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XXP instrument back online, marking a key milestone in high-energy upgrade to SLAC’s X-ray laser

XPP, the X-ray Pump Probe instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is back online and welcoming researchers after a complete rebuild. The overhaul has readied XPP for the significant increase in X-ray output expected from the ongoing high-energy upgrade to LCLS at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS is a pioneering X-ray free-electron laser facility used by scientists around the world to capture ultrafast snapshots of natural processes.

“Completing the XPP rebuild on-time and on-budget is a key milestone for the high-energy upgrade effort, and we’re thrilled that the instrument is back to supporting researchers from around the world,” said John Hogan, project director for the LCLS high-energy upgrade. “This was a huge team effort, involving partners across SLAC’s engineering, science and project teams.”

Since its 2010 debut, XPP has enabled groundbreaking research across materials science—from quantum information storage to material dynamics across timescales—as well as studies in chemistry, physics and bioscience. Researchers have leveraged XPP to pioneer X-ray optics technologies, including cavity-based X-ray oscillators that are shaping future X-ray free-electron laser facilities.

Superconducting quantum circuit simulates proton tunneling phenomenon in chemical systems

Researchers at Yale, Google, and the University of California-Santa Barbara have created a device that simulates the quantum “tunneling” behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything from photosynthesis to the formation of human DNA.

The advance has the potential to aid researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the development of new solar fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials. It is described in a new study in the journal PRX Quantum.

Quantum tunneling is a mechanism by which particles, such as electrons or protons, pass through an energy barrier they should not have sufficient energy to cross.

Gene circuits reshape DNA folding and affect how genes are expressed, study finds

When a gene is turned on in a cell, it creates a ripple effect along the DNA strand, changing the physical structure of the strand. A new study by MIT researchers, appearing in Science, shows that these ripples can stimulate or suppress neighboring genes. These effects, which result from the winding or unwinding of neighboring DNA, are determined by the order of genes along a strand of DNA. Genes upstream of the active gene are usually turned up, while those downstream are inhibited.

The new findings offer guidance that could make it easier to control the output of synthetic gene circuits. By altering the relative ordering and arrangement of genes (gene syntax), researchers could create circuits that synergize to maximize their output, or that alternate the output of two different genes.

“This is really exciting because we can coordinate gene expression in ways that just weren’t possible before,” says Katie Galloway, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at MIT. “Syntax will be really useful for dynamic circuits. Now we have the ability to select not only the biochemistry of circuits, but also the physical design to support dynamics.”

Why Doctors Say OpenEvidence Is A ‘Game Changer’

What is Open Evidence? It is a chatbot specialized for doctors to use to help speed up their work. 50 percent of all American doctors so far are signed up for it.

Chatbots, when utilized properly have great potential to help in the field.


From oncology to cardiology, AI platform OpenEvidence is helping physicians keep pace with medical breakthroughs while focusing on their patients. The software is used by around half of all American doctors, and is proving a game changer for physicians.
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Groove Quantum Demonstrates 18-Qubit Spin Processor and Secures Funding

PRESS RELEASE — Groove Quantum today announced it has raised €16 million in combined funding and demonstrated an 18-qubit semiconductor spin-qubit processor, the largest of its kind ever built. The result marks a step beyond small-scale laboratory prototypes toward a quantum processor architecture designed for large-scale integration. The combined funding consists of €10 million in equity and €6 million in grants. The equity seed round is co-led by Innovation Industries, a leading European deep tech fund, and 55 North, the world’s largest pure-play quantum fund, with participation from Verve Ventures and the European Innovation Council Fund. Additional funding is provided by grants from the EIC Accelerator programme and JU Chips Act funding programme further underscores institutional confidence in Groove’s approach.

Groove will use the capital to scale qubit count exponentially and to begin manufacturing its processors at established semiconductor foundries.

Quantum computers create a fundamentally new way of computing. This opens the door to solving complex challenges that would take today’s most powerful supercomputers impractically long to address, like the discovery of new medicines, and the design of advanced materials for renewable energy – challenges that are highly important and have a profoundly positive impact on humanity.

Spatial transcriptomics from pancreas and local draining lymph node tissue reveals a lymphotoxin-β signature in human type 1 diabetes

Medina-Serpas et al. provide a public spatial transcriptomic atlas of pancreas and pLN comprising defined stages of human T1D. Cross-platform validation revealed pancreatic inflammation and elevated lymphotoxin-β expression as a signature of T1D, persistent across tissues. These data support therapeutic targeting of the lymphotoxin/TNF pathway in T1D.

These 80-year-olds have the memory of 50-year-olds. Scientists now know why

These individuals consistently perform on memory tests at levels similar to people at least 30 years younger, challenging the long-standing belief that cognitive decline is unavoidable with age.

Over decades of research, scientists have noticed some lifestyle and personality traits that set SuperAgers apart from their peers, including being highly social and outgoing. Still, the most surprising discoveries have come from examining their brains. “It’s really what we’ve found in their brains that’s been so earth-shattering for us,” said Dr. Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

By identifying both biological and behavioral patterns linked to SuperAging, researchers hope to develop new approaches to strengthen cognitive resilience and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

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