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Controlling Light Emission with Photonic Time Crystals

A material whose dielectric properties vary in time could produce exotic light-emission phenomena in a nearby atom, theorists predict.

Traditional photonic technologies rely on mirrors, lenses, and diffraction gratings to shape light as it travels through a medium. Recent advances in material science have opened a strikingly different route. Instead of sculpting material properties in space, researchers can now dynamically modulate them in time [1]. Such temporal modulation transforms a passive medium into an active one, as the act of modulation itself can inject or extract energy. Adding a temporal dimension to material design confronts long-standing notions of light–matter interactions and reveals phenomena with no static counterpart. Now Bumki Min of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and his collaborators have exploited this capability to reshape the photonic density of states (DOS), which quantifies the number of available optical modes into which light can be emitted [2].

3D particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate first true steady state in turbulent plasma

Plasma is a state of matter that emerges when a gas is heated to sufficiently high temperatures, prompting some electrons to become free from atoms. This state of matter has been the focus of many astrophysical studies, as predictions suggest that it would be found in the proximity of various cosmological objects, including pulsars and black holes.

Previous research findings suggest that the environment around these celestial objects is turbulent, which essentially means that magnetic fields and electric fields within it fluctuate chaotically across many scales. These chaotic fluctuations would in turn influence the movements and acceleration of particles.

Researchers have been trying to reproduce the turbulent environment associated with the emergence of in space using numerical simulations. However, they were so far unable to realize a steady state in which a system’s properties no longer change over time, such as that one might observe in real cosmic systems.

Termite observations reveal their sophisticated technique to prevent contamination in fungal crop

Some species of termites are known to cultivate their own crops of fungus within their nests, similar to the way humans maintain farms to feed people. One such species is Odontotermes obesus, which cultivates the fungus Termitomyces. The relationship between these termites and the fungus can be thought of as a sort of symbiotic one. In this case, Termitomyces feeds the termites, and the termites protect the fungus from an invasive “weed-like” fungus called Pseudoxylaria can quickly overrun Termitomyces if left to its own devices.

A new study, published in Science, sheds some light on the methods these insects use to protect their crops, which was previously unclear. The research team investigated these methods through a series of experiments in which Pseudoxylaria was introduced into the termite’s crop of Termitomyces combs.

In the first part of the experiment, only a small amount of weed was placed on a comb, and the termites’ responses were observed and compared to the response to an uninfected comb. Then, a highly infected comb was introduced next to a healthy comb, and termite responses were observed. Finally, the team attached a healthy comb to an infected comb to find out how the termites responded. Then, the boluses, which were used by the termites to cover certain pieces of comb, were analyzed for microbial content and fungistatic properties using sequencing and inhibition assays.

Physics-informed AI learns local rules behind flocking and collective motion behaviors

Researchers at Seoul National University and Kyung Hee University report a framework to control collective motions, such as ring, clumps, mill, flock, by training a physics-informed AI to learn the local rules that govern interactions among individuals.

The paper is published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

The approach specifies when an ordered state should appear from random initial conditions and tunes geometric features (average radius, cluster size, flock size). Furthermore, trained on published GPS trajectories of real pigeons, the model uncovers interaction mechanisms observed in real flocks.

Novel film manufacturing technique lets robots walk on water

Imagine tiny robots zipping across the surface of a lake to check water quality or searching for people in flooded areas. This technology is moving closer to reality thanks to work by researchers at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Inspired by nature and insects such as water striders that walk on water, they created two prototype devices that can propel themselves across liquid surfaces.

The first, called HydroFlexor, paddles across a surface using fin-like motions. The second, named HydroBuckler, “walks” forward with a buckling motion that mimics the water-walking insects. The key innovation that made this possible is a technology developed by the team called HydroSpread.

To float and move on the surface of a liquid, robots need ultrathin, flexible films. Traditional approaches to making such films involve manufacturing them on a rigid surface, such as glass, and then transferring them to water, which often damages or breaks the film. However, the HydroSpread technique allows the films to be made directly on the liquid.

When mom and dad’s DNA don’t match up, the embryo finds a way

When a sperm meets an egg, a lot has to go right for an embryo to develop into a complete organism. One critical step of early development is the reorganization of parental DNA to form a new unified genome, before the embryo can undergo its first cell division.

Scientists have long known that sperm and eggs bundle their DNA differently. But it’s been assumed that their centromeres—the special regions of each chromosome that act like handles to pull DNA apart during —were essentially the same. That assumption rested on the presence of protein A, or CENPA, a unique histone protein that marks centromeres and preserves their identity across each cell division and across generations.

Because CENPA acts like a molecular tag, preserving these sites as “do not erase” regions of the genome, the centromeres were thought to be functionally indistinguishable between maternal and .

Optic nerve added to multiple sclerosis criteria in major diagnostic update

The International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials led a multinational panel updating the McDonald criteria, adding the optic nerve as a fifth anatomical location and allowing specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers to support diagnosis without mandatory dissemination in time in defined scenarios.

Multiple sclerosis has long required proof that occur in different places and at different times, with MRI and CSF biomarkers gradually shortening time to treatment.

Previous revisions improved sensitivity and specificity across ages and regions, yet misdiagnosis risk still persists, especially with overlapping conditions and when access to specialized tests is limited.

Origins of the ‘Ostrich Effect’: Researchers pinpoint the age we start avoiding information—even when it’s helpful

In a world of information overload, it can feel soothing to stick your head in the sand.

Don’t want to hear what the doctor might say? It’s easy not to make a follow-up appointment. Did a favorite political candidate say something you disagreed with? The evidence can disappear with a flick of a finger.

According to psychologists, avoiding information when it’s uncomfortable is a common adult behavior, often referred to as the “Ostrich Effect.”

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