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Quantum friction causes light to slow down nanoworld movements

A research team in Bochum, Germany has unexpectedly found that light can slow down movements in the nanoworld. This is due to quantum friction, a phenomenon that has been poorly understood until now. The findings are published in the journal Nature.

Light is expected to heat particles up or set them in motion. However, the interdisciplinary team at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, has now proven the opposite. In aqueous solution, fluorescent carbon nanotubes move much slower once they are irradiated with light. During this process, the diffusion constant decreases with light intensity, an effect linked to direct coupling between electrons in the solid and the molecules of the liquid.

“This discovery of light-induced quantum friction fundamentally changes our understanding of interfacial processes,” says researcher Sebastian Kruss, who led the work with Marialore Sulpizi and Martina Havenith.

Making CAR T Cells Safer

Research from CCR scientists points toward a strategy for making chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, the cell-based immunotherapy that has revolutionized the treatment of some blood cancers, safer and more effective for treating solid tumors.

The study, led by Grégoire Altan-Bonnet, Ph.D., Deputy Chief of the Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Naomi Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Investigator in the Pediatric Oncology Branch, and Paul François, Ph.D., at the University of Montréal, shows how adding certain receptors to CAR T cells can prevent the cells from attacking healthy tissue while simultaneously enhancing their activity against cancer cells. The findings appeared April 10, 2025, in Cell.

CAR T-cell therapy reprograms patients’ immune cells to be effective cancer killers using genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that are added to their T cells. CARs are designed to recognize molecules on the surface of cancer cells called antigens, which can usually be found on some healthy cells, too. This leads to manageable side effects for patients with blood cancer, but when CAR T cells designed to target solid tumors attack healthy tissue, the effects can be severe.

The Big Bang miracle

We think of our accounts of the universe and cosmology as well-founded and value-free. The Big Bang theory is surely one of those. But critics argue this is not the case. It was first put forward by a Catholic priest and physicist, Georges Lemaître, who initially called it the ‘hypothesis of the primeval atom’ — the primeval atom being created by God. As the originator of cosmic inflation theory, Alan Guth, points out the Big Bang says nothing about what banged, why it banged, or what happened before it banged.

Genomes from Oceania offer new clues to human evolution

A new Yale-led study provides one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses to date of genetic variation in human populations in Oceania, filling a major gap in representation in genomics research. Despite harboring remarkable diversity, populations in this vast region in the South Pacific historically have been overlooked in global human genetic studies, which have often focused largely on people of European descent, researchers say. The study is published in the journal Science.

“The drastic underrepresentation of Oceanians limits our understanding of human evolution and could exacerbate health inequalities as genomic research is used to develop novel medical treatments,” said lead author Serena Tucci, assistant professor of anthropology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator of the Yale Human Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory. “To fill that gap, my research team embarked on a large-scale project to expand what is known about human genetic variation, including genetic variants inherited from extinct hominins.”

The work shows how the genes that ancient humans acquired after mating with extinct hominins continue to shape the biology, health and survival of our species today.

One-way quantum synchronization could make quantum computers more reliable

Scientists at RIKEN have proposed a new way to make quantum systems synchronize in only one direction—like a one-way street for sound particles known as phonons. The breakthrough combines two quantum effects to create a form of one-way quantum synchronization that remains surprisingly stable even when exposed to manufacturing flaws and environmental noise, two major obstacles that have long hindered real-world quantum technologies.

One photon, two reactions—new catalyst converts CO₂ and biowaste simultaneously

Researchers have developed a solar-driven catalyst material that harnesses the energy of a single photon to reduce carbon dioxide and oxidize organic waste at the same time, producing valuable chemicals in both reactions.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have created two catalyst materials that, when coupled together within the same reactor, can simultaneously convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) into a valuable chemical and biomass-derived feedstock into building blocks for sustainable plastics, driven solely by solar light. The research has been published in Communications Materials.

A bias-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactor consists of two connected compartments, each containing the newly developed catalysts. When sunlight shines on one compartment, each photon drives the oxidation of a biowaste molecule. The electron released during this process is then transferred to the second compartment, where it reduces CO₂ to formate.

Peering into the Milky Way’s far side, Roman could unveil 100,000 worlds

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to make a major leap in the hunt for worlds outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. Scientists expect the mission to reveal around 100,000 worlds—a staggering leap compared to the nearly 6,300 found so far thanks to NASA missions working in tandem with other observatories. And Roman will primarily find them in underexplored regions of the Milky Way.

“Our galaxy is home to a variety of different environments, but when it comes to hunting for exoplanets, we’ve really only explored one: our own neighborhood,” said Elisa Quintana, an exoplanet researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Quintana leads a team focused on building software and simulations to help prepare for Roman’s exoplanet transit observations. “Roman will extend the search far enough to encompass other galactic habitats, which could help us learn how planet formation varies across different regions of the Milky Way.”

Most known exoplanets are located within a couple thousand light-years of Earth. But one of Roman’s core surveys will peer all the way through the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the central hub where stars are packed more densely than anywhere else, to the fringes of the far side of the galaxy.

Pea-size liquid-metal pump runs robot butterfly on under 0.1 V

Engineers have invented an ingenious liquid-metal pump that could make future soft robotics and wearable devices much more portable and agile. The innovation, led by the University of Bristol and published in the journal Nature Communications, presents a low-voltage power source with the potential to transform robotic systems for a wide range of applications, from robotic legs to haptic gloves used in medical and industrial settings.

The researchers have demonstrated the varied uses of this innovative technique by creating three prototypes including robotic butterfly wings, a color-changing bracelet, and a haptic fingertip pouch connected to an adjustable wristband which squeezes to simulate natural tactile sensations.w.

Current technologies are powered by bulky compressors or rigid pumps, which limit mobility and flexibility. The small lightweight soft pump—the size of a pea—is powered by liquid metal, which converts electrical energy into fluid motion, creating an efficient, compact power source for next-generation soft robots and adaptive materials such as medical devices and wearable interfaces for virtual reality.

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