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NASA manages to build a system that Einstein said was impossible with technology that rewrites the laws of the known universe and takes a step toward a new era of space exploration

Einstein set the speed of light as the cosmic speed limit, and nothing we do here overturns that. What changed is that researchers—some formerly at NASA, some now in academia and nonprofits—have mapped pieces of a path where spacetime itself does the moving, not the spacecraft.

That’s the idea behind a warp metric: compress space in front, expand it behind, and let the ship surf inside a bubble without breaking local limits. The trick sounds simple until you look at the bill. Classic calculations require negative energy, a substance no lab can supply in macroscopic amounts.

AI automatically designs optimal drug candidates for cancer-targeting mutations

Traditional drug development methods involve identifying a target protein (e.g., a cancer cell receptor) that causes disease, and then searching through countless molecular candidates (potential drugs) that could bind to that protein and block its function. This process is costly, time-consuming, and has a low success rate.

KAIST researchers have developed an AI model that, using only information about the target protein, can design optimal drug candidates without any prior molecular data—opening up new possibilities for . The research is published in the journal Advanced Science.

The research team led by Professor Woo Youn Kim in the Department of Chemistry has developed an AI model named BInD (Bond and Interaction-generating Diffusion model), which can design and optimize drug candidate molecules tailored to a protein’s structure alone—without needing prior information about binding molecules. The model also predicts the binding mechanism (non-covalent interactions) between the drug and the target protein.

Room-Temperature Quantum Breakthrough Stuns Physicists

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in quantum research by demonstrating that nanoparticles can exhibit quantum rotational vibrations even at room temperature — and without being cooled close to absolute zero. Using an elliptical nanoparticle held in an electromagnetic field, they applied car

Narcissists’ experience of ostracism

Ostracism (being excluded or ignored) is a psychologically painful experience with well-documented negative consequences. This study examines the role of narcissism, a personality trait marked by self-centeredness, entitlement, and a strong desire for admiration. The authors focus on grandiose narcissism in particular, which combines assertive self-enhancement (admiration) with antagonistic tendencies (rivalry). While previous research has shown that narcissists often react aggressively to exclusion, this study explored whether they may also be more likely to be excluded in the first place.

Christiane M. Büttner and colleagues explored this possibility by proposing three mechanisms linking narcissism to ostracism: narcissists may be overly sensitive to exclusion cues and thus perceive more ostracism (negative perceptions), their behavior may prompt others to actually exclude them (target behavior), and repeated experiences of exclusion may reinforce narcissistic traits over time (reverse causality).

By combining large-scale surveys, daily diary data, experiments, and a 14-year longitudinal study across 77,000+ participants, this research provides an unusually comprehensive picture of this dynamic.

Study 1 relied on a nationally representative German panel survey in which 1,592 adults completed a brief narcissism questionnaire (NARQ-S), which includes items reflecting admiration (e.g., “Being a very special person gives me a lot of strength”) and rivalry (e.g., “Most people are somehow losers”). They rated how often they felt ostracized over the past two months. Participants also reported their self-esteem, which allowed the researchers to examine whether narcissism predicted ostracism independently of general self-worth.

Study 2 used an experience sampling approach to capture more fine-grained, real-world data. Nearly 500 U.S.-based participants completed a longer narcissism scale (the extended NARQ), a rejection sensitivity measure, and reported daily instances of exclusion over a 14-day period using a mobile app. They also estimated, at the end of the study, how often they had felt excluded, providing insight into whether narcissistic individuals overestimate exclusion.

In real-time reports, both admiration and rivalry facets correlated with more daily exclusion experiences, with admiration reaching statistical significance. Rivalry was more strongly linked to retrospective recall of ostracism. Narcissists also tended to slightly overestimate how many exclusion episodes they had experienced during the study period, suggesting a modest perceptual bias.

However, narcissism was not linked to the belief that one is excluded more than others, indicating that the distortion lies in recalling one’s own experience rather than making social comparisons.

Studies 3a, 3b, and 3c used the Cyberball paradigm, where participants experienced either clear (complete) or partial exclusion, and judged their inclusion level. These experiments tested whether narcissists were more likely to perceive ostracism in scenarios with clear versus partial exclusion. Study 4 shifted to ambiguous, everyday social scenarios to test whether narcissists interpret subtle cues as ostracism.

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Without Gene Therapies it Will Not be Possible to Extend Life | 071 Liz Parrish, Mba

Dr. Esra Çavuşoğlu, PhD’s 71st Ayık Kafa podcast guest is Liz Parrish explores the transformative potential of gene therapy in extending human longevity and enhancing healthspan.

Liz Parrish MBA, is the Founder and CEO of BioViva Sciences USA Inc. BioViva is committed to extending healthy lifespans using gene therapy and works on combinatorial gene therapies with its proprietary CMV gene therapy delivery platform.

Liz is a humanitarian, entrepreneur, author, and innovator. In addition, she is a proponent of the Best Choice Medicine plan (BCM), a more efficient and streamlined regulatory model around the use of genetic therapies.

She shares her personal journey, the scientific basis for gene therapy, and the economic implications of aging-related diseases. The podcast also takes a closer look at the four different gene therapies that Liz Parrish administered to herself: Klotho, Follistatin, PGC-1α, and Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase. The discussion covers the various gene therapies being developed, their safety, ethical considerations, and the importance of early intervention. Liz emphasizes the need for public awareness and investment in longevity research to make these therapies accessible to all.

#EsraÇavuşoğlu #AyıkKafa #ElevatingLifeEvolvingHealth #Longevilab #LizParrish #Longevity #genetherapy.

Liz Parrish:

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The overlapping global distribution of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever

Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes have an expanding global distribution and identifying areas at risk is important for public health planning. Here, the authors present global disease maps for dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever through a multi-disease ecological niche modelling approach.

The Cerebral Cortex Ages Less than Thought

The human cerebral cortex is only a few millimetres thick and arranged in numerous folds. This tissue usually becomes thinner with age. “This is a hallmark of aging. It is attributed, among other things, to the loss of neurons. As a result, some abilities deteriorate. In any case, it is generally assumed that less brain volume means reduced function,” explains Prof. Esther Kühn, a neuroscientist at DZNE and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research. “However, little is known about how exactly the cortex actually ages. This is remarkable, given that many of our daily activities depend on a functioning cortex. That’s why we examined the situation with high-resolution brain scans.”

Together with colleagues from Tübingen and Magdeburg, Esther Kühn focused on a part of the cerebral cortex where signals from the tactile sense are processed. This “primary somatosensory cortex” is located on the left and right side of the top of the head and extends along a strip about a finger’s width wide towards each ear. “This brain area is relevant for the perception of one’s own body and for interacting with the environment,” explains the neuroscientist. “When I pick up a key, grasp a door handle or even walk, I constantly need haptic feedback to control my movements. The corresponding stimuli converge in this area and are also processed here”

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers were able to map this area of the cerebral cortex with unprecedented accuracy. To do this, they employed a particularly sensitive scanner with a magnetic field strength of seven Tesla, enabling them to image minute brain structures about the size of a grain of sand. A total of around 60 women and men between the ages of 21 and 80 were examined. “Until now, it had not been considered that the primary somatosensory cortex consists of a stack of several extremely thin layers of tissue, each with its own architecture and function. We have now found that these layers age differently. Although the cerebral cortex becomes thinner overall, some of its layers remain stable or, surprisingly, are even thicker with age. Presumably because they are particularly solicited and thus retain their functionality. We therefore see evidence for neuroplasticity, that is, adaptability, even in senior people.”

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