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Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers interact with parts of our bodies to measure and learn from internal processes, such as our heart rate or sleep stages.

Now, MIT researchers have developed that may be able to perform similar functions for inside the body.

These battery-free, subcellular-sized devices, made of a soft polymer, are designed to gently wrap around different parts of neurons, such as axons and dendrites, without damaging the cells, upon wireless actuation with light. By snugly wrapping neuronal processes, they could be used to measure or modulate a neuron’s electrical and metabolic activity at a subcellular level.

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Data from space shows water tilting up toward the north side of the Dickson Fjord as it sloshed from south to north and back every 90 seconds for nine days after a 2023 rockslide.

The international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission, a collaboration between NASA and France’s CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), detected the unique contours of a tsunami that sloshed within the steep walls of a fjord in Greenland in September 2023. Triggered by a massive rockslide, the tsunami generated a seismic rumble that reverberated around the world for nine days. An international research team that included seismologists, geophysicists, and oceanographers recently reported on the event after a year of analyzing data.

The SWOT satellite collected water elevation measurements in Dickson Fjord on Sept. 17, 2023, the day after the initial rockslide and tsunami. The data was compared with measurements made under normal conditions a few weeks prior, on Aug. 6, 2023.

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Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest-spinning neutron stars ever recorded, known as 4U 1820–30, which rotates an astonishing 716 times per second. Located 26,000 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation, this neutron star is part of an X-ray binary system where its intense gravity pulls material from a companion white dwarf, triggering explosive thermonuclear bursts.

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Summary: Neural crest stem cells, a rare type found in skin and other tissues, are uniquely capable of reprogramming into different cell types, challenging the prevailing belief that any mature cell can be reprogrammed. The study reveals that cellular reprogramming is likely limited to these specialized stem cells rather than all mature cells.

Neural crest stem cells are present in skin, bone, and connective tissue, with a natural predisposition for transformation due to their origin in embryonic development. This finding could reshape strategies for stem cell therapies, emphasizing the role of neural crest cells in treating neurodegenerative diseases. The team hopes their work will refine cell reprogramming approaches and inspire further research into the specific potentials of stem cell types.

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In a new study, an international team of physicists has unified two distinct descriptions of atomic nuclei, taking a major step forward in our understanding of nuclear structure and strong interactions. For the first time, the particle physics perspective – where nuclei are seen as made up of quarks and gluons – has been combined with the traditional nuclear physics view that treats nuclei as collections of interacting nucleons (protons and neutrons). This innovative hybrid approach provides fresh insights into short-range correlated (SRC) nucleon pairs – which are fleeting interactions where two nucleons come exceptionally close and engage in strong interactions for mere femtoseconds. Although these interactions play a crucial role in the structure of nuclei, they have been notoriously difficult to describe theoretically.

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“Nuclei (such as gold and lead) are not just a ‘bag of non-interacting protons and neutrons’,” explains Fredrick Olness at Southern Methodist University in the US, who is part of the international team. “When we put 208 protons and neutrons together to make a lead nucleus, they interact via the strong interaction force with their nearest neighbours; specifically, those neighbours within a ‘short range.’ These short-range interactions/correlations modify the composition of the nucleus and are a manifestation of the strong interaction force. An improved understanding of these correlations can provide new insights into both the properties of nuclei and the strong interaction force.”

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A team including researchers from Seoul National University College of Engineering has developed neuromorphic hardware capable of performing artificial intelligence (AI) computations with ultra-low power consumption. The research, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, addresses fundamental issues in existing intelligent semiconductor materials and devices while demonstrating potential for array-level technology.

Currently, vast amounts of power are consumed in parallel computing for processing big data in various fields such as the Internet of Things (IoT), user data analytics, generative AI, large language models (LLM), and autonomous driving. However, the conventional silicon-based CMOS semiconductor computing used for parallel computation faces problems such as high energy consumption, slower memory and processor speeds, and the physical limitations of high-density processes. This results in energy and carbon emission issues, despite AI’s positive contributions to daily life.

To address these challenges, it’s necessary to overcome the limitations of digital-based Von Neumann architecture computing. As such, the development of next-generation intelligent semiconductor-based neuromorphic hardware that mimics the working principles of the human brain has emerged as a critical task.

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