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Enzyme as Maxwell’s Demon: Steady-State Deviation from Chemical Equilibrium by Enhanced Enzyme Diffusion

NoteL This is elegant theoretical physics showing an intriguing possibility, not a confirmed biological mechanism. It’s a “what if” scenario that could change how we view enzymes, but only if the controversial premise (EED) turns out to be real.

Enhanced enzyme diffusion (EED), in which the diffusion coefficient of an enzyme transiently increases during catalysis, has been extensively reported experimentally, although its existence remains under debate. In this Letter, we investigate what macroscopic consequences would arise if EED exists. Through numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that such enzymes can act as Maxwell’s demons: They use their enhanced diffusion as a memory of the previous catalytic reaction, to gain information and drive steady-state chemical concentrations away from chemical equilibrium. Our theoretical analysis identifies the conditions under which this process could operate and discusses its possible biological relevance.

Heisenberg-limited Quantum Sensing Achieves Noise Resilience Via Indefinite-Causal-Order Error Correction

The research extends beyond theoretical analysis by outlining a feasible experimental implementation using integrated photonics. This includes a detailed description of the required optical components and control sequences for realising the ICO gate and performing the quantum sensing measurements. By leveraging the advantages of integrated photonics, the proposed scheme offers a pathway towards compact and scalable quantum sensors with enhanced performance characteristics. The findings pave the way for practical applications in fields such as precision metrology, biomedical imaging, and materials science.

Indefinite Causal Order for Real-Time Error Correction

Realistic noisy devices present significant challenges to quantum technologies. Quantum error correction (QEC) offers a potential solution, but its implementation in quantum sensing is limited by the need for prior noise characterisation, restrictive signal, noise compatibility conditions, and measurement-based syndrome extraction requiring global control. Researchers have now introduced an ICO-based QEC protocol, representing the first application of indefinite causal order (ICO) to QEC. By coherently integrating auxiliary controls and noisy evolution within an indefinite causal order, the resulting noncommutative interference allows an auxiliary system to herald and correct errors in real time.

Scientists just overturned a 100-year-old rule of chemistry, and the results are “impossible”

Chemists at UCLA are showing that some of organic chemistry’s most famous “rules” aren’t as unbreakable as once thought. By creating bizarre, cage-shaped molecules with warped double bonds—structures long considered impossible—the team is opening the door to entirely new kinds of chemistry.

New Drug Slashes Dangerous Blood Fats by Nearly 40% in First Human Trial

When we eat, the body turns surplus calories into molecules called “triglycerides”, especially when those calories come from carbs, sugar, fats, and alcohol. Triglycerides are a type of fat or “lipid”, and the body stores them in fat cells to use as fuel between meals.

However, too much of this fat can become harmful. High triglyceride levels can lead to “hypertriglyceridemia” (“excess triglycerides in the blood”), a condition tied to a much higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and pancreatitis. That is why people are widely encouraged to support healthy triglyceride levels through diet and exercise, while more severe cases may require medication.

Is Betelgeuse about to explode into a supernova? Astronomers finally have an answer

Between late 2019 and early 2020, the red supergiant Betelgeuse showed signs of weakening that led many to wonder whether its long-expected explosion into a supernova just a few hundred light-years from the Solar System might be imminent. Other ideas were put forward, and more recently, fresh data have shed new light on the question.

It’s well established that stars with masses greater than eight to ten times that of the Sun won’t end up as white dwarfs like our Sun will. Instead, they explode as type II supernovae, leaving behind a neutron star and sometimes, if the mass is high enough, a stellar black hole.

Located roughly 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion, Betelgeuse is one of these stars, and it’s clearly nearing the end of its life. It sits in the red supergiant phase, outside the main sequence on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

Scientists Uncover Potential “Two-in-One” Treatment for Diabetes and Heart Disease

Earlier work linked the experimental drug ‘IC7Fc’ to improvements in type 2 diabetes, and new research now points to a possible role in cardiovascular health as well. Scientists report that the compound may lower the risk of heart disease by reducing harmful cholesterol in the bloodstream and calming inflammatory activity that damages blood vessels over time.

The findings come from a preclinical study published in Science Advances, led by researchers at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands in collaboration with Monash University and other international partners.

In experiments involving mice genetically predisposed to heart disease, treatment with IC7Fc led to clear reductions in blood fat (triglycerides) and cholesterol, markers closely linked to the development of cardiovascular complications.

Conscious AI: Conflations and Comparisons

Consciousness, like intelligence, is multi-faceted. This makes the future of AI more unpredictable and potentially even more hazardous.

When considering AIs that might be conscious, the first great conflation is to fail to distinguish between intelligence and consciousness. The suggestion is that something which is as generally intelligent as a human is bound to be as conscious as a human. General intelligence and consciousness are both intrinsic features of an advanced mind, right?

Well, no. Of course not. There’s no fundamental necessity for these two characteristics to be tightly bound together. A chatbot can provide a human companion with sparkling conversation without having its own inner sparkle of feeling. Like an actor, it can mimic expressions of emotional highs and lows whilst lacking any interior passion. It can talk persuasively about having an inner life without there being any inside inside.

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