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Stanford scientist discusses Nobel Prize-winning work in neuroscience

Stanford University scientist Dr. Karl Deisseroth, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, joined California Tonight to discuss his groundbreaking work in a revolutionary field in neuroscience that holds promise for treating conditions from autism to schizophrenia.

Optogenetics, the field for which Deisseroth and two colleagues were honored, uses light to both map and control very specific parts of the brain. He explained, “It’s the opposite of how you normally think about imaging. We think about using light to collect information, but this is using light to make things happen, to control things. The beauty of that is that we can make it very precise, much more precise than an electrode or medication could be. And we do this, here’s the twist, we borrow a gene from a single-celled organism, a microbe that happens to make a beautiful little protein, a little biomolecule that’s a light-activated regulator of electricity.”

Exploring the potential of regenerative medicine

The science of ageing is an area of intense activity, offering the possibility of extending healthspan as well as lifespan. Saisei Pharma, a Japanese biotechnology company founded in 2014, is asking big questions about the potential of regenerative medicine. Here, Toshio Inui, CEO of Saisei Mirai Group, and a visiting professor at Kagoshima University in Kyushu, Japan, explains why recent advances in ageing research are so exciting.

Why is ageing research important?

Ageing is the single greatest common risk factor for many chronic diseases. As we age, our physical functions decline and we become more prone to develop age-related diseases, such as dementia, cancer, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes and impaired kidney function.

An extremely old giant tortoise named Jonathan may hold the secret to a long, healthy life

An international collaboration led by a neurologist and experts in advanced genomics at Vanderbilt Health has coaxed one of the secrets of extreme longevity from a 194-year-old giant tortoise named Jonathan.

Jonathan’s secret involves entropy, the tendency of biological systems to become disordered over time.

One of the hallmarks of aging is mitochondrial dysfunction. It results from increasing entropy, or disorder, in “promoters,” the genetic on-and-off switches that regulate the efficiency of mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles in most animal cells. A reliable supply of cellular energy is essential for many biological processes.

What Causes Lightning? The Answer Keeps Getting More Interesting

Fascinating article which discusses researchers’ explorations into why lightning occurs, including a recent hypothesis that cosmic rays trigger lightning cascades within Earth’s clouds!

Armed with a slew of new instruments, physicists are closing in on one of nature’s oldest mysteries — and finding that storm clouds are seething with violent and unexpected phenomena.

Archimedes screw inspires single-molecule motor powered by electric current

Molecular machines are regarded as the next step in miniaturization. Their models can be found in living cells, where molecular motors convert energy and generate movement. Scientists have been working for decades to artificially replicate such systems. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for this research.

Molecular motors powered directly by an electric current have been in existence since 2011. Until now, however, they have only functioned as molecules on a surface, driven by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.

For their new machine, the researchers drew inspiration from one of humanity’s oldest documented machines: the Archimedes screw, which transports water uphill. The researchers applied the principle of the Archimedes screw at the molecular level. Instead of water, electrons flow through a helical structure, setting it in rotation.

The International Myeloma Foundation Launches US Myeloma Network to Accelerate Clinical Trials, Expand Access, and Improve Patient Care

This is exciting news!

LOS ANGELES and STUDIO CITY, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) announced the launch of the US Myeloma Network (USMN) — a first-of-its-kind national clinical research network designed to accelerate the prevention and cure of multiple myeloma by advancing scientific discovery, expanding access to clinical trials, and ensuring more patients benefit from breakthrough therapies. Johnson & Johnson joins this initiative as the network’s first industry collaborator. The USMN will focus on clinical trials with the potential to change clinical practice across care settings, accelerating the delivery of innovative therapies and new treatment approaches to patients.

The USMN connects leading academic centers, community oncology practices and industry partners through a coordinated national infrastructure designed to streamline trial activation, reduce operational barriers, expand equitable access to clinical trials, and accelerate the development of more effective therapies across the continuum of myeloma care – from prevention and early intervention through relapsed and refractory disease.

“The future of myeloma depends on our ability to bring scientific innovation to patients more quickly and more equitably,” said S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Mayo Clinic, Chairperson of the International Myeloma Foundation. “The US Myeloma Network creates an unprecedented opportunity to unite investigators across the country through a coordinated research infrastructure that accelerates clinical trials, expands patient participation, and advances the discoveries that will ultimately lead to the prevention—and one day the cure—of multiple myeloma.”

The critics of the effective altruism movement don’t understand it, that’s exactly why they’re attacking it

Legendary philosopher Peter Singer defends effective altruism. I don’t self-identify as an EA, but I do think highly of the core thesis of using data to decide what actions will do the most good. I do consider myself a longtermist — a philosophical stance which is often thought of as existing under the EA umbrella. Note: there is a common misconception that longtermists *only* care about the long term future, which is false. Most care about the long term future as one major priority, but certainly don’t think we should ignore the issues of today.

When the US Department of War posted on X that they were focused on “Americanism, not effective altruism”, it said much more about them than about the movement I helped to launch 15 years ago.

The simple fact is that while President Trump’s popularity has reached an almost unprecedented-26% approval, rivalled by only Nixon after Watergate, the movement that his administration is spending its time attacking enjoys majority support among those who are familiar with its tenets.

Perhaps that’s why The Economist cover this week has termed it “this century’s biggest idea” because ultimately, a movement focused on the simple question of how to do the most good possible with the resources we have is not, as an internal memo circulating in the White House termed it, “putting shrimp over families”