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Brain histamine map connects genes to brain function and mental health

New research from King’s College London and the University of Porto has mapped the histamine system in the brain. Histamine, a molecule more commonly associated with allergies, plays a separate but poorly understood role in brain function. This study addresses this gap, building the first multiscale map of the histamine system that spans from genetics to behavior and related mental health conditions.

The findings provide a new framework for understanding how this often-overlooked chemical system contributes to brain function and could point toward new treatment strategies for histamine-related conditions such as depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia. The study is published in Nature Mental Health.

Histamine is a neurotransmitter, a molecule crucial for neurons to communicate with one another. Neuroscience research has classically focused on understanding other neurotransmitter systems such as dopamine and serotonin.

Between ego and faith: Motivational, affective, and cognitive dimensions of religious engagement in narcissism

At first glance, narcissism and religion seem like an unlikely pair. Religious traditions usually promote humility, selflessness, and community care. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by egotism, a sense of superiority, and a strong feeling of entitlement. This stark contrast raises an interesting question about how individuals with strong narcissistic traits interact with religious beliefs and communities.

Previous studies looking at broad connections between narcissism and religion have yielded mixed results. Some research suggests religious individuals actually score higher on general narcissism scales than non-religious people. Other sets of data show no significant relationship at all between grandiose narcissism and a person’s overall level of faith. To make sense of these apparent contradictions, researchers decided to break down both narcissism and religiosity into more specific categories.

“What drew my attention was that although research on trait narcissism has been growing rapidly, we still know relatively little about how it relates to religiosity,” said study author Julia Tokarz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Psychology and a member of the Personality Intelligence Cognition Lab. “Previous studies were quite limited and did not take into account the current three-factor model of narcissism.”

Abstract.

Although the link between narcissism and religiosity appears to be ambiguous, a more nuanced approach to both constructs may reveal specific patterns. This research aimed to explore links between different dimensions of narcissism and various aspects of religiosity. Study 1 revealed that all facets of narcissism (agentic, antagonistic, neurotic, communal) were associated with extrinsic religious orientation, indicating an overall stronger desire to engage in religious practices driven by instrumental motives. In the second study, agentic and antagonistic narcissism were related to a punitive God’s image, whereas the antagonistic facet was also inversely related to positive religious coping, loving God image, and general religiosity. In the third study, divine entitlement (i.e.

Finding Stardust in the Ice

For the past tens of thousands of years, our Solar System has been traversing the local interstellar cloud (LIC), one of the 15 clouds of gas and dust that occupy the Sun’s neighborhood. Dust that might have come from the LIC has been found on Earth’s surface, its interstellar origins earmarked by an iron isotope produced in supernovae (see Synopsis: Seeking Stardust in the Snow). Now more traces of iron-60 (60 Fe) have turned up, this time buried in ancient Antarctic ice [1]. Dominik Koll of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany led the team that purified and analyzed the ice. He and his colleagues inferred that the LIC is the likeliest source of the 60 Fe and that the LIC is the result of past supernova activity.

Gas and dust trapped in the layers of Earth’s ice sheets provide a record of past environments. Koll and colleagues took 300 kg of an Antarctic ice core, representing the period 40–80 thousand years ago. They melted the ice, extracted the radionuclides, and used mass spectrometers to identify 60 Fe along with manganese-53. The latter is produced with 60 Fe when cosmic rays strike interplanetary dust. Because the researchers found more 60 Fe than expected from this “local” source, they concluded that the surplus came from beyond the Solar System.

Combining measurements from contemporary Antarctic snow and recent deep-sea sediments, Koll’s team reconstructed the influx of 60 Fe to Earth over the past 80 thousand years. The measured profile showed a very low 60 Fe influx around the time the Solar System entered the LIC, a peak while traversing the cloud, and a gradual decline as it nears the exit. The most direct explanation for the pattern is that the LIC is part of a single supernova remnant, but other explanations are in play.

A Solid-State Pathway to Neutrino Mass

New density-functional-theory calculations describe the radioactive decay of tritium bound to graphene, offering a way to model experiments that could open cleaner windows onto neutrino mass.

