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High overhead, there is a layer of the atmosphere called the mesosphere. It is located roughly 31 to 55 miles above ground.

The mesosphere might seem pretty far removed from everyday concerns. Still, it can be disturbed by severe weather far below.

On the day Helene hit, NASA’s instruments captured signs of a type of atmospheric wave, not related to the space-time ones Einstein predicted, but rather ones formed by events like hurricanes.

Researchers at UCLA have developed a new AI model that can expertly analyze 3D medical images of diseases in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take a human clinical specialist.

The deep-learning framework, named SLIViT (SLice Integration by Vision Transformer), analyzes images from different imagery modalities, including retinal scans, ultrasound videos, CTs, MRIs, and others, identifying potential disease-risk biomarkers.

Dr. Eran Halperin, a computational medicine expert and professor at UCLA who led the study, said the model is highly accurate across a wide variety of diseases, outperforming many existing, disease-specific foundation models. It uses a novel pre-training and fine-tuning method that relies on large, accessible public data sets. As a result, Halperin believes that the model can be deployed—at relatively low costs—to identify different disease biomarkers, democratizing expert-level medical imaging analysis.

Summary: SUMO proteins play a key role in activating dormant neural stem cells, vital for brain repair and regeneration. This finding, centered on a process called SUMOylation, reveals how neural stem cells can be “woken up” to aid in brain recovery, offering potential treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

SUMO proteins regulate neural stem cell reactivation by modifying the Hippo pathway, crucial for cell growth and repair. The study’s insights lay foundational groundwork for developing regenerative therapies to combat conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Surviving Neanderthal genes in the modern genome tell a story of thousands of years of interactions.

Recent DNA studies have refined the period when Neanderthals and modern humans interbred to a span of about 7,000 years, leaving Eurasians with significant Neanderthal genetic contributions. These findings also help clarify the timeline and routes of ancient human migrations from Africa.

Genetic Insights into Ancient Human-Neanderthal Interactions.

Far from being an edgier sequel to the sitcom starring Jim Parsons, the ‘dark big bang’ – also known as the ‘second’ big bang – is believed by scientists to potentially be the event which brought about dark matter in our universe.

Such an idea was floated by University of Texas researchers Katherine Freese and Martin Wolfgang Winkler in a paper published in Physical Review Dback in April 2023.

The abstract to the research notes the “hot big bang” is considered to be the origin story behind “all matter and radiation in the universe”, and that there is “strong evidence” that the early universe “contained a hot plasma of photons and baryons with a temperature”

A new quantum processor design features a modular router that allows enhanced qubit connectivity, breaking away from traditional 2D grid constraints.

This approach aims for scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computing that could transform industries by solving problems beyond the reach of classical computers.

Quantum Processor Innovation

The world’s first human trial of a drug that can regenerate teeth will begin in a few months, less than a year on from news of its success in animals. This paves the way for the medicine to be commercially available as early as 2030.

The trial, which will take place at Kyoto University Hospital from September to August 2025, will treat 30 males aged 30–64 who are missing at least one molar. The intravenous treatment will be tested for its efficacy on human dentition, after it successfully grew new teeth in ferret and mouse models with no significant side effects.

“We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,” said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital. “While there has been no treatment to date providing a permanent cure, we feel that people’s expectations for tooth growth are high.”