By tuning proton transport, researchers aim for ‘mild‘ uncoupling that preserves ATP – and avoids the historical trap of overheating.
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Direct 3D printing of nanolasers can boost optical computing and quantum security
In future high-tech industries, such as high-speed optical computing for massive AI, quantum cryptographic communication, and ultra-high-resolution augmented reality (AR) displays, nanolasers—which process information using light—are gaining significant attention as core components for next-generation semiconductors.
A research team has proposed a new manufacturing technology capable of high-density placement of nanolasers on semiconductor chips, which process information in spaces thinner than a human hair.
A joint research team led by Professor Ji Tae Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor Junsuk Rho from POSTECH, has developed an ultra-fine 3D printing technology capable of creating “vertical nanolasers,” a key component for ultra-high-density optical integrated circuits.
Jupiter’s moon Europa lacks the undersea activity needed to support life, study suggests
The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean of liquid salt water. For decades, scientists have wondered whether that ocean could harbor the right conditions for life, placing Europa near the top of the list of solar system bodies to explore.
A new study led by Paul Byrne, an associate professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences, throws cold water on the idea that Europa could support life at the seafloor. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Co-authors from the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences include Professor Philip Skemer, associate chair of the department; Professor Jeffrey Catalano; Douglas Wiens, the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor; and graduate student Henry Dawson. Byrne, Skemer, Catalano, Wiens, and Dawson are also members of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.
Rare ‘firework morphology’ of supernova remnant Pa 30 may be due to white dwarf wind
In 1181 AD, a bright “guest star” was observed to linger in the sky for around six months. Nearly 850 years later, the likely remnants of this event were rediscovered and tentatively linked to the 1181 supernova and dubbed supernova remnant (SNR) Pa 30. Yet, this supernova remnant was unique in appearance and researchers have struggled to understand why.
New census of sun’s neighbors reveals best potential real estate for life
A new study led by a Georgia State University astronomy graduate student is a major step forward in the search for stars that could host Earth-like planets that may prove to be good havens for life to develop. Sebastián Carrazco-Gaxiola shared the results at the January 2026 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Ariz.
“This survey marks the first comprehensive look at thousands of the sun’s lower-mass cousins,” Carrazco-Gaxiola said. “These stars, known as ‘K dwarfs,’ are commonly found throughout space, and they provide a long-term, stable environment for their planetary companions.”
Astronomers build molecular cloud atlas for nearby Andromeda galaxy
Astronomers from Cardiff University, UK, have employed the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) to explore the nearby Andromeda galaxy. Results of the observational campaign, published December 27 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield important insights into the molecular cloud system of this galaxy.
Molecular clouds are huge complexes of interstellar gas and dust left over from the formation of galaxies, composed mostly of molecular hydrogen. Such clouds with masses greater than 100,000 solar masses are called giant molecular clouds (GMCs). In general, GMCs are 15–600 light years in diameter and are the coldest and densest parts of the interstellar medium.
The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 152,000 light years and a mass of some 1.5 trillion solar masses.
Young galaxies grow up fast: Research reveals unexpected chemical maturity
Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies were fervently producing new stars.
The observations focused on 18 galaxies located 12.5 billion light-years away. They were imaged across a range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to radio over the past eight years by a trio of telescopes: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope; NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST); and ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile, of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a partner. Data from other ground-based telescopes were also used to make measurements, such as the total mass of stars in the galaxies.
“With this sample, we are uniquely poised to study galaxy evolution during a key epoch in the universe that has been hard to image until now,” says Andreas Faisst, a staff scientist at IPAC, a science and data center for astronomy at Caltech. “Thanks to these exceptional telescopes, we have spatially resolved these galaxies and can observe the stages of star formation as they were happening and their chemical properties when our universe was less than a billion years old.”
A stress-related chemical could initiate symptoms of depression
Depression, one of the most prevalent mental health disorders worldwide, is characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, impaired daily functioning and a loss of interest in daily activities, often along with altered sleeping and eating patterns. Past research findings suggest that stress can play a key role in the emergence of depressive symptoms, yet the biological processes via which it might increase the risk of depression remain poorly understood.
Researchers at Wenzhou Medical University, Capital Medical University and other institutes in China recently carried out a study investigating the biological processes that could link stress to the onset of depression. Their results, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that stress influences the levels of a chemical known as formaldehyde (FA) in specific parts of the brain, which could in turn disrupt their normal functioning, contributing to the emergence of depression.
Humans may be predisposed to understanding the complexities of music
There is a long-standing debate in the field of music cognition about the impact of musical training and whether formal training is needed to pick up higher-order tonal structures—the overarching harmonic framework of a piece of music.
New research from the University of Rochester, published in Psychological Science, offers fresh insight into that discussion. The findings suggest that nonmusicians have a surprisingly sophisticated ear when it comes to music.
“Formal training in music—including music theory—fine-tunes the ear to pick up tonal patterns in music, like tonic, dominant, and cadences,” says Elise Piazza, an assistant professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Neuroscience and the senior author of the study. “But it turns out that with zero training, people are actually picking up on those structures just from listening to music over the lifespan.”