The discovery that neutrinos oscillate—shifting among three “flavors” (electron, muon, and tau) as they propagate—showed that these elusive particles must have mass. Yet their absolute mass scale and the mass ordering (whether the lightest neutrino state is predominantly electron-, muon-, or tau-like) remain unknown. Determining these properties is a central goal of modern particle physics. A promising approach involves measuring the energy spectrum of electrons emitted in nuclear decay, particularly from tritium: Because the neutrino carries away part of the decay energy, a nonzero neutrino mass slightly modifies the spectrum of emitted electrons. Precision experiments such as KATRIN have pushed this method to its limit, setting an upper bound of about 0.45 eV on the neutrino mass [1]. While KATRIN uses molecular tritium gas, new strategies aim to go further by embedding tritium in engineered materials.

Barbell ‘whip’ may shape Olympic lifts more than lifters realize

In Olympic weightlifting, a single kilogram plate can be the difference between gold and silver. As much as possible, elite athletes must use everything they can to their advantage.

One of these variables is known as the barbell’s “whip,” the bouncy bendiness of a bar under dynamic movements. Joshua Langlois, a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, presented his work studying these Olympic barbell vibrations at the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11–15.

“Weightlifters use the bar’s whip to assist in the upward acceleration by timing the oscillation of the bar so that they drive upwards into the bar when the vibration in the bar is already moving the weight upwards,” Langlois said.

Liquid crystals enable on‑demand skyrmion formation at room temperature

Researchers have recently found a new way to summon useful structures in magnetic materials using light, heat, and electric fields. This new method, described in a new study published in Physical Review Letters, may lead to more energy-efficient and flexible technologies for data storage and optical devices.

Within the realm of condensed matter physics, scientists study how macroscopic properties emerge from the interactions of vast numbers of microscopic particles in materials. In magnetic materials, skyrmions—nanoscale, topologically stable swirling magnetic structures—arise under certain conditions.

While they have been observed in magnets, superconductors, and liquid crystals, their nucleation is often random or requires extreme conditions. Creating these structures on demand is difficult due to high energy barriers and lack of easy, reversible control.

Mostly empty foam overturns assumptions of electron beam stopping

When physicists fire beams of fast electrons at materials, they often need to know exactly how much energy those electrons will lose as they travel through. Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Ke Jiang at Shenzhen Technology University in China has found that porous, mostly empty foam materials can stop high-current electron beams far more effectively than denser materials—overturning many previous assumptions about how these beams interact with solid materials.

When a beam of electrons travels through a solid, its energy is lost through collisions with the atoms and electrons already present in the material. But when electron beams carry extremely intense currents, driving electrons to travel close to the speed of light, individual collisions are no longer the dominant factor.

Instead, the beam generates powerful electromagnetic fields as it moves, which shape how the beam propagates and loses energy. In fields ranging from nuclear fusion to studies of planetary interiors, it is often crucial for physicists to manage this energy loss as tightly as possible.

Atomic bands in two transition metal dichalcogenides hint at long-theorized quantum state

Insulators are materials in which electrons cannot move freely. Past theoretical studies predicted the existence of an unusual insulating state dubbed obstructed atomic insulator (OAI), in which electrons are localized inside a crystal, while their centers of charge lie in empty spaces between atoms, rather than on the atoms themselves.

Two independent research teams, one at Princeton University and Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), and the other at Columbia University recently observed signatures of this long-theorized quantum state in two different transition metal dichalcogenides, niobium diselenide (NbSe₂) and tungsten diselenide (WSe₂). Their papers, both of which were published in Nature Physics, could open new possibilities for the study of topological quantum phenomena.

Natural malaria immunity: Human volunteers may hold the secret to why some people never get sick

People living in regions where malaria outbreaks are common experience repeated exposure to the disease, which gradually teaches the body how to fight back. Over time, they develop naturally acquired immunity that helps the body control the density of malaria parasites (Plasmodium falciparum) in the blood and prevent the development of clinical symptoms.

A recent study set out to pinpoint the specific parts of the malaria parasite that the immune system targets to protect the body from disease. The researchers deliberately infected 142 Kenyan adults known to be immune to malaria, then monitored their symptoms and parasite levels. They successfully identified six merozoite antigens —proteins on the surface of the malaria parasite—that were linked to natural immunity against the disease. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

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