Two related discoveries detailing nanocrystalline mineral formation and dynamics have broad implications for managing nuclear waste, predicting soil weathering, designing advanced bioproducts and materials and optimizing commercial alumina production.
The two recently published studies combine detailed molecular imaging and molecular modeling to sort out how gibbsite, a common aluminum-containing mineral, forms and dissolves in exquisite detail.
Axions are hypothetical light particles that could solve two different physics problems, as they could explain why some nuclear interactions don’t violate time symmetry and are also promising dark matter candidates. Dark matter is a type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, and has never been directly observed before.
Axions are very light particles theorized to have been produced in the early universe but that would still be present today. These particles are expected to interact very weakly with ordinary matter and sometimes convert into photons (i.e., light particles), particularly in the presence of a strong magnetic field.
The QUAX (Quest for Axions/QUaerere AXion) collaboration is a large group of researchers based at different institutes in Italy, which was established to search for axions using two haloscopes located in Italy at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) and Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF), respectively.
Researchers from the High Energy Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) in Japan and their international collaborators have made a discovery that bridges artificial intelligence and nuclear physics. By applying deep learning techniques to a vast amount of unexamined nuclear emulsion data from the J-PARC E07 experiment, the team identified, for the first time in 25 years, a new double-Lambda hypernucleus.
This marks the world’s first AI-assisted observation of such an exotic nucleus—an atomic nucleus containing two strange quarks. The finding, published in Nature Communications, represents a major advance in experimental nuclear physics and provides new insight into the composition of neutron star cores, one of the most extreme environments in the universe.
A professor at the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues have figured out something two of America’s most famous fictional physicists couldn’t: how to theoretically produce subatomic particles called axions in fusion reactors.
Particle physicists Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, roommates in the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” worked on the problem in three episodes of Season 5, but couldn’t crack it.
Now UC physics Professor Jure Zupan and his theoretical physicist co-authors at the Fermi National Laboratory, MIT and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology think they have one solution in a study published in the Journal of High Energy Physics.
Dr. John Cramer, 92-year-old nuclear physicist, discusses participating in the first mitochondrial transplant trial for aging and his longevity theory.
Some links are affiliate links so we will earn a commission when they are used to purchase products.
If you would like to support our channel please consider joining our Patreon / modernhealthspan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BiOptimizers — 15% off Code MHBIO: https://tinyurl.com/yt-bioptimize-202…(Magnesium Breakthrough, Gluten Guardian)
Stemregen — 10% off Code MODERN: https://tinyurl.com/yt-stemregen-2025… (Stem cell mobilization)
Renue — 15% off Code MHS: https://tinyurl.com/yt-renue-20251214 (Lipo NMN)
Seeking Health — 10% off Code Richard10: https://tinyurl.com/yt-seekinghea-202… (Histamine Nutrients)
AX3 — 20% off Code MODERN20: https://tinyurl.com/yt-ax3-20251214 (Astaxanthin)
n1o1 — 10% off Code Modern: https://tinyurl.com/yt-n1o1-20251214 (Nitric Oxide Lozenges)
These are affiliate links — using them supports the channel at no extra cost to you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. John Cramer is a 92-year-old emeritus professor at the University of Washington who has spent decades researching nuclear physics and quantum mechanics. Now, he’s turned his attention to longevity, and he’s not just theorizing. Dr. Cramer is participating in Mitrix’s groundbreaking mitochondrial transplantation trial, which aims to replace damaged mitochondrial DNA with healthy versions grown in bioreactors.
In this conversation, Dr. Cramer explains why he believes mitochondrial dysfunction is the root cause of aging, not just another hallmark. He discusses how energy depletion cascades into all other aging symptoms, why previous interventions like telomere extension haven’t delivered, and what markers will be tracked throughout his trial. He also shares his personal longevity protocol, including rapamycin, senolytics, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
This is one of the first detailed discussions of autologous mitochondrial transplantation for aging in humans.
In 2008, a team of UCLA-led scientists proposed a scheme to use a laser to excite the nucleus of thorium atoms to realize extremely accurate, portable clocks. Last year, they realized this longstanding goal by bombarding thorium atoms embedded in specialized fluoride crystals with a laser. Now, they have found a way to dramatically simplify and strengthen the process by replacing the specialized crystals with thorium electroplated onto steel.
They observe, for the first time, that laser excitation of the thorium nucleus in this system leads to a measurable electric current, which can be used to miniaturize the nuclear clock. The advance is needed for smaller, more efficient atomic clocks, which have long been sought to improve navigation, GPS, power grids, and communications. It will also allow for some of the tightest tests ever of fundamental physics.
Producing fusion energy requires heating plasma to more than one hundred million degrees and confining it stably with strong magnetic fields. However, plasma naturally develops fluctuations known as turbulence, and they carry heat outward and weaken confinement. Understanding how heat and turbulence spread is therefore essential.
Conventional theory has assumed that heat and turbulence move gradually from the center toward the edge. Yet experiments have sometimes shown heat and turbulence spreading much faster, similar to American football players passing a ball quickly across long distances so that a local change influences the entire field almost at once. Clarifying the cause of this rapid, long-range response has been a long-standing challenge.
A research team from the National Institute for Fusion Science carried out short-duration heating of the plasma core in the Large Helical Device and used high-precision diagnostic instruments, based on electromagnetic waves of various wavelengths, to measure temperature, turbulence, and heat propagation with fine spatial and temporal resolution.
Nuclear power company TerraPower has passed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff’s final safety evaluation for a permit to build a reactor in Wyoming. The Washington-based company backed by Bill Gates and NVIDIA could be the first to deploy a utility-scale, next-generation reactor in America.
TerraPower’s Natrium design pairs a small modular reactor (SMR) with an integrated thermal battery. The SMR generates 345 megawatts of continuous electrical power. The thermal battery, which stores excess heat in molten salt, allows the system to surge its output to 500 megawatts for more than five hours, generating enough energy to power 400,000 homes at maximum capacity.
“Today is a momentous occasion for TerraPower, our project partners and the Natrium design,” said company CEO Chris Levesque in a statement issued Monday. The favorable assessment “reflects years of rigorous evaluation, thoughtful collaboration with the NRC, and an unwavering commitment to both safety and innovation.”