Agentic AI systems are not conscious – not even maybe.
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Caltech robot makes history by building a structure in space
For the first time, a robot has successfully assembled part of a structure in space without astronauts, demonstrating a technology that could dramatically change how large spacecraft and scientific instruments are built.
The robotic system was developed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It is part of DARPA’s Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program, an initiative exploring ways to manufacture and assemble enormous structures directly in space.
Rather than relying on astronauts to connect individual pieces, the robot uses an automated arm to retrieve structural tubes and connecting joints from nearby storage dispensers. It then joins the components into repeating sections, called bays, that form a larger supporting framework known as a truss.
The fastest levitated spinning magnet ever made might help physicists search for dark matter
Tiny levitated magnets are able to avoid contact friction, making them useful for detecting extremely weak forces and magnetic fields and acting as ultralow-noise quantum sensors and precision measurement tools. Combining levitation with extreme cold further reduces unwanted motion that can make faint signals hard to detect.
Spinning magnets have even better magnetic sensitivity, but levitated micromagnet experiments have so far mainly studied back-and-forth motion, rather than continuous spinning. And experiments with spinning magnets have thus far stayed in the macroscopic realm, with magnets around half a millimeter in diameter.
But now, researchers report the first experiments with a levitated spinning micromagnet, and this tiny magnet is much faster than the macroscopic version. The new study, published in Science Advances, describes how this microscopic rotor achieved record-breaking rotational speed and how it’s already helping in the search for dark matter particles.
Fabric molds could bring material-saving concrete beams within reach
Topology optimization is a computer design method that can help engineers design beams using reduced amounts of concrete and steel. But those intricate shapes produced from the tool are often too complex or expensive to pour into conventional rigid molds. The few that have been built have mostly relied on specialized equipment, such as concrete 3D printers or machine-carved molds, equipment that is out of reach in regions where new construction is expected to grow.
Now, MIT engineers have shown that highly efficient beams can be cast in something more accessible: sewn fabric. In a paper published in the Journal of Building Engineering, the team designed and built a 3-meter (about 10-foot) test beam using fabric molds created through an automated pattern-making process. Compared with a conventional beam designed to carry the same weight, the optimized beam used about one-third as much concrete and half as much steel reinforcement. When tested, its measured response was within about 2% of what the team’s computer model predicted.
Fabric formwork, in which concrete is poured into a mold made of textile, has been explored for years to create beams that vary in depth, rather than the rectangular shapes common in construction. But because fabric deforms under the weight of wet concrete, that flexibility has made the final shape hard to predict.
A single AI model simulates the behavior of many substances, from sliding sand to folding proteins
Today, a scientist who wants to simulate a physical process must pick the right tool for that one job, such as a solver built for flowing water or another designed to model the way a protein folds. Each one is hand-coded around the specific equations that dictate how that process behaves.
Researchers at MIT, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and elsewhere have now replaced that patchwork with a single deep-learning system, called WorldParticle, that could help engineers model different physical phenomena, from sliding sand to folding proteins, with one unified artificial intelligence architecture.
Scientists and engineers could use this system to model processes that typically require separate simulators, such as a fluid sloshing against a deformable solid. This could offer a faster, more accurate way to simulate how sloshing oil might impact an elastic valve in a storage tank, for instance. It could also help engineers study where and how granular materials, like sand or soil, could move when a soft robot touches them.
α-Ketoglutarate Promotes Hepatic Steatosis by Enhancing Cidec Stability via Lactylation–Ubiquitination Crosstalk
(AKG), a key tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, is widely consumed as a dietary supplement by healthy individuals for its perceived anti-aging and performance-enhancing benefits. While its antidiabetic and anti-obesity effects have been reported under pathological conditions, the safety profile and mechanisms of long-term AKG intake in healthy animals remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that long-term AKG intake via food or drinking water markedly elevates hepatic triglyceride levels and induces steatosis in healthy mice by suppressing adipose triglyceride lipase (Atgl) activity. The lipid-droplet-associated protein, cell death-inducing DNA fragmentation factor 45-like effector C (Cidec), is an inhibitor of Atgl. We find that AKG stabilizes Cidec by attenuating tripartite-motif protein 21-mediated ubiquitination.
Magnetic fields can revive intracellular transport in ALS
A study led by cell biologist Dr. Arun Pal at the HZDR, in collaboration with research partners in Dresden and Rostock, has found that electromagnetic alternating fields can partially reverse key pathological changes in human nerve cells. The finding has been published in the journal Cells.
In cell cultures of human motor neurons derived from ALS patients, electromagnetic stimulation improved the transport of mitochondria and lysosomes along axons and reactivated processes involved in repairing DNA damage. At the same time, the activity of thousands of genes changed. This research opens up new perspectives for nonpharmacological therapeutic approaches.
In healthy individuals, so-called motor neurons—specialized nerve cells located in the cerebral cortex, brainstem and spinal cord—send signals to skeletal muscles, thereby triggering and controlling movement. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), these neurons become severely damaged and progressively lose their ability to transmit signals. As a result, muscles no longer receive the instructions they need to function and gradually waste away. Problems affecting the arms and legs are often among the first symptoms, although some patients initially develop speech or swallowing difficulties.
How Cancer Cells Enter Senescence After Chemotherapy
Researchers identified molecular switches that push cancer cells into senescence and evade chemotherapy, offering potential targets to improve cancer treatment.
Vasomechanic treatment is associated with increased efflux of human brain proteins
et al. demonstrate a vasomechanic intervention to increase the efflux of soluble human brain proteins, including Aβ, into venous sinuses. The study shows how standard neuroimaging can monitor brain fluid dynamics during preventive efforts targeting proteinopathies such as Alzheimer’s disease.