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Smart sensor identifies present molecules by remembering the past

Most sensors are designed to do only one thing: detect what passes through them. But what if a sensor could do more? To create a new generation of technology, researchers have looked to living systems for inspiration. If a sensor could detect molecules, could it also remember previous interactions and selectively respond to them?

Researchers have developed a device that does exactly that on a tiny scale, laying the groundwork for a new generation of smart molecular sensors.

In an article recently published in ACS Nano, researchers from SANKEN at the University of Osaka and collaborating institutions created an autonomous solid-state nanopore that can sense molecules, generate electrical signals and retain memories of recent events without external control. Unlike conventional nanopores, which act as passive channels, the new device continuously changes its own structure through chemical reactions, creating a dynamic sensing environment that responds to molecules passing through it.

Hypereosinophilia With Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in Patients With Asthma on AntiInterleukin5 Biologics

Biologic therapies targeting IL-5 or its receptor reduce eosinophilia and exacerbations in asthma. Breakthrough eosinophilic attacks are usually considered biologic failure. We report 2 patients with severe asthma receiving mepolizumab or benralizumab who developed relapsing hypereosinophilia associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection. Case 1 was a 71-year-old woman in Canada with severe eosinophilic asthma and COPD overlap whose eosinophils suddenly rebounded to 1,400 cells/μL during an acute exacerbation while on mepolizumab, coinciding with P aeruginosa infection and resolving after antibiotic treatment.

Johns Hopkins’ AI-powered, voice-controlled robot performs autonomous surgery

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have shown that an artificial intelligence-powered robot—trained on videos of previous surgeries—could learn how to perform the procedure itself, without help from a human operator.

According to the university, the autonomous system was able to adapt to the natural variations in anatomy between simulated patients, and react correctly to unplanned events in real-time—such as the introduction of blood-like dyes that obscured the surrounding tissue. It was also able to recover on its own from initially missed instrument placements.

Aging restricts maturation of CXCL13+ T follicular helper cells in human immunity

Bracey et al. show that impaired antibody responses with age are primarily driven by defective T follicular helper cell maturation rather than intrinsic B cell dysfunction. They identify loss of human-specific CXCL13 + T follicular helper cells and reduced BACH2 and SOX4 as hallmarks of aging-associated humoral immune dysfunction.

Eye contact helps infants ‘tune in’ to speaker’s brainwaves and learn language

Infants use eye contact with speakers to work out what to pay attention to and synchronize their brainwaves, helping them learn language, scientists in Cambridge and Singapore have shown.

Infants are surrounded by a vast range of stimuli that compete for their attention—sights, sounds and voices—and must somehow work out which things are worth paying attention to and learning from. To do this, they often rely on social cues—eye contact, “baby talk” or someone calling their name, for example—but how this helps with learning is not clear.

Victoria Leong and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, have previously shown that when an infant and adult make eye contact, their brainwaves synchronize with each other.

PRX Intelligence publishes its first papers

The American Physical Society’s newest highly selective, open access journal, PRX Intelligence, has published its inaugural papers. The studies demonstrate how artificial intelligence and machine learning methods can be used to advance scientific knowledge and capabilities across the physical sciences — from neural networks that streamline molecular simulations to data-driven learning schemes that accelerate quantum embedding workflows.

As AI and machine learning transform the physical sciences, PRX Intelligence is designed to provide a multidisciplinary platform for research pioneering the development and application of these approaches. Building on the foundation of Physical Review X, the journal publishes open access articles expected to have substantial and lasting impact. It welcomes studies that apply AI and machine learning across theory, simulation, and experimentation in physics and related fields — including computer science, mathematics, engineering, materials science, chemistry, biology, and earth and environmental sciences. Relevant topics include discovery and synthesis, physics-informed learning, data-driven approaches, machine learning pipelines for observational platforms, and more. Articles have flexible formats and lengths and may include research papers, perspectives, roadmaps, tutorials, and more.

PRX Intelligence will waive article publication charges for manuscripts submitted or transferred before Jan. 1, 2027. And like all other APS journals, it will always waive these charges for researchers in low-and middle-income countries. Sign up for email updates to keep up with the latest news from the journal.

Earth’s Inner Core Could Be Full Of Extreme Hydrogen Unlike Anything on The Surface

The Earth is akin to a rocky, molten-in-the-middle nesting doll – or perhaps a rotting, soft-centered onion, though the latter analogy affords our majestic planet much less dignity.

Although only several handfuls (39 fingers’ worth, to be exact) of people have alighted on the ocean’s deepest depths or upon the surface of the Moon, there’s one relatively nearby alien environment that no human will ever personally explore: the Earth’s core.

Approaching it, each Earthly layer differs in composition and increases in pressure and temperature, displaying unique material properties that become murkier the deeper we delve.

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