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Category: computing – Page 11

Sleep loss rewires the brain for cravings and weight gain. A neurologist explains the science behind the cycle

You stayed up too late scrolling through your phone, answering emails or watching just one more episode. The next morning, you feel groggy and irritable. That sugary pastry or greasy breakfast sandwich suddenly looks more appealing than your usual yogurt and berries. By the afternoon, chips or candy from the break room call your name. This isn’t just about willpower. Your brain, short on rest, is nudging you toward quick, high-calorie fixes.

There is a reason why this cycle repeats itself so predictably. Research shows that insufficient sleep disrupts hunger signals, weakens self-control, impairs glucose metabolism and increases your risk of weight gain. These changes can occur rapidly, even after a single night of poor sleep, and can become more harmful over time if left unaddressed.

I am a neurologist specializing in sleep science and its impact on health.

Is our universe the ultimate computer?

Whether we are simply characters in an advanced virtual world is a much-debated theory, challenging previous thinking about the universe and our existence.

The possibility that the entire universe is informational in nature and resembles a computational process is a popular theory among a number of well-known figures, including Elon Musk. The thinking comes from within a branch of science known as information physics, which suggests physical reality is actually made up of structured information.

In an article published in AIP Advances and included in the journal’s “Editor’s Picks,” a physicist from the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Melvin Vopson, presents findings which indicate that gravity or is the result of a computational process within the universe.

Simulation reveals emergence of jet from binary neutron star merger followed by black hole formation

Binary neutron star mergers, cosmic collisions between two very dense stellar remnants made up predominantly of neutrons, have been the topic of numerous astrophysics studies due to their fascinating underlying physics and their possible cosmological outcomes. Most previous studies aimed at simulating and better understanding these events relied on computational methods designed to solve Einstein’s equations of general relativity under extreme conditions, such as those that would be present during neutron star mergers.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Chiba University, and Toho University recently performed the longest simulation of binary neutron star mergers to date, utilizing a framework for modeling the interactions between magnetic fields, high-density matter and neutrinos, known as the neutrino-radiation magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) framework.

Their simulation, outlined in Physical Review Letters, reveals the emergence of a magnetically dominated jet from the , followed by the collapse of the binary neutron star system into a black hole.

Quantum computing tackles classical fluid dynamics challenges

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have tested a quantum computing approach to an old challenge: solving classical fluid dynamics problems.

The work is published in the journal Physics of Fluids. The results highlight avenues for further study of ’s potential to aid scientific discovery.

For the test problem, the research team used the Hele-Shaw flow problem—a scenario of two flat, parallel plates extremely close to each other and the flow of liquids and gases between them. The problem, although idealized, offers important applications in real-world problems such as microfluidics, groundwater flow, porous media flow, oil recovery and bioengineering.

The Universe Is ‘Suspiciously’ Like a Computer Simulation, Physicist Says

We have long taken it for granted that gravity is one of the basic forces of nature – one of the invisible threads that keeps the universe stitched together. But suppose that this is not true. Suppose the law of gravity is simply an echo of something more fundamental: a byproduct of the universe operating under a computer-like code.

That is the premise of my latest research, published in the journal AIP Advances. It suggests that gravity is not a mysterious force that attracts objects towards one another, but the product of an informational law of nature that I call the second law of infodynamics.

It is a notion that seems like science fiction – but one that is based in physics and evidence that the universe appears to be operating suspiciously like a computer simulation.

Information Processing via Human Soft Tissue: Soft Tissue Reservoir Computing

Physical reservoir computing refers to the concept of using nonlinear physical systems as computational resources to achieve complex information processing. This approach exploits the intrinsic properties of physical systems such as their nonlinearity and memory to perform computational tasks. Soft biological tissues possess characteristics such as stress-strain nonlinearity and viscoelasticity that satisfy the requirements of physical reservoir computing. This study evaluates the potential of human soft biological tissues as physical reservoirs for information processing. Particularly, it determines the feasibility of using the inherent dynamics of human soft tissues as a physical reservoir to emulate nonlinear dynamic systems. In this concept, the deformation field within the muscle, which is obtained from ultrasound images, represented the state of the reservoir. The findings indicate that the dynamics of human soft tissue have a positive impact on the computational task of emulating nonlinear dynamic systems. Specifically, our system outperformed the simple LR model for the task. Simple LR models based on raw inputs, which do not account for the dynamics of soft tissue, fail to emulate the target dynamical system (relative error on the order of <inline-formula xmlns:mml=“http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML” xmlns:xlink=“http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink”> <tex-math notation=“LaTeX”>$10^{-2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). By contrast, the emulation results obtained using our system closely approximated the target dynamics (relative error on the order of <inline-formula xmlns:mml=“http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML” xmlns:xlink=“http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink”> <tex-math notation=“LaTeX”>$10^{-3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). These results suggest that the soft tissue dynamics contribute to the successful emulation of the nonlinear equation. This study suggests that human soft tissues can be used as a potential computational resource. Soft tissues are found throughout the human body. Therefore, if computational processing is delegated to biological tissues, it could lead to a distributed computation system for human-assisted devices.

Universal framework enables custom 3D point spread functions for advanced imaging

Engineers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have introduced a universal framework for point spread function (PSF) engineering, enabling the synthesis of arbitrary, spatially varying 3D PSFs using diffractive optical processors. The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

This framework allows for advanced imaging capabilities—such as snapshot 3D —without the need for spectral filters, axial scanning, or digital reconstruction.

PSF engineering plays a significant role in modern microscopy, spectroscopy and computational imaging. Conventional techniques typically employ phase masks at the pupil plane, which constrain the complexity and mathematical representation of the achievable PSF structures.

HKUST Scientists Achieve Breakthrough in Light Manipulation Using Gyromagnetic Zero-Index Metamaterials

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)-led research team has adopted gyromagnetic double-zero-index metamaterials (GDZIMs) — a new optical extreme-parameter material – and developed a groundbreaking method to control light using GDZIMs. This discovery could revolutionize fields like optical communications, biomedical imaging, and nanotechnology, enabling advances in integrated photonic chips, high-fidelity optical communication, and quantum light sources.

Published in Nature, the study was co-led by Prof. CHAN Che-Ting, Interim Director of the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study and Chair Professor in the Department of Physics, and Dr. ZHANG Ruoyang, Visiting Scholar in the Department of Physics at HKUST.

World’s first non-silicon 2D computer developed

Silicon is king in the semiconductor technology that underpins smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and more, but its crown may be slipping, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State.

In a world first, they used two-dimensional (2D) materials, which are only an atom thick and retain their properties at that scale, unlike , to develop a computer capable of simple operations.

The development, published in Nature, represents a major leap toward the realization of thinner, faster and more energy-efficient electronics, the researchers said.

New metal design for solid-state batteries enables operation at lower pressures

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from electric cars to laptops to leaf blowers. Despite their widespread adoption, lithium-ion batteries carry limited amounts of energy, and rare overheating can lead to safety concerns. Consequently, for decades, researchers have sought a more reliable battery.

Solid-state batteries are less flammable and can hold more energy, but they often require intense pressure to function. This requirement has made them difficult to use in applications, but new research from Georgia Tech could change that.

The research group of Matthew McDowell, professor and Carter N. Paden Jr. Distinguished Chair in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering, has designed a new metal for solid-state batteries that enables operation at lower pressures. While is often used in these batteries, McDowell’s group discovered that combining lithium with softer metal results in improved performance and novel behavior.