An AI model accurately estimates quantities that determine a material’s response to electric fields—at a fraction of the usual computational cost.
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Moon’s thick crust could amplify elusive gravitational-wave signals
Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are produced when massive objects in the cosmos accelerate or collide. By detecting these waves, astrophysicists can study various cosmic events, including black hole mergers, neutron star collisions and the early evolution of the universe.
There are several gravitational-wave observatories in different geographic regions worldwide. While these detectors are highly sensitive to the tiny changes associated with ripples in spacetime, they cannot yet detect waves across all frequency ranges.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University recently revisited the possibility of using the moon to amplify gravitational waves with frequencies between 0.01 and 1 hertz (Hz), a range that remains largely inaccessible to current gravitational-wave detectors.
Brain-inspired AI is capable of flexible planning and problem-solving while using far less energy
The capabilities of large AI systems are constantly improving, but they consume a great deal of energy during training and operation. The human brain, by contrast, is extremely energy-efficient: It requires only around 20 watts.
Researchers at Graz University of Technology, in collaboration with international partners, have developed a novel brain-inspired AI model that can plan flexibly and solve complex problems. In doing so, it consumes significantly less energy than multilayer neural networks or large language models. The study is published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.
“The brain works in a completely different way from today’s AI systems,” says Wolfgang Maass from the Institute of Machine Learning and Neural Computation at Graz University of Technology. “We are trying to translate the way it works into algorithms and apply them to AI systems.”
A way to read quantum bits faster and with less hardware
Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way from conventional computers, using quantum bits, or qubits, that can exist in multiple states at once. This could allow them to tackle problems beyond the reach of today’s machines, from simulating new materials to optimizing complex systems.
But to extract useful results from a quantum processor, researchers must reliably measure the state of each qubit, a task that remains one of the main bottlenecks in the field.
One of the leading approaches to building quantum computers uses superconducting circuits that carry current without resistance at extremely low temperatures.
Scientists demonstrate transition between strong and weak coupling regimes in a polariton microcavity
Researchers from Skoltech, together with colleagues from the N.D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry and Westlake University, have experimentally demonstrated how the operating regime of a polariton laser changes with a gradual increase in cavity thickness.
They demonstrated a smooth transition between strong and weak coupling regimes within a single structure in the visible spectral range using the organic copolymer MeLPPP. The study opens opportunities for developing ultrafast optical transistors and room-temperature coherent light sources. The results of the study have been published in the journal Nanophotonics.
A polariton is a quasiparticle representing a hybrid of light and matter, formed through the interaction of photons with a semiconductor structure. When a critical density of polaritons in the sample is reached, their wave functions synchronize, and the quasiparticles relax to the lowest-energy state, forming a polariton condensate—a coherent macroscopic state and a source of coherent light.
Nanoreactor Mimics Living Cells To Supercharge Artificial Photosynthesis
A biomimetic nanoreactor combines cellular design principles to produce hydrogen peroxide efficiently under visible light.
Inside a hollow nanoscale structure, researchers have recreated two strategies that living cells use to control chemical reactions. The resulting CdS@polydopamine nanoreactor offers a synthetic way to reproduce some of the organization and efficiency found in biological systems.
The work was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Can Li of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), led the research with Jian Liu’s group at Inner Mongolia University.
New Semiconductor Device Turns Light Into a Directed Current
The light-controlled electron current could open new paths for sensing, telecommunications, and other advanced technologies.
A pair of laser beams can now send electrons through a semiconductor in a chosen direction without any external electrical power. Researchers at the University of Michigan built the device to explore a previously unobserved physical effect and demonstrate that light alone can both generate and steer an electronic current.
The work could eventually support technologies that combine optics and electronics, including sensing, imaging, and telecommunications. By improving how signals move within and between devices, the effect may also allow those signals to carry more information.
Brain Scans Reveal Which Disorders May Accelerate Brain Aging
Accelerated brain aging was associated with dementia, addiction, and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.
A brain scan can make a person’s brain appear older or younger than their actual age. Across tens of thousands of scans, researchers found that dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction, and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia were associated with older-appearing brains, although each condition showed a different anatomical pattern.
The findings were reported in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Shile Qi of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China and colleagues.