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A catalyst that protects itself while producing hydrogen

Cobalt phosphide (CoP) is a promising alternative to platinum for producing hydrogen from water. However, scientists have struggled to explain why it performs so well. Computer models have suggested that CoP should become unstable under the conditions used to produce hydrogen, yet experiments show that it remains active and durable in acidic, neutral and alkaline environments.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society offers an explanation: CoP changes its surface as it produces hydrogen, helping it maintain its performance while protecting itself from damage. Rather than remaining chemically unchanged, the material responds to the electrical voltage applied during water electrolysis. The chemical species that form on its surface help drive hydrogen production and prevent the catalyst from breaking down.

Associations between breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis among older-age women in the United States

Several studies have described an inverse association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and risk of breast cancer (BC), and one study reported lower risk of RA after BC. Factors contributing to this possibly bidirectional relationship remain unclear.

Using the SEER-Medicare database (2008−2021), we conducted a case-control study to evaluate the association between RA and BC risk among women aged 66–99. RA was identified from Medicare claims. We also conducted a cohort study among BC cases and controls to evaluate subsequent RA incidence. Multivariable adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using generalized linear mixed models and hazard ratios (HRs) using Cox regression.

We included 204,186 BC cases and 2,897,862 controls. RA was inversely associated with BC (OR 0.80, 95%CI 0.77–0.83)—specifically, for hormone receptor positive BC (0.78, 0.76−0.81). In the cohort analysis (184,524 women with and without BC), BC was associated with lower incidence of RA (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.98). This association did not differ by BC hormone receptor status. Instead, among women with BC, radiotherapy was associated with reduced RA incidence (HR 0.82, 95%CI 0.76−0.89). Finally, among women with hormone receptor positive BC, treatment with exemestane was associated with increased incidence of RA (HR 1.33, 95%CI 1.17−1.50).

The World’s First Living Computers Are Here

In 2026, a server rack in Singapore was switched on with living human brain cells inside it. Every three days, someone has to feed it. The cells grew from a stem cell. They sit on a chip covered in electrodes. They can learn, and they have already learned to play Doom. You can rent one for about $2,200 a month, or buy one for $35,000. For the first time in history, human brain tissue is being sold, racked, and programmed in Python.
Every claim in this video comes from published research and public reporting: the National University of Singapore, Cortical Labs, Johns Hopkins University, the journal Neuron, Nature, Frontiers in Science, Amazon Web Services, The Straits Times, WIRED, Scientific American and The Register. This is not a forecast. These computers already exist, and they are already for sale.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 — Intro.
00:32 — The Computer That Eats.
02:48 — How To Grow A Compter.
05:14 — Pong and Doom.
07:29 — The Neuron That Became Software.
09:56 — One Million.
11:55 — Whose Cells Are These.
13:55 — Final Thoughts.

Discover 50,000+ AI tools at: https://theresanaiforthat.com.

RESOURCES & FURTHER READING:

THE SINGAPORE RACK:

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High-resolution bionic eye combines color imaging with more efficient motion detection

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a high-resolution bionic eye that integrates full-color imaging, an aberration-corrected field of view exceeding 160 degrees and event-driven motion detection.

Inspired by the curved retina of biological eyes, the system offers a promising pathway toward compact vision sensors for future robots and autonomous systems, enabling machines to capture environmental information while significantly reducing the data required for motion recognition.

Led by Professor Fan Zhiyong, chair professor of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and director of the State Key Laboratory of Displays and Opto-Electronics at HKUST, the team developed a novel 3D laser fabrication approach that enables dense arrays of light-sensitive pixels to be fabricated on a hemispherical surface.

How A Brooklyn Startup Engineered Algae To Control Severe Blood Loss

Engineered from two algae-derived polysaccharides, TraumaGel is injected directly into severe lacerations and bullet wounds to stop life-threatening hemorrhages on contact. Today, Cresilon operates as the only bio-manufacturing facility in New York City, with over 100 employees and its products are deployed in more than 250 national trauma systems.

Cofounder and CEO Joe Landolina breaks down the journey from a college dorm room concept to an FDA-cleared device transforming emergency trauma response.

Physics-inspired AI detects fake faces by analyzing color and brightness patterns

Researchers at Keele University have developed a physics-inspired AI model that achieved high accuracy in tests distinguishing genuine facial images from AI-generated or manipulated images.

The research team, led by Ph.D. candidate Saman Maghsoudi from Keele’s School of Computer Science and Mathematics, has created a tool that analyzes color information and patterns of brightness within an image to help distinguish genuine facial images from AI-generated or manipulated ones.

Creating synthetic photographs or videos of faces, known as “deepfakes,” has become even easier in the age of generative AI, meaning the ability to reliably spot genuine or fake images is becoming increasingly important for trust, security and authenticity in things like digital media and combating identity theft.

Life defies the second law of thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics says disorder always increases. But life looks like an exception, since living things are ordered and create further order. Physicists usually explain this away: order here is balanced by extra disorder elsewhere. Philosopher Dorothea Olkowski doesn’t dispute the law itself. Drawing on Ilya Prigogine’s work, she argues that order is not a debt repaid elsewhere, but the natural result of open systems exchanging energy with their surroundings. The real question, she suggests, is not whether the second law is wrong, but whether its classical, closed-system version ever described the reality of life at all. Through natural selection, life’s order overcomes reality’s chaos.

Language, Logic, and the Limits of Formalization

I would argue that I have been working with the idea of complex systems since grad school, although I certainly would not have been aware of that term nor of the multitude of scientists, philosophers, and others who engaged with what became complexity theory. My first introduction to the term “science of complexity” came from the work of the mathematician John L. Casti in his book Complexification: Explaining a Paradoxical World Through the Science of Surprise. With Casti, we encounter the concepts of catastrophe, chaos, lawlessness, irreducibility, emergence, and surprise, but he begins with the simple question of whether our language accurately reflects reality.