Toggle light / dark theme

The Core Equation Of Neuroscience

To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/ArtemKirsanov. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Socials:
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtemKRSV
Patreon: / artemkirsanov.

My name is Artem, I’m a graduate student at NYU Center for Neural Science and researcher at Flatiron Institute (Center for Computational Neuroscience).

In this video, we explore the Nobel Prize-winning Hodgkin-Huxley model, the foundational equation of computational neuroscience that reveals how neurons generate electrical signals. We break down the biophysical principles of neural computation, from membrane voltage to ion channels, showing how mathematical equations capture the elegant dance of charged particles that enables information processing.

Outline:
00:00 Introduction.
01:28 Membrane Voltage.
04:56 Action Potential Overview.
6:24 Equilibrium potential and driving force.
10:11 Voltage-dependent conductance.
16:50 Review.
20:09 Limitations \& Outlook.
21:21 Sponsor: Brilliant.org.
22:44 Outro.

Cracking the Code of Copper Superconductors With Supercomputers

Recent studies using advanced supercomputing have focused on the dynamics within copper-based superconductors, aiming to develop materials that are efficient at higher temperatures and could improve electronic devices significantly.

Over the past 35 years, scientists have been studying a remarkable class of materials known as superconductors. When cooled to specific temperatures, these materials allow electricity to flow without any resistance.

A research team utilizing the Summit supercomputer has been delving into the behavior of these superconductors, particularly focusing on how negatively charged particles interact with the smallest units of light within the material. This interaction triggers sudden and dramatic changes in the material’s properties and holds the key to understanding how certain copper-based superconductors function.

Simple method can recover and recycle quantum dots in microscopic lasers

Researchers have discovered a way to recycle the tiny particles used to create supraparticle lasers, a technology that precisely controls light at a very small scale. The breakthrough could help manage these valuable materials in a more sustainable way.

Supraparticle lasers work by trapping light inside a tiny sphere made of special particles called quantum dots, which can absorb, emit, and amplify light very efficiently.

They are made by mixing quantum dots in a solution that helps them stick together in tiny bubbles. However, not all attempts succeed, and even successful lasers degrade over time. This leads to wasted materials, which can be expensive.

More comprehensive search for sterile neutrinos comes up empty

Particle physicists have been looking for so-called “sterile neutrinos” for a few decades now. They are a hypothesized particle that would have a tiny mass like the three known neutrinos but would not interact by the weak force or any other Standard Model force, only through gravitational interactions.

Its existence—or their existence—would solve some anomalies seen in , help answer questions beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and, if massive enough, could explain cold dark matter or warm dark matter.

But have not been seen in any particle experiments, despite many attempts. Now an experiment by the IceCube Collaboration has used 10.7 years of data from their detector near the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to lower the probability that at least one sterile neutrino does not exist. Their paper appears in Physical Review Letters.

How tiny droplets can deform ice: Findings show potential for cryopreservation and food engineering

When water freezes slowly, the location where water turns into ice—known as the freezing front—forms a straight line. Researchers from the University of Twente showed how droplets that interact with such a freezing front cause surprising deformations of this front. These new insights were published in Physical Review Letters and show potential for applications in cryopreservation and food engineering techniques.

When water freezes, it is often thought of as a predictable, solid block forming layer by layer. But what happens if the progressing freezing front encounters or ? Researchers from the University of Twente have explored this question, discovering that droplets can cause surprising deformations in the way ice forms.

Quantum Leap: Scientists Reveal the Shape of a Single Photon for the First Time

Researchers have developed a new quantum theory that for the first time defines the precise shape of a photon, showing its interaction with atoms and its environment.

This breakthrough allows for the visualization of photons and could revolutionize nanophotonic technologies, enhancing secure communication, pathogen detection, and molecular control in chemical reactions.

A groundbreaking quantum theory has allowed researchers to define the exact shape of a single photon for the first time.

A new puzzle piece for string theory research

String theory aims to explain all fundamental forces and particles in the universe—essentially, how the world operates on the smallest scales. Though it has not yet been experimentally verified, work in string theory has already led to significant advancements in mathematics and theoretical physics.

Dr. Ksenia Fedosova, a researcher at the Mathematics Münster Cluster of Excellence at the University of Münster has, along with two co-authors, added a new piece to this puzzle: They have proven a conjecture related to so-called 4-graviton scattering, which physicists have proposed for certain equations. The results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gravitons are hypothetical particles responsible for gravity. “The 4-graviton scattering can be thought of as two gravitons moving freely through space until they interact in a ‘black box’ and then emerge as two gravitons,” explains Fedosova, providing the physical background for her work. “The goal is to determine the probability of what happens in this black box.”