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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a CRISPR-based diagnostic tool capable of detecting bloodstream infections in minutes without the need for nucleic acid amplification. The CRISPR-Cascade assay achieves attomolar sensitivity and incorporates an OR-gated logic function to identify multiple pathogens simultaneously through DNA from pathogens associated with bloodstream infections.

Bloodstream infections require rapid identification to prevent complications, yet standard diagnostic methods rely on (PCR) and isothermal amplification techniques that have built-in processing times. CRISPR-based detection tools such as SHERLOCK and DETECTR have improved specificity but continue to depend on amplification, limiting their turnaround time and practicality in clinical settings.

In the study, “Amplification-free, OR-gated CRISPR-Cascade reaction for pathogen detection in blood samples,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers conducted a laboratory-based investigation to determine whether a CRISPR-driven feedback loop could detect pathogenic DNA at ultra-low concentrations without amplification.

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UCLA doctoral student Yilin Wong noticed that some tiny dots had appeared on one of her samples, which had been accidentally left out overnight. The layered sample consisted of a germanium wafer topped with evaporated metal films in contact with a drop of water. On a whim, she looked at the dots under a microscope and couldn’t believe her eyes. Beautiful spiral patterns had been etched into the germanium surface by a chemical reaction.

Wong’s curiosity led her on a journey to discover what no one had seen before: Hundreds of near-identical spiral patterns can spontaneously form on a centimeter square germanium chip. Moreover, small changes in experiment parameters, such as the thickness of the metal film, generated different patterns, including Archimedean spirals, logarithmic spirals, lotus flower shapes, radially symmetric patterns and more.

The discovery, published in Physical Review Materials, occurred fortuitously when Wong made a small mistake while attempting to bind DNA to the metal film.

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Researchers have advanced a decades-old challenge in the field of organic semiconductors, opening new possibilities for the future of electronics. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge and the Eindhoven University of Technology, have created an organic semiconductor that forces electrons to move in a spiral pattern, which could improve the efficiency of OLED displays in television and smartphone screens, or power next-generation computing technologies such as spintronics and quantum computing.

The semiconductor they developed emits circularly polarized light—meaning the light carries information about the ‘handedness’ of electrons. The internal structure of most inorganic semiconductors, like silicon, is symmetrical, meaning electrons move through them without any preferred direction.

However, in nature, molecules often have a chiral (left-or right-handed) structure: like human hands, are mirror images of one another. Chirality plays an important role in like DNA formation, but it is a difficult phenomenon to harness and control in electronics.

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Physics has a problem—their key models of quantum theory and the theory of relativity do not fit together. Now, Dr. Wolfgang Wieland from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is developing an approach that reconciles the two theories in a problematic area. A recently published paper that was published in Classical and Quantum Gravity gives hope that this could work.

There are four in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak and the strong interaction. While general relativity describes gravity, deals with the other three forces. This creates a problem: “As early as the 1930s, it was recognized that the two theories do not fit together,” explains Dr. Wieland, who leads a Heisenberg project on this topic at the Chair of Quantum Gravity at FAU.

Usually, this has no major consequences: general relativity is mainly used to calculate the behavior of large masses in the universe. Quantum theory, on the other hand, focuses on the world of the very smallest things. However, to better understand key phenomena such as the Big Bang or , a model is needed that unites both concepts—quantum gravity. General relativity states that all matter in a black hole is united at one tiny point. It is therefore important to understand how gigantic gravitational forces act in the microcosm, although this is where the laws of quantum mechanics actually apply.

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Instantly turning a material from opaque to transparent, or from a conductor to an insulator, is no longer the stuff of science fiction. For several years now, scientists have been using lasers to control the properties of matter at extremely fast rates: during one optical cycle of a light wave. But because these changes occur on the timescale of attoseconds—one-billionth of one-billionth of a second—figuring out how they unfold is extremely difficult.

In a new study published in Nature Photonics, Prof. Nirit Dudovich’s team from the Weizmann Institute of Science presents an innovative method of tracking these rapid material changes. This advance in attosecond science, the study of the fastest phenomena in nature, could have a wide variety of future applications, paving the way for ultrafast communications and computing.

If you have ever seen a rainbow, you’ve seen a practical demonstration of how light slows down and is refracted when it passes through matter, in this case, raindrops. Sunlight is composed of a broad spectrum of colors, each of which experiences a different delay as it passes through the droplets. These differences cause the colors to become separated, producing a radiant rainbow.

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Using the Multi-frequency High Field Electron Spin Resonance Spectrometer at the Steady-State High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF), researchers observed the first-ever Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of a two-magnon bound state in a magnetic material. The facility is in the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and includes a research team from Southern University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Renmin University of China, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization.

This discovery was published in Nature Materials.

BEC is a fascinating quantum phenomenon where particles, typically bosons, condense into a single collective state at ultra-low temperatures. While this effect has been seen in cold atoms, it had never been observed in a magnetic system until now.

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Researchers from Tsinghua University, the Beijing Institute of Technology, the University of Wollongong (Australia), and the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have achieved an ultrahigh electrostrain of 1.9% in (K, Na)NbO3 (KNN) lead-free piezoelectric ceramics.

The breakthrough, facilitated by the (ESR) spectrometer at the Steady High Magnetic Field Experimental Facility (SHMFF), marks a significant advancement in piezoelectric material performance.

The findings are published in Nature Materials.

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Researchers at the University of Adelaide have performed the first imaging of embryos using cameras designed for quantum measurements.

The University’s Center of Light for Life academics investigated how to best use ultrasensitive technology, including the latest generation of cameras that can count individual packets of light energy at each pixel, for life sciences.

Center director Professor Kishan Dholakia said the sensitive detection of these packets of light energy, termed photons, is vitally important for capturing in their natural state—allowing researchers to illuminate with gentle doses of light.

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A breakthrough in heavy-element chemistry shatters long-held assumptions about transuranium elements. Researchers have discovered “berkelocene,” the first organometallic molecule to be characterized containing the heavy element berkelium. The molecule was synthesized using just 0.3 milligram.

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For decades, scientists believed that lead-208, a “doubly magic” and highly stable atomic nucleus, was perfectly spherical. However, groundbreaking new research has shattered this assumption, revealing that its nucleus is actually elongated, much like a rugby ball.

By using an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer and high-speed particle collisions, researchers uncovered unexpected quantum behavior that contradicts long-standing nuclear theory. This revelation forces physicists to rethink fundamental principles of nuclear structure, potentially reshaping our understanding of heavy elements and their formation in the universe.

Lead-208: A Surprising Discovery

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