Correlation alone could not answer the key questions, so co-lead Celine Chen created a CRISPR-based screening platform to alter gene activity in the thalamus and cortex. This approach showed that removing certain molecules changed how long memories lasted, and each molecule operated on its own timescale.
Timed Programs Guide Memory Stability
The results indicate that long-term memory relies not on a single on/off switch, but on a sequence of gene-regulating programs that unfold like molecular timers across the brain.
In a quiet control room in northern Chile, a dozen people held their breath at the same time.
The monitors glowed a cold blue, showing a disc of dust and gas 625 light-years away, circling a young star known as PDS 70. At first glance, it looked like so many other protoplanetary disks astronomers have seen before. But then the data sharpened, the patterns cleared, and something jumped out that nobody had *ever* seen so clearly: a place where moons are being born in real time.
The room didn’t erupt in shouts. It was slower than that. A whispered “no way”, a chair rolling back, someone rubbing their forehead like they’d been staring at the sun too long. On the screen, the “moon factory” came into focus: a ring of material around a newborn planet, turning raw space dust into future worlds. Everyone present knew they were staring at a first in human history.
As artificial intelligence devours electricity, a quiet nuclear revolution is taking shape deep below future data centers.
Across Europe, tech firms are staring at an uncomfortable equation: soaring digital demand, power grids near saturation, and climate goals that leave little room for more fossil fuels. A young French company now claims it can rewrite that equation with a compact reactor that hides underground and feeds on nuclear waste.
While most 14-year-olds are folding paper airplanes, Miles Wu is folding origami patterns that he believes could one day improve disaster relief.
The New York City teen just won $25,000 for a research project based on an origami fold called Miura-ori, which is known for collapsing and expanding with precision.
“I’ve been folding origami as a hobby for more than six years, mostly of animals or insects,” Wu told Business Insider. “Recently I’ve been designing my own origami, too.”
A Japanese research team from Keio University demonstrated that a quantum algorithm can solve a core metabolic-modeling problem, marking one of the earliest applications of quantum computing to a biological system. The study shows quantum methods can map how cells use energy and resources.
Flux balance analysis is a method widely used in systems biology to estimate how a cell moves material through metabolic pathways. It treats the cell as a network of reactions constrained by mass balance laws, finding reaction rates that maximize biological objectives like growth or ATP production.
No. The demonstration ran on a simulator rather than physical hardware, though the model followed the structure of quantum machines expected in the first wave of fault-tolerant systems. The simulation used only six qubits.
People are living longer than ever around the world. Longer lives bring new opportunities, but they also introduce challenges, especially the risk of age-related decline.
Alongside physical changes such as reduced strength or slower movement, many older adults struggle with memory, attention and everyday tasks.
Researchers have spent years trying to understand why some people stay mentally sharp while others deteriorate more quickly. One idea attracting growing interest is multilingualism, the ability to speak more than one language.
