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Category: biological

Twisted bilayer photonic crystals dynamically tune light’s handedness

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a chip-scale device that can dynamically control the “handedness” of light as it passes through—also known as its optical chirality—with a simple twist of two specially designed photonic crystals. The study is published in the journal Optica.

The work, led by graduate student Fan Du in the lab of Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, describes a reconfigurable twisted bilayer photonic crystal that can be tuned in real time using an integrated micro-electromechanical system (MEMS). The breakthrough opens new possibilities for advanced chiral sensing, optical communication, and quantum photonics.

“Chirality is very important in many fields of science—from pharma to chemistry, biology, and of course, physics and photonics,” Mazur said. “By integrating twisted photonic crystals with MEMS, we have a platform that is not only powerful from a physics standpoint, but also compatible with the way modern photonics are manufactured.”

Mass spectrometry imaging: principles and applications in plant research

A Research review by Sun et al. 👇

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Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is an advanced analytical technique that combines mass spectrometry with spatial mapping, enabling the direct, label-free detection and visualization of molecular distributions within biological tissues. This review comprehensively outlines the fundamental principles, major technological platforms, and recent applications of MSI in plant science. We detail key ionization techniques – matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) – focusing on their ionization mechanisms and instrumental characteristics.

Martian volcanoes could be hiding massive glaciers under a blanket of ash

When we think of ice on Mars, we typically think of the poles, where we can see it visibly through probes and even ground-based telescopes. But the poles are hard to access, and even more so given the restrictions on exploration there due to potential biological contamination. Scientists have long hoped to find water closer to the equator, making it more accessible to human explorers. There are parts of the mid-latitudes of Mars that appear to be glaciers covered by thick layers of dust and rock.

So are these features really holding massive reserves of water close to where humans might first step foot on the red planet? They might be, according to a new paper from M.A. de Pablo and their co-authors, recently published in Icarus.

The key might be a small, volcanic island in Antarctica. Known as Deception Island, it’s a volcano that has covered some massive glaciers surrounding it with ash and dust from a series of eruptions in the 60s and 70s. The authors think they found a volcano on Mars with a similar history known as Hecates Tholus.

Hybrid synthetic strategy unlocks previously unattainable molecular architectures

The molecular-scale design of materials is one of the major frontiers in modern science. Flat, highly conjugated organic molecules are already used in advanced technologies such as chemical sensors, optoelectronic devices, and energy conversion systems. One of the most promising strategies to enhance their performance involves “linking” multiple units together, extending their electronic structure and thereby modifying their properties.

However, as these architectures grow in complexity, their synthesis becomes extremely challenging. In many cases, the molecules lose solubility and become nearly inaccessible through traditional solution-based methods. This limitation has hindered the construction of increasingly large and functional molecular structures for years.

Research led by Luis M. Mateo and Diego Peña at the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) has overcome this barrier using a hybrid strategy. First, they synthesize carefully designed phthalocyanine units in solution. These units are then deposited onto a metal surface, where they react with each other to form a new extended structure composed of five cross-shaped, fused phthalocyanines. This approach combines the precision of classical solution chemistry with the possibilities offered by on-surface synthesis under controlled conditions.

Electron microscopy maps protein landscapes that drive photosynthesis

Research led by scientists at Washington State University has revealed insights on how plants form a microscopic landscape of proteins crucial to photosynthesis, the basis of Earth’s food and energy chain. The discovery provides a new view of the molecular engine that converts sunlight into bioenergy and could enable future fine-tuning of crops for higher yields and other useful traits.

Colleagues at WSU, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel used a novel, technology-powered approach to peer inside plant leaf cells and visualize the landscape of the photosynthetic membrane—the ribbon-like structure where plants harvest sunlight. The findings were recently published in the journal Science Advances.

“These membranes are highly efficient biological solar cells,” said the study’s principal investigator and corresponding author, Helmut Kirchhoff. “They convert sunlight energy into chemical energy that fuels not only the plant’s metabolism but that of most life on Earth.”

