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Signal-folding design helps neuromorphic chip slash AI energy use

Artificial intelligence systems, such as large language models (LLMs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), can analyze large amounts of data and rapidly generate desired content or identify meaningful patterns. However, when running on existing hardware, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, these systems typically consume a large amount of energy.

Over the past decade or so, electronics engineers have been increasingly working on alternative hardware systems that could run AI models more energy efficiently. Many of these systems are neuromorphic, meaning that they are inspired by the structure and functioning of the human brain.

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the Chinese University of Hong Kong recently introduced a new approach for designing neuromorphic computing hardware based on two-dimensional materials. Their proposed strategy, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, was used to develop a chip based on the 2D semiconductor molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) that can reliably run AI algorithms while consuming less power.

Precision DNA editing targets root cause of severe childhood epilepsy in preclinical study

Gene editing can repair a DNA error in mice that causes Dravet syndrome, a rare, incurable, and potentially deadly form of childhood epilepsy. After the edit, the mice have far fewer seizures and live much longer. As published in Science Translational Medicine, the results suggest that a one-time genetic correction could someday treat the root cause of the disease rather than just managing its symptoms. The work represents a major step for genetic medicine, as restoring disease-relevant brain function with gene editing tools remains a major challenge.

The study also reflects growing momentum behind gene editing as a therapeutic platform for rare diseases. In February 2026, the Food and Drug Administration issued its Plausible Mechanism Framework guidance, outlining a regulatory pathway for individualized therapies targeting specific genetic conditions. It recognizes that for rare genetic diseases, a well-characterized biological mechanism can serve as the foundation for approval where large clinical trials are not feasible.

“For families affected by Dravet syndrome, our study provides proof of concept that a genetic correction approach could have real impact, a future with treatments that don’t just manage the disease but actually address its cause,” said Matthew Simon, a senior study director at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) Rare Disease Translational Center (RDTC) who co-led the study. “We’re at an inflection point in genetic medicine, where we can now actually repair the DNA itself.”

Chemists discover and isolate a new boron–oxygen molecule

Oxygen is a cornerstone of chemistry, largely because it is so good at building the organic molecules that make up our world. Some oxygen-based compounds called peroxides are famous for being highly reactive—they act like oxygen delivery trucks, transferring atoms to other molecules. This process is essential for everything from creating new medicines to industrial manufacturing.

In a study published in Nature Chemistry, researchers from the labs of MIT professors Christopher C. Cummins and Robert J. Gilliard, Jr. have revealed a brand-new type of peroxide containing boron. This molecule, called a dioxaborirane, represents a major advance in a field where such structures were long-proposed, but considered too unstable to actually isolate.

A twinkling pulsar reveals invisible structures in space

The twinkling stars in the night sky are not just beautiful to look at. Their flickering reveals something about the varying temperatures and densities in the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, which refract the light as it travels toward us. Certain stellar remnants that emit radio waves can exhibit a very similar effect.

Although their radio waves—which have longer wavelengths than visible light—can penetrate Earth’s atmosphere almost undisturbed, they are scattered by the thin gas between the stars. Their twinkling—known as scintillation—thus provides unique insights into interstellar space.

An international team led by Tim Sprenger from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) has measured the flickering radio radiation from an object using an innovative observation technique. The results are published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Statistical technique could uncover secrets of ‘ringing’ black holes

Researchers have developed a technique to analyze how black holes “ring” when they collide and merge: one of the universe’s most dramatic events. When black holes merge, the collision produces a new, larger black hole that “rings” like a plucked guitar string or a bell while it settles into its final, stable shape. But instead of sound waves, the new black hole rings with gravitational waves: ripples in spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein.

The new black hole vibrates at a specific set of frequencies, depending on its mass and spin, which help scientists learn about the object formed in the collision.

These vibrations, known as quasinormal modes, are the fingerprint of a black hole. Detecting them is central to testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the most extreme gravitational environments in the universe.

Dual spacecraft capture both hemispheres of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS at once

The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper made unique observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in late 2025. SwRI leads the UVS instruments on both spacecraft, simultaneously imaging both hemispheres of the comet and detecting the comet’s ultraviolet emissions.

Only the third recognized interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, entered our solar system in July of 2025.

“As the comet passed between Juice and Europa Clipper, we were able to informally coordinate observations between the two spacecraft,” said Dr. Kurt Retherford, the principal investigator of Juice-UVS and Europa-UVS. “Crucially, we observed hydrogen, oxygen and carbon emissions. These elements are produced when gases escaping the comet’s nucleus break apart into atoms when exposed to sunlight.”

Quantum geometry provides theoretical limits on measurable properties of solids

Two RIKEN physicists have established new theoretical limits for experimentally measurable quantities by viewing solids through a lens of quantum geometry. Their results shed light both on the physics of solids and on quantum mechanics.

The usual approach to studying a solid in physics is to consider all the interactions acting between its atoms or molecules and then use the laws of quantum mechanics to determine the solid’s properties. But a new methodology involves considering the “quantum geometry” of a solid. It entails studying the geometric structures that arise not in physical space, but in the space of quantum states.

One of the key concepts in this approach is the quantum geometric tensor—a matrix that contains information about the distances and curvatures of quantum states.

Torpedo bats may shift baseball’s sweet spot, acoustic analysis shows

In the spring of 2025, baseball fans were treated to a surprise when the New York Yankees began the season with a unique style of bat. Termed “torpedo bats,” these new designs tapered slightly toward the end, so the widest points of the bats were closer to the “sweet spot”—the optimal place to hit to send the ball flying. In theory, this shape was more ergonomic, giving the Yankees an advantage at the plate.

But for all its fanfare, one question remains: Is the torpedo bat actually better?

Dan Russell from Pennsylvania State University presented his acoustic analysis of torpedo bats at the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11–15.

Tiny forces, big effects: How particle interactions control the flow of soft materials

Sitting in a restaurant, you reach for the ketchup bottle, eyeing the basket of fries in front of you. You give the bottle a shake, then a tap. For a moment, nothing happens—the ketchup clings stubbornly to the glass. Then, all at once, it lets go and rushes out, sometimes in a steady stream, sometimes in a messy surge that threatens to flood the basket.

That awkward moment when ketchup stops behaving like a solid and suddenly starts flowing like a liquid is called “yielding.” Scientists see the same kind of behavior in many everyday and advanced materials, from toothpaste, paints and concrete to 3D-printing inks and electrodes used in next-generation batteries. Yet, what actually causes a material to hold its shape one moment and suddenly let go the next has been surprisingly hard to pin down, especially deep inside dense, opaque fluids where particle motion is difficult to see.

3D atomic rearrangement creates 40,000 quantum defects in 40 minutes

It’s been 37 years since scientists first demonstrated the ability to move single atoms, suggesting the possibility of designing materials atom by atom to customize their properties. Today there are several techniques that allow researchers to move individual atoms in order to give materials exotic quantum properties and improve our understanding of quantum behavior.

But existing techniques can only move atoms across the surface of materials in two dimensions. Most also require painstakingly slow processes and high-vacuum, ultracold lab conditions.

Now a team of researchers at MIT, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and other institutions has created a way to precisely move tens of thousands of individual atoms within a material in minutes at room temperature. The approach uses a set of algorithms to carefully position an electron beam at specific locations of a material, then scan the beam to drive atomic motions.

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