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Stars defy black hole by showing stable orbits around Sagittarius A*

An international research team led by PD Dr. Florian Peissker at the University of Cologne has used the new observation instrument ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility in Chile to show that several so-called “dusty objects” follow stable orbits around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A at the center of our galaxy.

Earlier studies had surmised that some of these objects could be swallowed up by the black hole. New data refute this assumption. The findings have been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

750 Million at Risk: New Study Warns Extreme Water Scarcity Is Closer Than We Think

Climate simulations reveal that Day Zero Drought conditions are approaching rapidly worldwide, putting vast populations at risk of severe water scarcity. A new study in Nature Communications from researchers at the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in the Republic

Physics’ Strangest Prediction: Researchers Propose Way to Finally “See” the Warmth of the Vacuum

A subtle timing flash may expose the Unruh effect. The approach ties ordinary lab tools to deep quantum physics. Researchers at Stockholm University and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali have identified a practical method for detecting one of physics’ most unus

The Weird Hybrid Material That Could Turbocharge Photonic Computing

Researchers have created gyromorphs, a new material that controls light more effectively than any structure used so far in photonic chips.

These hybrid patterns combine order and disorder in a way that stops light from entering from any angle. The discovery solves major limitations found in quasicrystals and other engineered materials. It may open the door to faster, more efficient light-powered computers.

Light-based computers and the need for better materials.

Association of blood-based DNA methylation of lncRNAs with Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis

DNA methylation has shown great potential in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) blood diagnosis. However, the ability of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which can be modified by DNA methylation, to serve as noninvasive biomarkers for AD diagnosis remains unclear.

We performed logistic regression analysis of DNA methylation data from the blood of patients with AD compared and normal controls to identify epigenetically regulated (ER) lncRNAs. Through five machine learning algorithms, we prioritized ER lncRNAs associated with AD diagnosis. An AD blood diagnosis model was constructed based on lncRNA methylation in Australian Imaging, Biomarkers, and Lifestyle (AIBL) subject and verified in two large blood-based studies, the European collaboration for the discovery of novel biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AddNeuroMed) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). In addition, the potential biological functions and clinical associations of lncRNAs were explored, and their neuropathological roles in AD brain tissue were estimated via cross-tissue analysis.

We characterized the ER lncRNA landscape in AD blood, which is strongly related to AD occurrence and process. Fifteen ER lncRNAs were prioritized to construct an AD blood diagnostic and nomogram model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the decision and calibration curves show that the model has good prediction performance. We found that the targets and lncRNAs were correlated with AD clinical features. Moreover, cross-tissue analysis revealed that the lncRNA ENSG0000029584 plays both diagnostic and neuropathological roles in AD.

The body’s molecular mail revealed: Scientists decode blood’s hidden messengers

Every second, trillions of tiny parcels travel through your bloodstream—carrying vital information between your body’s cells. Now, scientists at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute have opened this molecular mail for the first time, revealing its contents in astonishing detail.

In research published in Nature Cell Biology, Professor David W. Greening and Dr. Alin Rai have mapped the complete molecular blueprint of extracellular vesicles (EVs)—nanosized particles in blood that act as the body’s secret messengers.

For decades, researchers have known that EVs exist, ferrying proteins, fats, and genetic material that mirror the health of their cells of origin. But because blood is a complex mixture—packed with cholesterol, antibodies, and millions of other particles—isolating EVs has long been one of science’s toughest challenges.

Humans may be born with preconfigured brains that help us understand the world

In a fascinating new study, scientists used pieces of human brain tissue to demonstrate that neural circuits produce electrical patterns very early in the development process, even before senses are active.

These experiments at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and other labs suggest that the brain comes with built-in timing rules for thoughts.

Asteroid loaded with amino acids offers new clues about the origin of life on Earth

One of the most elegant theories about the origins of life on our planet is that it was kick-started by a delivery from outer space. This idea suggests that prebiotic molecules—the building blocks of life—were transported here by asteroids or other celestial bodies. While these molecules have been found in meteorite samples that have crash-landed on Earth, the findings have been complicated by the possibility of contamination from our environment.

But now these building blocks have been found on an ancient asteroid untouched by Earth’s environment. That asteroid is called Bennu, a primitive object that hasn’t changed much since the birth of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. It last swung by our neighborhood in 2020, when a NASA spacecraft landed on its surface, scooped up some samples, and brought them back home.

Probing the quantum nature of black holes through entropy

In a study published in Physical Review Letters, physicists have demonstrated that black holes satisfy the third law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy remains positive and vanishes at extremely low temperatures, just like ordinary quantum systems. The finding provides strong evidence that black holes possess isolated ground states, a hallmark of quantum mechanical behavior.

Understanding gravity’s quantum behavior is among the biggest open questions facing modern physics. Black holes are used as laboratories for investigating quantum gravity, particularly at low temperatures where quantum effects become visible.

Prior calculations showed that black hole entropy might become negative at low temperatures, a result that appeared physically puzzling. In this work, researchers addressed the paradox by incorporating wormhole effects in the two-dimensional Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity model.

Humans and artificial neural networks exhibit some similar patterns during learning

Past psychology and behavioral science studies have identified various ways in which people’s acquisition of new knowledge can be disrupted. One of these, known as interference, occurs when humans are learning new information and this makes it harder for them to correctly recall knowledge that they had acquired earlier.

Interestingly, a similar tendency was also observed in artificial neural networks (ANNs), computational models inspired by biological neurons and the connections between them. In ANNs, interference can manifest as so-called catastrophic forgetting, a process via which models “unlearn” specific skills or information after they are trained on a new task.

In some other instances, knowledge acquired in the past can instead help humans or ANNs to learn how to complete a new task. This phenomenon, known as “transfer,” entails the application of existing knowledge of skills to a novel task or problem.

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