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Understanding how lasers can rapidly magnetize fusion plasmas

The mechanism that can cause a rapidly expanding plasma—the superhot state of matter harnessed in fusion energy systems—to spontaneously generate its own magnetic fields was identified through a new set of simulations. This improves our understanding of naturally occurring plasmas in our universe and advances the development of fusion systems based on an approach called direct-drive inertial fusion.

In a direct-drive inertial fusion system, powerful lasers compress a small, fuel-filled capsule, heating it until fusion reactions occur. Unexpected magnetic fields can change how heat moves through the plasma in ways that existing simulation tools can miss. Accurate simulations are critical to designing fusion systems that will behave as expected and deliver net energy on a long-term basis.

In laboratory experiments, researchers found that high-powered lasers can vaporize a solid target in an instant, turning it into plasma that rapidly expands. Experiments have repeatedly detected very strong magnetic structures emerging from this expanding plasma, but the precise origin of these fields has long been a matter of debate.

Brain-based index may reveal Alzheimer’s risk patterns in adults as young as 30

Over the past few decades, neuroscientists and medical researchers worldwide have been trying to leverage available health records, brain scans and other medical data to uncover biological markers associated with the onset of specific diseases or neuropsychiatric disorders. The identification of these biomarkers could help to devise new tools to predict the risk that individual patients will develop a specific condition, allowing doctors to intervene early, preventing or delaying its emergence or slowing down its progression.

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center, UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC, and University of Maryland School of Medicine recently devised a new brain-based index that could be used to track early risk factors that, in specific people, may lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that prompts the deterioration and death of brain cells, leading to progressive memory loss and a decline in mental functions. AD has very limited treatment options after the diagnosis but the brain changes that culminate in AD take decades, thus suggesting that public effort should be focused on prevention.

The researchers devised an index that could be used to quantify patterns in a person’s brain that measure the similarity to those observed in individuals diagnosed with AD and followed as a part of the research studies such as Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). This index, introduced in a paper published in Molecular Psychiatry, was derived by performing a mega-analysis of publicly available brain imaging data collected from people with and without AD.

Inside the brains of 800 incarcerated men: High psychopathy linked to expanded brain surface area

People with high levels of psychopathic tendencies are often incapable of feeling empathy for other people. From a brain science perspective, empathy isn’t a single emotion but a multi-part neural process. It involves brain systems that help us share others’ feelings, understand their perspectives, and even mentally step into their experience.

The bigger picture is, however, still blurry as we lack large-scale studies that map how different features of brain structure link to both empathy and psychopathy, especially in incarcerated populations.

A recent study published in Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science investigated how personality is reflected in the brain by turning to something measurable—the brain’s physical structure.

JWST pins down the origins of a planetary odd couple

Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally “lonely” hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, in a rare and unlikely pairing that’s had astronomers puzzled since the system’s discovery in 2020.

Now MIT scientists have caught a glimpse into the atmosphere of the mini-Neptune, which is circling inside the orbit of its Jupiter-sized companion, and discovered clues to explain the origins of this unusual planetary system.

In a study appearing in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the scientists report on new measurements of the mini-Neptune’s atmosphere, made using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is the first time astronomers have measured the composition of a mini-Neptune that resides inside the orbit of a hot Jupiter.

Three billion years ago, Earth’s life relied on a rare metal

A collaborative team of scientists has discovered that life on Earth over three billion years ago relied on the metal molybdenum, which was incredibly scarce in the environment at the time. The study, published in Nature Communications, is the first to show that molybdenum was used by ancient life this far back in our planet’s history.

On Earth today, molybdenum helps speed up vital biochemical reactions in cells. The metal is a component of essential enzymes that drive several major biological reactions in organisms. This is not only important for individual organisms, but also biogeochemical cycles, such as the nitrogen cycle, which affect our entire planet. Without molybdenum, those important reactions could still happen in nature, but they would be too slow to sustain life.

“Molybdenum sits at the catalytic center of enzymes that run major carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur reactions,” explained Betül Kaçar, head of the Kaçar Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and senior author on the study. Kaçar leads MUSE, a NASA Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) at UW-Madison.

