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Modern brain–computer interfaces (BCI), utilizing electroencephalograms for bidirectional human–machine communication, face significant limitations from movement-vulnerable rigid sensors, inconsistent skin–electrode impedance, and bulky electronics, diminishing the system’s continuous use and portability. Here, we introduce motion artifact–controlled micro–brain sensors between hair strands, enabling ultralow impedance density on skin contact for long-term usable, persistent BCI with augmented reality (AR). An array of low-profile microstructured electrodes with a highly conductive polymer is seamlessly inserted into the space between hair follicles, offering high-fidelity neural signal capture for up to 12 h while maintaining the lowest contact impedance density (0.03 kΩ·cm−2) among reported articles. Implemented wireless BCI, detecting steady-state visually evoked potentials, offers 96.4% accuracy in signal classification with a train-free algorithm even during the subject’s excessive motions, including standing, walking, and running. A demonstration captures this system’s capability, showing AR-based video calling with hands-free controls using brain signals, transforming digital communication. Collectively, this research highlights the pivotal role of integrated sensors and flexible electronics technology in advancing BCI’s applications for interactive digital environments.

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To understand superconductors, researchers explore their behavior at the limits of superconductivity, such as at high temperature or under strong magnetic field. New experiments investigate superconductivity at the limits of thickness, finding unexpected vortex behavior in ultrathin films [1]. Using a high-resolution magnetic imaging technique, Nofar Fridman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and colleagues measured vortex sizes in superconducting samples of various thicknesses and found larger-than predicted vortices in films made up of six or fewer atomic layers. The results suggest that thin superconductors host two superconducting states: one in the bulk of the material, the other confined to the surface layers. This behavior challenges our present understanding of how superconductors behave.

When a superconductor is exposed to an external magnetic field, it generates electrical screening currents, which generate a counter magnetic field, explains team member Yonathan Anahory from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The net effect is the external field lines bend around the superconductor without penetrating the material.

However, the situation changes in thin superconducting films, where the material’s ability to completely expel magnetic fields is weakened. Instead of being fully excluded, the field enters the film through narrow columns, called vortices, around which superconducting screening currents flow. Inside each vortex, there is exactly one quantum of magnetic flux.

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A powerful framework allows scientists to understand and classify joint quantum measurements—procedures essential for many quantum technologies.

Two key, yet enigmatic, aspects of quantum physics are entanglement and the act of measuring a quantum system. These elements combine in unique ways in so-called joint measurements, where multiple systems are simultaneously measured in a way that accounts for their entanglement. Joint measurements are valuable because they can extract hidden information about the combined state of the systems. Remarkably, the outcome of a joint measurement can be replicated even if the systems are kept far apart, which has many practical benefits. Such “localization” procedures require local operations to be performed on each system and some extra entanglement to be shared beforehand. Now Jef Pauwels and colleagues at the University of Geneva have investigated how much of this shared entanglement is needed to localize a given joint measurement [1].

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Fiber optic cable deployed on a Swiss glacier has detected the seismic signals of crevasses opening in the ice, confirming that the technology could be useful in monitoring such icequakes, according to a report at the Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting.

Crevassing is important to the stability of glaciers, especially as they offer a pathway for meltwater to reach the rocky glacier bed to speed up the glacier’s movement and enhance melting. The harsh environment of a crevassed glacier, however, makes it difficult to place traditional seismic instruments to measure icequakes.

The source of seismic signals in an icequake differs from the shear forces of a tectonic earthquake or the explosive source of a chemical or nuclear detonation, explained Tom Hudson of ETH Zürich. A crevasse is a “crack source, where you have pure opening of a fracture just in one direction,” he said.

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Scientists have unveiled a new food source designed to sustain honey bee colonies indefinitely without natural pollen.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research from Washington State University and APIX Biosciences NV in Wingene, Belgium, details successful trials where nutritionally stressed colonies, deployed for commercial crop pollination in Washington state, thrived on the new food source.

This innovation, which resembles the man-made diets fed to livestock and pets all their lives, contains all the nutrients bees need. It’s expected to become a potent strategy for combating the escalating rates of colony collapse and safeguarding global food supplies reliant on bee pollination.

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