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Category: futurism – Page 20

When darkness fell during the total solar eclipse, zoo animals responded in wildly different ways

Imagine a bright, sunny day suddenly turning dark as a solar eclipse sweeps across the sky. Even though humans have watched and recorded eclipses for thousands of years and now understand the science behind them, experiencing a spell of darkness during the day can still evoke awe and surprise.

A rare total eclipse in 2024, which a significant portion of North America witnessed, created an exciting opportunity for researchers to understand how zoo animals behave during a total solar eclipse. They were curious whether the sudden changes in light and temperature caused by the eclipse would trigger different reactions in various captive species.

Most zoo animals showed very little change in their behavior during the total eclipse, but a few reactions stood out. Japanese macaques, zebras, camels and some birds displayed signs of stress, such as climbing high in trees, stopping their usual activities, becoming more active and showing increased alertness as the eclipse unfolded.

Light reveals transient electronic step behind a hidden state in metal-organic framework

A fleeting photoinduced electronic state and the subsequent formation of a photoinduced hidden state in a metal–organic framework were captured in just 30 femtoseconds by researchers at Science Tokyo, Tohoku University and Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan. By combining ultrafast laser spectroscopy with theoretical analysis, the researchers found that a transient electronic state plays a key role in this process. The findings provide new insights into controlling material properties with light for future applications.

When materials absorb light, they can enter unusual states with properties that differ from their normal behavior. These photoinduced states offer scientists a way to control material properties beyond what can be achieved through heating or cooling. Understanding how such states emerge on ultrafast timescales is essential for designing future photoresponsive materials and advanced optical technologies.

However, the earliest stages of photoinduced state formation can occur on the femtosecond (fs) timescale (a millionth of a billionth of a second), making it extremely difficult to observe and understand the process. To overcome this, a research team led by Assistant Professor Tadahiko Ishikawa from the Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan, along with doctoral student Samiran Banu (currently a Special Postdoctoral Researcher at RIKEN), conducted a study in collaboration with researchers from Tohoku University and Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan.

Arista patches VeloCloud Orchestrator zero-day exploited in attacks

Arista has patched a maximum-severity command injection vulnerability in on-premises VeloCloud Orchestrator deployments that is being actively exploited in attacks.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026–16812, is an unauthenticated OS command injection flaw with severity scores of 10.0, the maximum score that can be given to flaws.

VeloCloud Orchestrator, also known as VCO, is a centralized management platform used to configure, monitor, and manage VeloCloud SD-WAN deployments and associated edge devices.

A common dietary nutrient feeds a gut pathway linked to atrial fibrillation

Researchers linked higher plasma TMAO to prevalent atrial fibrillation in 5,090 people and found that TMAO or choline supplementation accelerated AF onset, progression, atrial remodeling, and electrical dysfunction in mice. Inhibiting gut microbial TMA production lowered circulating TMAO and delayed AF in mice, identifying a potential therapeutic pathway that now requires human testing.

Viagra may reduce cancer metastasis, study shows

Viagra was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, but over the past three decades it has become the world’s best-known therapy for erectile dysfunction. In the future, this blockbuster drug may find yet another use. In a study published recently in Cancer Research, scientists in the lab of professor Ayelet Erez at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, may restrict cancer metastasis through a newly discovered biological mechanism.

The researchers, led by Dr. Yarden Ariav in Erez’s lab, showed that sildenafil limits cancer cells’ ability to use cholesterol, an essential component of cellular membranes. Cholesterol is particularly important for cancer cells seeking to break away from the primary tumor, migrate throughout the body and invade distant organs. When their access to cholesterol is disrupted, these cells have a harder time forming metastases.

Working memory rapidly updates its priorities after distractions, study finds

When humans tackle many everyday tasks, ranging from driving to completing household chores and work assignments, they rely heavily on working memory. This is the brain’s ability to temporarily store and manipulate important information that can help complete a task in the immediate future.

This temporarily stored information can be used to make decisions and plan subsequent actions, such as which supermarket aisle to visit next or where to turn while driving. While many studies have investigated working memory processes, the impact of distractions or unexpected events on these processes remains poorly understood.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin recently conducted a study aimed at better understanding how people respond to distractions while completing tasks. Their findings, published in Communications Psychology, suggest that working memory is highly flexible and can rapidly reprioritize the information it is temporarily holding after an interruption.

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