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Real-time imaging captures what happens to cancer cells arriving in the brain

Metastasis occurs when cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel through the bloodstream to form new tumors in other parts of the body. It is the leading cause of cancer-related death. Brain metastasis is particularly severe and affects 10–30% of patients with advanced lung, breast, and melanoma cancers.

While therapies exist for established brain tumors, there are limited strategies that directly target the very first cancer “seed cells” that enter and lodge in the brain.

Our brains, however, are equipped with immune cells called microglia that rapidly respond to pathogens and cancer cells by engulfing and digesting them. Yet scientists could not explain why microglia sometimes fail to destroy incoming seed cells because they could not watch this critical interaction in real-time in the living brain.

Ultra-thin nanomembrane device forms soft, seamless interface with living tissue

Researchers have developed a new class of ultra-thin, flexible bioelectronic material that can seamlessly interface with living tissues. They introduced a novel device called THIN (transformable and imperceptible hydrogel-elastomer ionic-electronic nanomembrane). THIN is a membrane just 350 nanometers thick that transforms from a dry, rigid film into an ultra-soft, tissue-like interface upon hydration.

The study, performed by the Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research (CNIR) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) together with Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), is published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Tumbleweed aerodynamics inspire hybrid robots for harsh terrains

A new study published in Nature Communications details a hybrid robot that combines the wind-driven mobility of tumbleweeds with active quadcopter control, offering a new paradigm for energy-efficient terrestrial exploration.

Current terrestrial exploration lacks systems that exploit wind for mobility. Further, drag-driven robots like land sails and inflatable spheres require large sizes and complex deployment.

The researchers found the inspiration for their Hybrid Energy-efficient Rover Mechanism for Exploration Systems, or HERMES, in an unusual place.

Rare high-resolution observations of a flare-prolific solar active region

Scientists have captured an exceptionally rare, high-resolution view of an active region that produced two powerful X-class solar flares—an achievement rarely possible from Earth. Using the GREGOR solar telescope in Tenerife, researchers recorded the explosive activity of the sun’s most energetic sunspot group of 2025, revealing twisted magnetic structures and the early stages of flare ignition with unprecedented detail. The flares triggered fast coronal mass ejections that lit up Earth’s skies with vivid auroras in the nights that followed.

Challenges of observing solar flares High-resolution observations of strong solar flares are extremely rare and difficult to obtain with ground-based solar telescopes.

“Strong flares occur either on the backside of the sun, or during the night, or when the weather is cloudy, or when the seeing conditions are poor, or when they are just outside the field of view, where the telescope is pointing,” says Prof. Carsten Denker head of the Solar Physics section at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and first author of the study published in Research Notes of the AAS.

Human Consciousness Comes From a Higher Dimension, Scientist Claims—Meaning It Could Transcend the Physical World

When we think creatively, produce novel ideas, or otherwise have “Eureka” moments, we may actually unlock access to a dimension outside of our everyday perception, according to the controversial theory.

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