Palachai, N., Buranrat, B., Pariwatthanakun, C. et al. Neuroprotective effects of Cratoxylum formosu m (L.) leaf extract on β-amyloid-induced injury in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Sci Rep 15, 44,730 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28739-3
A research team has developed a triangular mechanical network that can squeeze and wiggle in a multitude of preprogrammed ways [1]. The metamaterial design—realized in experiments with various materials, including Legos—may have applications from shock absorption to protein modeling. But the researchers also demonstrated that their structures can solve problems in matrix algebra. Performing computations in materials without converting information to electrical signals could be useful when durability and energy efficiency are more important than computing power, for example, in components of some soft robots.
Recent work showed that a mechanical system can perform similar computations [2]. However, this previous demonstration was limited in the number of inputs and outputs that it could accommodate, says Yair Shokef of Tel Aviv University in Israel. It also had rather large components that made it difficult to adapt to different applications.
Shokef and his colleagues, who produced the latest demonstration, built their 2D networks from equilateral triangles. Each triangle consisted of rigid beams with hinge points at each vertex and at the center of each side, for a total of three so-called corner nodes and three edge nodes per triangle. Importantly, each triangle had one or two “bonds”—beams that connected edge nodes and that determined the ways in which the triangle could be distorted or flexed.
Professor Jeong-Min Baik’s research group of the SKKU School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering has developed a reusable electrokinetic filtration platform capable of filtering more than 99% of ultrafine nanoplastic particles smaller than 50 nm even under commercial-level high-flow conditions.
Plastic pollution, which has surged in recent years through industrialization and the pandemic era, poses a direct threat to human health. In particular, nanoplastics smaller than 100 nm—thousands of times thinner than a human hair—can readily pass through biological membranes in the body and trigger serious diseases such as immune dysregulation and carcinogenicity.
However, conventional water purification systems have struggled to effectively remove nanoplastics of such small sizes, highlighting technological limitations; studies have even reported the presence of hundreds of thousands of particles in a single bottle of bottled water.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), in collaboration with astrophysicists from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, have identified the largest sulfur-bearing molecule ever found in space: 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C₆H₆S). They made this breakthrough by combining laboratory experiments with astronomical observations. The molecule resides in the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027, about 27,000 light-years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way.
With a stable six-membered ring and a total of 13 atoms, it far exceeds the size of all previously detected sulfur-containing compounds in space. The study is published in Nature Astronomy.
An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Sedat Nizamoğlu from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Koç University has developed a next-generation, safe, and wireless stimulation technology for retinal degenerative diseases that cause vision loss.
The study is published in Science Advances.
People’s perceptions and their interpretation of the world are known to often be influenced by their expectations and past experiences. One well-established example of this is serial dependence, a bias that prompts humans to make judgments about things that they are perceiving based on other stimuli that they observed shortly beforehand.
Researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of Lausanne, CHUV, The Sense Innovation and Research Center, and University of Bergen analyzed the findings of several past studies to better understand how this effect influences decision-making, particularly in situations where humans need to interpret what they are perceiving.
Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, suggest that serial dependence typically reduces the accuracy of people’s perceptions, which contradicts previous theories and hypotheses.
Catalysts are the invisible engines of hydrogen energy, governing both hydrogen production and electricity generation. Conventional catalysts are typically fabricated in granular particle form, which is easy to synthesize but suffers from inefficient use of precious metals and limited durability.
KAIST researchers have introduced a paper-thin sheet architecture in place of granules, demonstrating that a structural innovation—rather than new materials—can simultaneously reduce precious-metal usage while enhancing both hydrogen production and fuel-cell performance.
Professor EunAe Cho of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has developed a new catalyst architecture that dramatically reduces the amount of expensive precious metals required while simultaneously improving hydrogen production and fuel-cell performance.
Researchers at Kyushu University have shown that careful engineering of materials interfaces can unlock new applications for nanoscale magnetic spins, overcoming the limits of conventional electronics. Their findings, published in APL Materials, open up a promising path for tackling a key challenge in the field and ushering in a new era of next-generation information devices.
The study centers around magnetic skyrmions—swirling, nanoscale magnetic structures that behave like particles. Skyrmions possess three key features that make them useful as data carriers in information devices: nanoscale size for high capacity, compatibility with high-speed operations in the GHz range, and the ability to be moved around with very low electrical currents.
A skyrmion-based device could, in theory, surpass modern electronics in applications such as large-scale AI computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and other big data applications.
Beyond their sparkle, diamonds have hidden talents. They shed heat better than any material, tolerate extreme temperatures and radiation, and handle high voltages while wasting almost no electricity—ideal traits for compact, high-power devices. These properties make diamond-based electronics promising for applications in the power grid, industrial power switches, and places with high radiation, such as space or nuclear reactors.
Diamond’s ability to quickly carry heat away from electronic components allows devices to handle large currents and voltages without overheating. This means smaller devices can be used to switch to high power in the grid or in industrial settings. Diamond’s natural resistance to radiation and extreme temperatures could enable electronics to work reliably in places where traditional silicon devices fail.