‘Solar-blind’ 2D heterostructure delivers 422-fold responsivity gain for UV sensing

Photodetectors remain a critical component in the development of advanced electronics and photonics, particularly in the role of signal readout through the conversion of photons into electrons. These digital imaging components are ubiquitous in sensors, cameras, adaptive displays, telecommunications, LiDAR systems, health monitoring wearables, and oximeters.

In the quest toward the next generation of optoelectronic devices, the spotlight lands upon ultrathin 2D materials with improved performance for integrated circuits and wearable electronics. In a recent study published in ACS Applied Electronic Materials, a team of researchers led by Haizhao Zhi and Eng Tuan Poh introduced a series of wide bandgap 2D materials—transition metal thio(seleno)phosphates into the light.

The team focused on manganese thiophosphate (MnPS3), a wide-bandgap semiconductor that is naturally “solar-blind,” meaning it is highly sensitive to UV light while remaining transparent to much of the visible spectrum. While MnPS3 is an excellent candidate for UV sensing, its performance as a standalone material is often limited by low carrier mobility—it acts almost like a “near-perfect insulator.”

Inexpensive material compresses light, paving the way for photonic microcircuits in the terahertz range

A two-dimensional lamellar crystal composed of atomically thin layers of lead iodide (PbI2) could be used to manufacture a new generation of circuits that use light and mechanical vibrations (rather than electrons) to transmit information in the terahertz frequency range.

Researchers at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), in partnership with colleagues from the University of Lille (France) and other international institutions, have studied this technology and published their findings in Nature Communications.

The terahertz band corresponds to a low-energy region of the electromagnetic spectrum situated between infrared and microwaves. Despite this, it is considered crucial for developing high-speed communication technologies.

Durable ionogel withstands 5,000 times its weight while staying soft on skin

The development of soft materials that can reliably function on the human body is important for the future of bioelectronics and wearable medical devices. These materials need to comfortably conform to the skin while being durable enough for everyday use. However, many existing soft materials are easily damaged, limiting their practical applications.

A research team led by Professor Lizhi Xu from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has created a new type of ionogel that overcomes this challenge. The material is soft and flexible, yet strong enough to withstand significant mechanical stress, making it ideal for wearable and biomedical applications.

The research is published in the journal Science Advances, in an article titled “High-strength and fracture-resistant ionogels via solvent-tailored interphase cohesion in nanofibrous composite networks.”

Chemistry-aware AI can generate millions of plausible new molecules

Finding and developing new molecules is one of the great research endeavors of modern chemistry. From the development of new drugs to the creation of more sustainable materials, everything depends on finding new combinations of atoms with useful properties. Now, a research team from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has developed an artificial intelligence tool capable of generating millions of new molecules which, although still unknown to science, comply with the laws of chemistry and could therefore be realistic possibilities. The research results have been published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

The system, called CoCoGraph, works in a similar way to generative artificial intelligence tools for text or images, such as ChatGPT or Dall-E. “These models create new content that looks very much like the real thing. Our algorithm does the same, but with molecules,” explains Roger Guimerà, an ICREA Research Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the URV.

Unlike other AI tools, however, the model does not yet respond to specific instructions. For the moment it simply carries out the more basic task of generating plausible molecules, that is, structures that comply with the rules of chemistry.

Small talk shapes big trends: Physics predicts how language patterns spread

A new model to predict how language changes over time has been developed by a statistical physicist at the University of Portsmouth. The model is a step towards understanding the “statistical physics of language,” a scientific theory which borrows ideas from the physics of interacting particles to explain how words, accents, and dialects spread, shift, and disappear across regions and generations, and how they might change in future. The research is published in the journal Physical Review E.

James Burridge, Professor of Probability and Statistical Physics, from the University’s School of Mathematics and Physics, said, Just as meteorologists use mathematical models to forecast tomorrow’s weather, the same kind of thinking can be applied to language.

Where you are affects how you speak and if you map how people use certain words, you see clear geographic patterns—just like a weather map. However, the physics of language is closer to crystals and magnets than the atmosphere.

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