Sequential childhood or early adulthood screening for familial hypercholesterolemia may lower lifetime CVD risk, but is unlikely to be cost-effective unless ongoing follow-up for elevated cholesterol is widely implemented.
This study uses a computer model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of sequential familial hypercholesterolemia screening at age 10 or 18 years using 3 low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) thresholds.
Bird Flu 2026
Researchers analyzed 17,500 genomes using Bayesian phylodynamics. Mapped origin, spread, and evolutionary timeline with precision.
The infrastructure failure: Of 1,722 D1.1 sequences, 9% have complete metadata (date + location).
We’re tracking a super-spreader blind.
#OpenScience #DataScience
“Avian Flu in North America: The D1.1 Evolutionary Leap” explores the emergence of a game-changing H5N1 virus variant that has fundamentally altered North America’s disease landscape since mid-2024. Through accessible explanation of cutting-edge genomic science, this episode reveals how the D1.1 genotype achieved unprecedented spread, infected all seven documented host categories including humans, and represents a major evolutionary shift. The podcast examines the massive computational effort behind tracking viral evolution, exposes critical gaps in our surveillance infrastructure, and confronts a paradigm-shifting reality: the Americas have become a primary engine of H5N1 evolution, reversing decades of global health assumptions.
A team of engineers has made major strides in generating the tiniest earthquakes imaginable. The team’s device, known as a surface acoustic wave phonon laser, could one day help scientists make more sophisticated versions of chips in cellphones and other wireless devices—potentially making those tools smaller, faster and more efficient.
The study was conducted by Matt Eichenfield, an incoming faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder, and scientists from the University of Arizona and Sandia National Laboratories. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.
The new technology utilizes a phenomenon known as surface acoustic waves, or SAWs act a little like soundwaves, but, as their name suggests, they travel only on the top layer of a material.
In an astonishing talk and tech demo, neurotechnologist Conor Russomanno shares his work building brain-computer interfaces that could enable us to control the external world with our minds. He discusses the quickly advancing possibilities of this field — including the promise of a \.
The Politecnico di Milano has created the first integrated and fully tunable device based on spin waves, opening up new possibilities for the telecommunications of the future, far beyond current 5G and 6G standards. The study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, was conducted by a research group led by Riccardo Bertacco of the Department of Physics of the Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Philipp Pirro of Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität and Silvia Tacchi of Istituto Officina dei Materiali—CNR-IOM.
Magnonics is an emerging technology that uses spin waves —collective excitations of electronic spins in magnetic materials—as an alternative to electrical signals. The spread of this technology has been restricted until now by the need for an external magnetic field, which has prevented it being incorporated into chips.
The new device developed at the Politecnico overcomes this hurdle: it is miniaturized (100 × 150 square micrometers, so much smaller than current radiofrequency signal processing devices based on acoustic waves); it is fully integrated on silicon—and therefore compatible with existing electronic platforms, and it functions without external magnets, thanks to an innovative combination of permanent SmCo micromagnets and magnetic flux concentrators.
Researchers have designed a new device that can efficiently create multiple frequency-entangled photons, a feat that cannot be achieved with today’s optical devices. The new approach could open a path to more powerful quantum communication and computing technologies.
“Entangling particles efficiently is a critical capability for unlocking the full power of quantum technologies—whether to accelerate computations, surpass fundamental limits in precision measurement, or guarantee unbreakable security using the laws of quantum physics,” said Nicolas Fabre from Telecom Paris at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
“Photons are ideal because they can travel long distances through optical fibers or free space; however, there hasn’t been a way to efficiently generate frequency entanglement between more than two photons.”
For 21 years, between 1999 and 2020, millions of people worldwide loaned UC Berkeley scientists their computers to search for signs of advanced civilizations in our galaxy.
The project—called SETI@home, after the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)—generated a loyal following eager to participate in one of the most popular crowd-sourced projects in the early days of the internet. They downloaded the SETI@home software to their home computers and allowed it to analyze data recorded at the now-defunct Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to find unusual radio signals from space.
All told, these computations produced 12 billion detections— momentary blips of energy at a particular frequency coming from a particular point in the sky, according to computer scientist and project co-founder David Anderson.
Researchers at the University of Konstanz have developed a gentle, contact-free method to collect liquids and remove them from microscopic surface structures. The method uses vapor condensation to generate surface currents that transport droplets off surfaces.
Many modern technologies rely on microscopic elements, such as microchips in smartphones. The manufacturing process for these elements requires their surfaces to be exposed to different types of liquids that must be completely removed afterward.
A research team led by Stefan Karpitschka from the University of Konstanz has now developed a new method that uses surface tension to efficiently transport these liquids off the finished product. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“If we could explore that ocean with a remote-control submarine, we predict we wouldn’t see any new fractures, active volcanoes or plumes of hot water on the seafloor,” said Dr. Paul Byrne.
Does Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, contain the conditions for life as we know it? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as a team of scientists from the United States and Canada investigated the likelihood of Europa’s subsurface ocean having the right conditions for life to exist. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the necessary conditions for where life could exist, along with developing the methods for understanding them.
For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to simulate potential tectonic activity on the seafloor of Europa’s subsurface ocean. The reason for studying tectonic activity on Europa is because this geological process is a key driver of life both existing and thriving on Earth. This is because plate tectonics are responsible for recycling nutrients to and from the Earth’s interior as it recycles materials like rocks and dust. This also enables the flow of water from the Earth’s interior to the seafloor. The researchers examined a myriad of mechanisms, including tidal forces, mantle convection, global contraction, and water-rock interactions (serpentinization).
In the end, the researchers found that Europa potentially does not exhibit these mechanisms to enable plate tectonics to be produced on Europa. They conclude that the liquid water making its way to the seafloor only occurs in the first few hundred feet, whereas plate tectonics occur over hundreds of miles. Finally, they conclude that is Europa does have life, they plate tectonics isn’t responsible for it.
“I knew Mars had some effect on Earth, but I assumed it was tiny,” said Dr. Stephen Kane.
How does Mars influence Earth’s climate cycles? This is what a recent study published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific hopes to address as a trio of researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia investigated how the gravitational interactions between Earth and Mars help alter the former’s climate evolution. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand how external processes influence planetary habitability and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to simulate Earth Milankovitch cycles, which are changes in Earth’s eccentricity (orbit shape), obliquity (axial tilt), and precession (axial wobble) over hundreds of thousands of years. Specifically, the researchers aspired to ascertain how gravitational interactions with Mars could influence these cycles, including climate evolution like ice ages.
In the end, the researchers found that Mars not only influences Earth’s orbital patterns and behavior, but that the solar system’s architecture influences each other’s orbital patterns, and this could have implications for searching for Earth-like exoplanets. This comes despite Mars being approximately half the size of Earth.