Behavioral scientists found that people without children develop a relationship to mortality that is psychologically distinct. Without biological continuation

I’ve been thinking about death differently lately. Not in a morbid way, not in a crisis way. More like the way you start noticing a sound you’d been filtering out for years. A few months ago, I was having dinner near Tanjong Pagar with a woman I’ve known for about eight years, a 56-year-old consultant who runs a small but well-regarded advisory firm. She has no children. Never wanted them, she told me once, years ago, with the kind of calm clarity that made the topic feel settled. But that night, she said something that hasn’t settled at all. She said, “The hardest part of not having kids isn’t the loneliness people assume. It’s figuring out what your life means when there’s no one who carries it forward.”

She said it the way you’d describe a delayed train. Factual. Slightly inconvenient. Already accommodated.

That sentence has stayed with me. Because over nearly two decades of building companies across multiple countries, I’ve watched the question of legacy come up again and again in people’s lives, usually somewhere around their late forties or early fifties, and I’ve noticed something: the people who face it most directly, most honestly, are often the ones without children.

Without biological continuation, people who never have children are forced to build their own relationship with mortality from scratch, and the psychological architecture that requires turns out to be both more fragile and more deliberate than most of us assume.

Joscha Bach delivers “The Machine Consciousness Hypothesis” at Future Day 2026

Can AI become conscious?

What is consciousness for? And is biological consciousness best understood as a self-organising algorithm that could, in principle, be recreated in machines?

In this talk, Joscha explores consciousness as perception of perception, coherence maintenance, modelling, resonance, self-organisation, and the possibility that machine consciousness may emerge through the right virtual architecture.

Essay: ‘The Machine Consciousness Hypothesis’ by Joscha Bach & Hikari Sorenson: https://cimc.ai/cimcHypothesis.pdf

CIMC: https://cimc.ai

Post: https://scifuture.org/joscha-bach-the… Intro

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Philip Kitcher — Philosophy of Reductionism & Emergence

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Can biology be explained entirely in terms of chemistry and then physics? If so, that’s “reductionism.” Or are there “emergent” properties at higher levels of the hierarchy of life that cannot be explained by properties at lower or more basic levels?

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Philip Stuart Kitcher is a British philosopher who is the John Dewey Professor Emeritus of philosophy at Columbia University. He specialises in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of mathematics, and more recently pragmatism.

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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

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The Observer Effect in Everyday Life

Daily reflection is a way to apply this principle in our everyday lives. It shines a spotlight on the behavior itself. And when behavior is observed consistently, it solidifies into neural pathways in the brain. We start behaving differently, not because someone else is judging us, but because we are measuring ourselves. The simple act of asking ourselves reflective questions each day shapes the behaviors in our lives, which, in turn, make us the people who exhibit those behaviors.

Another principle from quantum theory, entanglement, might also be at play when we do daily reflection. Quantum entanglement describes how particles can become linked to one another so that a change in one results in a change in the other. In the same way, the effort we make to change in one part of our lives is rarely confined to that part. Instead, our behaviors extend outward and affect those in relationship to us and around us. For example, your attempt to speak in positive terms, rather than negative ones, can influence your colleagues at work. Your intention to control your emotional outbursts can affect your family. Your efforts to build positive relationships at work or in your community can change the dynamics of those relationships. And when you combine these intentions with daily reflection, you’re not only strengthening a positive personal trait within yourself, but also influencing the bigger, interpersonal systems around you.

Philosophers, physicians, and physicists are forever debating what consciousness is. Is who we are just a byproduct of biology and the brain’s physiology, or is who we are more fundamental and exists irrespective of the brain’s neural firing? We may never know. That said, one thing is true: Conscious awareness shapes who we are. Without reflection, behavior defaults to habit. With reflection, possibility re-enters the system. The practice of asking yourself daily reflective questions puts you in the role of an observer rather than an actor. And from there, you can be intentional about who you choose to be tomorrow.

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