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Artificial ‘leaf’ powers wireless biomedical device

Plants convert light into energy efficiently through photosynthesis—an ability that scientists and engineers still struggle to match with electronic devices. Recently, researchers have looked beyond traditional semiconductor materials to create devices using a promising class of materials called nanoplasmonics. These tiny metal structures can absorb and concentrate optical energy and generate energetic charge carriers.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and Department of Chemistry developed a nanoplasmonic “leaf,” a wireless bioelectronic device they used to stimulate nerves and pace heartbeats in an animal model.

The team also showed that their material could be used as a computer-like sensing platform, where users can interact with the screen using invisible light—a potentially secure way to transmit information.

Some patient groups are far more vulnerable to near-perfect privacy attacks from medical AI

From detecting pneumonia on a chest X-ray to assessing whether a dark spot on the skin is benign or malignant, medical AI systems are playing an increasingly important role in clinical diagnosis. Unfortunately, the models used to train these AI systems are often victims of cyberattacks, specifically membership inference attacks (MIAs), which can lead to people’s personal information being stolen or revealed.

In a recent study, researchers conducted a first-ever patient-level privacy audit to see how easily individual patients could be identified from the underlying data used to train medical AI models.

At first glance, an AI model may appear to protect everyone’s privacy equally well, but a closer look reveals a different story. Researchers found that attackers can identify certain individual patients with near-perfect accuracy, exposing a hidden unfairness in privacy.

Detect Dangerous Gases in Seconds With New Technology

A groundbreaking method known as coherently controlled quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy has been developed to detect and identify gases at very low concentrations rapidly.

This new technique, with promising applications in environmental monitoring, early cancer detection, and chemical process safety, allows for comprehensive gas analysis in mere seconds, a process that traditionally took much longer.

Enhanced sensitivity in trace gas detection.

ROS-producing enzymes guide plant cell division and tissue patterning, gene-editing study shows

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced naturally during cellular metabolism often cause oxidative damage to cells. However, these molecules also play an important role in normal cellular signaling. While ROS are established as essential signaling molecules in various organisms, their precise role in basic plant development and morphogenesis remains unclear.

A family of enzymes known as NADPH oxidases (NOXs) generates ROS that act as physiologically important signaling molecules. In plants, the NOX enzymes are known as respiratory burst oxidase homologs (RBOHs), which are implicated in diverse physiological processes. However, their contribution to plant development, including cell proliferation and ordered morphogenesis, has remained insufficiently understood.

To address this gap, a team of researchers led by Professor Kazuyuki Kuchitsu from the Department of Applied Biological Science at Tokyo University of Science (TUS) in Japan conducted a study.

Combination of Neuronavigation-Guided Focused Ultrasound… : Neurosurgery

This was a prospective, single-arm, open-label pilot trial. The primary end point was 6-month progression-free survival (PFS). Disease progression was assessed according to the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria by independent radiological review. Radiological response was evaluated using fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery sequences to compare FUS-exposed vs nonexposed regions. Plasma cell–free DNA (cfDNA) concentrations were measured before and after FUS treatment.

RESULTS:

Between July 2020 and August 2023, 6 patients received a median of 14.5 sessions of biweekly FUS-BEV (10 mg/kg). The median PFS was 11 months, with a 6-month PFS rate of 66.7%. The only FUS-related adverse event was transient scalp heating (grade 1; 1.9%). A fluid-attenuated inversion recovery normalization effect emerged within 1 month after treatment. Plasma cfDNA increased significantly post-FUS, with total cfDNA rising 2.03 ± 0.76-fold, EGFR cfDNA 1.77 ± 0.76-fold, and HMBS cfDNA 1.68 ± 0.66-fold.

Role for NANOG in human embryogenesis

New research has shown that a genome editing technique can be used to alter a single gene in human embryonic cells, enabling the study of very early human development in unparalleled detail.

The technique, called base editing, is a more precise version of the genome editing technique CRISPR/Cas9. It can change a single nucleotide base pair — the basic building block of DNA — within a human genome of approximately 3 billion base pairs.

Using base editing, the researchers blocked a gene called NANOG in very early-stage human embryos, and found that the cells of the early embryo could not develop into more specialised pluripotent cells called the epiblast — which later form the body.

Solar Storm Unexpectedly Reduces Cosmic-Ray Flux

A solar storm hitting Earth appears to have reduced the amount of incoming high-energy cosmic rays, suggesting a new way of measuring solar activity.

Solar activity has a well-known impact on the flux of low-energy cosmic rays that strike Earth. Now researchers have detected a solar-storm-induced change in the flux of higher-energy cosmic rays [1]. Using data from a large detector array in China, the team measured a decrease—over several hours—in cosmic-ray showers coming from a particular direction in the sky. The timing of this anisotropy suggests that cosmic rays heading into the outward-moving storm were preferentially scattered by the storm’s magnetic fields. The results could lead to a new way to study the magnetic structures in solar storms.

The solar wind—the spray of charged particles continually emitted by the Sun—partially shields Earth and other planets from cosmic rays that stream into the Solar System from all directions. The wind contains magnetic fields that help deflect the high-energy protons and other particles that make up the cosmic rays. In 2024, when the wind was at the peak in its 11-year cycle, the flux of cosmic rays was down by about 0.5% compared to the average.

Metal hydride molecule trapped with laser light opens path to ultracold hydrogen

Controlling and trapping molecules, units of a substance consisting of two or more chemically bound atoms, with laser light is significantly more challenging than trapping individual atoms. This is because molecules exhibit more complex vibrational and rotational dynamics that make them more difficult to cool and trap.

In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at Columbia University and Indiana University Bloomington reported the effective cooling and trapping of calcium monohydride (CaH), a molecule consisting of a calcium atom and a hydrogen atom bound together.

This was achieved using a three-dimensional (3D) magneto-optical trap (MOT), a device that uses carefully arranged laser beams and magnetic fields to cool and confine particles.

Dog-bone design helps 2D nanoribbon transistors stay fast and efficient as widths shrink

Transistors, small semiconductor-based switches that control the flow of electricity, are central components of all electronic devices, from computers to smartphones, wearables, sensors and smart appliances. Over the past decades, electronics engineers have been continuously working to boost the speed and performance of transistors while also reducing their size.

A promising approach for miniaturizing transistors entails the use of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, materials that are only one or a few atoms thick. Despite their potential, most high-performing 2D transistors have so far been demonstrated using relatively wide channels, and it has remained unclear whether their performance can be preserved when the channels are made much narrower.

Researchers at Stanford University recently developed new compact transistors based on narrow strips of monolayer 2D semiconducting materials known as nanoribbons. These transistors, introduced in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, were found to perform remarkably well despite their small size, outperforming previously developed nanoribbon transistors based on the same 2D materials.

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