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The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was focused on quantum dots – objects so tiny, they’re controlled by the strange and complex rules of quantum physics. Many quantum dots used in electronics are made from toxic substances, but their nontoxic counterparts are now being developed and explored for uses in medicine and in the environment. One team of researchers is focusing on carbon-and sulfur-based quantum dots, using them to create safer invisible inks and to help decontaminate water supplies.

The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Quantum dots are synthetic nanometer-scale semiconductor crystals that emit light. They are used in applications such as electronics displays and solar cells. “Many conventional quantum dots are toxic, because they’re derived from heavy metals,” explains Md Palashuddin Sk, an assistant professor of chemistry at Aligarh Muslim University in India. “So, we’re working on nonmetallic quantum dots because they’re environmentally friendly and can be used in biological applications.”

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One of the largest threats to human health is obesity, but now researchers from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute have made an important discovery in how the brain controls food intake.

Obesity and being overweight have become the “new normal” in modern times and can lead to a multitude of health problems. We know that excess weight is primarily caused by eating more calories than the body needs; however, new research published in Current Biology has found a specific cluster of cells in the brain that control body weight.

How the brain controls hunger has not been fully defined. The researchers discovered a cluster of brain cells that can be harnessed to reduce food intake and body weight. One way they do this is by turning down cells that stimulate hunger.

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Israeli scientists have made yet another cancer treatment breakthrough, this time using nanosized polymers. Researchers from Ben Gurion University say they developed a way to selectively deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to blood vessels that feed tumors and metastases.

The polymer eliminates colorectal cancer liver metastases and prolongs mice survival, after a single dose-therapy, they said. The findings were published in Nano Today, a leading journal in the field of nanotechnology.

A nanosized polymer is a polymer that has been engineered to have dimensions in the nanometer range. By comparison, a human hair is about 80,000–100,000 nanometers wide. These tiny particles offer unique properties that make them desirable for a wide range of applications.

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From Microsoft.

Direct Nash Optimization.

Teaching Language Models to Self-Improve with General Preferences.

This paper studies post-training large language models (LLMs) using #preference feedback from a powerful oracle to help a model iteratively improve over…

Continue reading “Paper page — Direct Nash Optimization: Teaching Language Models to Self-Improve with General Preferences” | >

There are trillions of microorganisms living in our gastrointestinal tract. So why doesn’t the immune system launch a massive response against all of those foreign microbes? Scientists have now provided new details about the process. The findings have been reported in Nature.

The gut microbiome has to maintain a careful balance, and promote the growth of healthy and beneficial organisms while tamping down the growth of potential pathogens. While scientists have not defined exactly what a healthy microbiome is made of, and it may differ from one person to another, we do know that when the balance in the microbial community of the gut is disrupted, health problems can arise.

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A radio telescope observed complex activity in a magnetar 8,000 light-years from Earth:

A CSIRO team discovered a dormant star waking up with “unusual radio pulses” after being silent for years.

Most magnetars are known to emit polarized light, which oscillates in a certain direction. This magnetar generates light with circular polarization, creating a rapid spiral pattern as it travels across space.

“Unlike the radio signals we’ve seen from other magnetars, this one is emitting enormous amounts of rapidly changing circular polarization. We had never seen anything like this before,” said Marcus Lower, a postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.

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Scientists studying learning in mice have inadvertently encountered ‘zombie neurons’ in the brain – not flesh-eating, virus-spreading monsters, but cells that stop interacting normally even though they’re functionally alive. What’s more, they shed new light on learning processes in the brain.

A team from Portugal discovered the cells as part of an investigation into how a part of the brain called the cerebellum learns from the environment around us.

The cerebellum processes sensory information related to motor movements. It helps us walk down a crowded street, or pick up a drink without spilling it, and it’s also important for learning: so if we bump into something, we know how to refine our movement to avoid it next time. Exactly how that learning happens was the subject of this new study.

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