflow, limiting their use in ventilated areas.

New software, developed by the University of Sheffield spin-out AENi aims to transform how the world's essential net-zero infrastructure is planned. The new digital platform will help the organizations shaping the world's critical net-zero infrastructure to de-risk projects and accelerate delivery.

Hydrogen fuel is a promising alternative to fossil fuels that only emits water vapor when used and could thus help to lower greenhouse gas emissions on Earth. In the future, it could potentially be used to fuel heavy-duty transport vehicles, such as trucks, trains, and ships, as well as industrial heating and decentralized power generation systems.

A paper written by University of Florida Computer & Information Science & Engineering, or CISE, Professor Sumit Kumar Jha, Ph.D., contains so many science fiction terms, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a Hollywood script: Nullspace steering. Red teaming. Jailbreaking the matrix. But Jha's work is decidedly focused on real life, most notably strengthening the security measures built into AI tools to ensure they are safe for all to use.

Online chat service Discord has announced it will begin testing age verification for some users, joining a growing list of platforms trying to work out who is actually behind the screen.