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AI extracts hidden material rules from microscopic data to predict large-scale behavior

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed artificial intelligence (AI) methods that learn the large-scale behavior of complex materials from microscopic data. By automatically identifying a small number of hidden variables that capture the collective behavior of a system, the methods can predict how materials evolve over time while reducing the need for costly simulations.

Understanding the behavior of materials at the macroscopic scale is essential for designing new technologies, from energy-efficient electronics to advanced alloys. However, material properties emerge from the interactions of vast numbers of atoms, and simulating every atom over long periods is often computationally impossible, even on modern supercomputers.

A major challenge in materials science is connecting these microscopic processes, such as atomic motion, to observable material properties. Existing approaches often require large-scale simulations that are prohibitively expensive.

Could A.I. Do Your Job? We Put Agents to the Test

We gave an A.I. tool full access to a laptop with pre-configured apps and sought to answer a simple question: Can artificial intelligence do an office job?

Some corporate executives seem to believe it can. More than 200 tech companies have cut roughly 120,000 jobs this year, according to Layoffs.fyi, an industry tracking site; Meta, Oracle and others have all recently made substantial cuts to their work forces, citing A.I. as the driving force; and after laying off about 1,100 employees, the chief executive of Cloudflare said recently that he expected A.I. to replace workers in middle management, finance and marketing.

In our experiment, we deployed A.I. “agents” to act as office workers and found that they were capable of performing some of the tasks we assigned, but not all of them. The agents, which can act autonomously and make decisions based on detailed instructions, excelled at problems they could solve by writing computer programs. But they struggled with understanding the nuances of human language and at navigating user interfaces like the Chrome web browser.

Twisted laser light distinguishes mirror-image molecules by their fragment counts

Many molecules exist in two mirror-image forms—like left and right hands—that look identical but can behave very differently, especially in biological systems and pharmaceuticals. Distinguishing between these enantiomers (also called chiral molecules) is a longstanding challenge in science and technology. A useful analogy is that of a screw and a nut: A right-handed screw fits only into a right-handed thread, while a left-handed one will not engage properly.

Researchers from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad illustrate how light itself can be engineered to behave like such a threaded probe, selectively interacting with molecules depending on their handedness.

The study, published in Science Advances, shows that light can be shaped not only to spin but also to twist as it travels. When such twisted light interacts with chiral molecules, the outcome depends sensitively on how the “twist” of the light matches the intrinsic handedness of the molecule.

3D-printable material can heal the body, build better robots and recover critical minerals

A new type of 3D-printable material developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin mimics human tissue’s ability to sort and filter, allowing certain molecules to pass through while keeping others out. This broad functionality means the material can be used in a variety of applications across medicine, water and robotics.

Current methods for building small tissue-like materials don’t scale to sizes that can make applications possible, the researchers say. The team overcame these issues of speed and scalability by jamming billions of tiny water droplets tightly together using simple mixing and centrifuge techniques to form large, tissue-like materials in just a few minutes. Each droplet is separated by a thin membrane, allowing the membranes to link up, similar to cell organization in human tissue.

“Tissues can separate and transport ions and molecules; that’s how our kidneys or intestines work, taking only what they need and leaving the rest behind,” said Manish Kumar, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. This work was recently published in Nature Materials.

Viagra may reduce cancer metastasis, study shows

Viagra was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, but over the past three decades it has become the world’s best-known therapy for erectile dysfunction. In the future, this blockbuster drug may find yet another use. In a study published recently in Cancer Research, scientists in the lab of professor Ayelet Erez at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, may restrict cancer metastasis through a newly discovered biological mechanism.

The researchers, led by Dr. Yarden Ariav in Erez’s lab, showed that sildenafil limits cancer cells’ ability to use cholesterol, an essential component of cellular membranes. Cholesterol is particularly important for cancer cells seeking to break away from the primary tumor, migrate throughout the body and invade distant organs. When their access to cholesterol is disrupted, these cells have a harder time forming metastases.

Solar windows could harvest indoor light and sunlight while staying semi-transparent

Semi-transparent solar cells that could be added to windows to efficiently harvest energy from indoor light as well as the sun have been developed by an international team led by UCL researchers.

The technology, described in a paper in Advanced Energy Materials, could help turn buildings into power generators at night and on cloudy days, as well as in sunshine.

The researchers engineered solar windows that let in 30% of sunlight—ordinary glass might let in 80% or 90%—while generating a record amount of energy from indoor light and efficiently harvesting energy from sunshine.

Japan identifies large share of rare earths in deep-sea mud off remote island

An analysis of rare earth-rich mud retrieved from ⁠the deep seabed off a remote Pacific Island earlier this year found medium and heavy rare earth elements accounted for about 54% of the total rare earth content, Japan’s government said on Friday.

But it did not disclose the size of the content or ‌the deposits, saying ‌the data was insufficient due to the limited duration and geographic scope of sampling.

The Japanese scientific drilling vessel, Chikyu, completed a monthlong mission in February near Minamitorishima island, about 1,900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, marking the world’s first successful attempt to ⁠continuously lift rare-earth-bearing seabed mud from depths of around 6 km.

LKB1 inactivation elicits an NNMTmediated methyl sink and confers dependence on PRMT5 in lung cancer

Mi et al. discover that LKB1 deficiency creates a hypomorphic PRMT5 state in lung cancer via NNMT-mediated “methyl sink.” Targeting PRMT5 triggers senescence in LKB1-deficient cancer cells and confers vulnerability to senolytics such as Navitoclax, representing an effective combination cancer therapy.

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