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Why Do We Need Sleep? Oxford Scientists Trace the Answer to Mitochondria

Sleep may serve as more than rest for the mind; it may also function as essential upkeep for the body’s energy systems. A new study from University of Oxford researchers, published in Nature, shows that the drive to sleep is caused by electrical stress building up in the tiny energy-producing structures of brain cells.

This finding provides a concrete physical explanation for the biological need for sleep and has the potential to reshape scientific thinking about sleep, aging, and neurological disorders.

Puzzle-solving chemist helps boost synthesis of key bioactive compounds

A new approach to an established reaction boosts the ability to synthesize vinylic ethers—key building blocks for many molecules important to human health. The journal Organic Letters published the breakthrough, made by chemists at Emory University.

“Our method is easy to reproduce and is based on widely available and inexpensive compounds,” says San Pham, an Emory Ph.D. candidate and first author of the paper. “We can apply this method to make multiple natural products, including novel vinylic ethers.”

Her research improves the reliability, yield and generality of what is known as the Chan-Evans-Lam reaction. These enhancements greatly expand the reaction’s potential for the synthesis of complex, biologically active compounds for drug research.

Switching Off One Crucial Protein Appears to Reverse Brain Aging in Mice

A protein called ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1) may play a significant role in brain aging, a new study reveals, giving scientists a new target for understanding and potentially preventing brain deterioration and disease.

FTL1 was brought to light through a careful comparison of the hippocampus part of the brain in mice of different ages. The hippocampus is involved in memory and learning, and it is one of the regions that suffers most from age-related decline.

The study team found that FLT1 was the one protein in this region that old mice had more of and young mice had less of.

Brain cancer cells can be ‘reprogrammed’ to stop them from spreading

Scientists have found a way to stop brain cancer cells spreading by essentially ‘freezing’ a key molecule in the brain.

The finding could pave the way for a new type of treatment for , the most aggressive form of brain cancer, although extensive testing will be required before it can be trialed in patients. Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain cancer, with a five-year survival rate of just 15%.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, found that rely on the flexibility of (HA)—a sugar-like polymer that makes up much of the brain’s supporting structure—to latch onto receptors on the surface of cancer cells to trigger their spread throughout the brain.

Optical fibre to revolutionise long-distance communication

UK photonics researchers have developed a new kind of hollow-core optical fibre that can transmit light signals about 45% further than current telecom fibres before needing a boost.

The scientists from Microsoft Azure Fiber and the University of Southampton have called this a “breakthrough result” which paves the way for a potential revolution in optical communications.

With further advancements, the new fibre could enable more energy-efficient optical networks with unprecedented data transmission capacities.

Memory consolidation requires reactivation of only three neurons during sleep, research reveals

Researchers at Tsukuba University in Japan report that memories acquired while awake are stored in a more permanent form (called memory consolidation) during the REM stage of sleep, and that this process requires the reactivation of only a few specialized neurons involved in memory formation. They found that three of these neurons are crucial for memory consolidation during REM sleep.

The researchers focused on adult-born (ABNs) in the hippocampal region of the temporal lobe, which are rare neurons known to be essential for maintaining proper memory function as the loss of these cells is observed in Alzheimer’s disease. However, it has remained unclear why the loss of this small neuronal population has such devastating effects on memory.

In the Nature Communications study, specially genetically modified , in which the activity of ABNs could be monitored, were exposed to a fear experience, and the researchers examined if the activities of these ABNs during initial memory formation were reproduced during REM sleep, when dreaming is believed to occur.

Magnifying Atomic Images

A new technique allows the imaging of an atomic system in which the interatomic spacing is smaller than the optical-resolution limit.

To gain in-depth understanding of quantum matter, researchers need to probe it at the microscopic level. Ultracold atoms—ensembles of atoms cooled to near absolute zero—offer an exceptionally clean and controllable platform for exploring collective quantum phenomena. Over the past two decades, researchers have sought to take in situ “snapshots” in which every single atom is individually resolved in position and, when needed, in spin. Recent advances have brought this vision to life and have significantly accelerated our understanding of collective quantum behaviors. Yet an important challenge remains: In a number of situations, the typical spacing between particles is smaller than the resolution limit of conventional optical imaging. Now Selim Jochim and his group at Heidelberg University in Germany have introduced a method to overcome this barrier by making the system “self-magnify” before imaging [1].

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