Scientists made a breakthrough discovery about the physics of Hawking radiation by making a miniature black hole out of light in the laboratory.
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Structural shifts and constraints in animalbased neuroscience
Animal models have long been central to neuroscience, providing direct experimental access to neural processes underlying perception, action, cognition, and disease. Over the past century, work in non-human primates (NHPs), rodents, and other species has established key principles of neural organization and behavior and has supported much of translational neuroscience. However, the institutional and material conditions that sustain animal-based research are now changing in fundamental ways. Ethical and regulatory requirements have intensified, costs and approval timelines have increased, and global supply chains, particularly for NHPs, have become fragile. In parallel, advances in human neuroscience, stem-cell-derived systems, and computational approaches have matured to the point that they challenge the historical reliance on animals for many classes of questions. These forces are not eliminating animal research, but they are reshaping the conditions under which it remains feasible, competitive, and scientifically justified. In this Perspective, we examine how these converging pressures are reconfiguring animal-based neuroscience. We review long-term trends in animal use and accessibility, highlighting species-specific constraints and emerging geopolitical asymmetries. We then analyze the growing role of alternative and complementary platforms, including human brain organoids, genetically engineered rodents, small primates, and ‘human-centric’ neurophysiological and imaging approaches, emphasizing both their strengths and limitations. Finally, we discuss the implications of this diversification for research planning, training, and scientific organization. We argue that the future of neuroscience will be defined not by the disappearance of animal models, but by their integration into hybrid experimental frameworks that preserve mechanistic rigor while adapting to evolving scientific and societal constraints.
Keywords: animal models; neuroscience methodology; alternative experimental platforms; translational validity; research ethics and regulation.
IWMT and Human Consciousness Hypothesis — Adam Safron, Victoria Klimaj and Zahra Sheikhbahaee
“IWMT and Human Consciousness Hypothesis”
A talk by Adam Safron, Victoria Klimaj and Zahra Sheikhbahaee recorded live at the AAAI 2026 conference.
Ceperognastat in Early Symptomatic Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial
This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial of ceperognastat in participants with early symptomatic AD was conducted at 72 centers in Australia, Canada, Japan, Poland, and the US from September 2021 to July 2025. The study adhered to the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki20 and other international guidelines. All participants provided written, informed consent before any study-related procedures. The study followed the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) reporting guideline.21 The protocol was approved by an ethics committee at each participating center, and unblinded safety data were reviewed approximately every 3 months by an independent unblinded external data and safety monitoring committee. Participants were compensated for study participation. The study protocol and statistical analysis plan are provided in Supplements 1 and 2, respectively.
Eligible participants were aged 60 to 85 years and had a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 22 to 30, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) Global Score of 0.5 or 1 with a memory box score greater than or equal to 0.5, elevated plasma level of tau phosphorylated at residue 217 (p-tau217), and evidence of elevated brain tau levels by flortaucipir F18 positron emission tomography (PET) scan at the time of screening. Demographic information, including race and ethnicity, was collected to allow for characterization of potential differences in treatment effects by demographic characteristic. Race and ethnicity were self-reported by participants based on fixed categories. All study participants and study staff were blinded to treatment assignment during the treatment phase.
17 Definitions of the Technological Singularity
Everyone talks about the #Singularity. Almost nobody agrees on what it actually means.
Fourteen years ago, I stopped and collected the definitions. Not two or three. Seventeen of them. Turing. Von Neumann. I.J. Good. Vinge. Kurzweil. Bostrom. Plus a few names most people have never heard.
I expected them to line up. They didn’t. Some contradict each other outright. The one word we’ve built entire movements, companies, and fortunes on turns out to mean wildly different things depending on who is holding it.
And I wrote this before ChatGPT. Before the current #AI gold rush. Before “superintelligence” became a line in quarterly earnings calls.
Read all seventeen, then tell me which one you would bet your future on. Or give me an eighteenth.
Stealth drone spins so fast that it disappears
A drone that spins 25 times a second can avoid being spotted by becoming nothing more than a vague blur – though the creators admit that it can still be easily heard