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Snap-through effect helps engineers solve soft material motion trade-off

Everyday occurrences like snapping hair clips or clicking retractable pens feature a mechanical phenomenon known as “snap-through.” Small insects and plants like the Venus flytrap cleverly use this snap-through effect to amplify their limited physical force, rapidly releasing stored elastic energy for swift, powerful movements.

Inspired by this , researchers from Hanyang University have developed a polymer-based jumper capable of both vertical and directional leaps, triggered simply by uniform ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation.

Published in Science Advances, this study tackles a classic engineering dilemma: how to make produce strong, rapid motions.

How many self-driving vehicles can one person monitor at the same time?

It is possible for one person to safely monitor up to five self-driving vehicles at once, according to new research led by Coventry University.

As self-driving vehicle trials expand across the UK, having trained people to intervene remotely if something goes wrong is essential for both safety and reliability.

This kind of remote oversight is likely to be used for services such as driverless buses, and robotaxis, where one person monitors several vehicles as they follow fixed routes. It doesn’t apply to private self-driving cars, where a driver would currently need to be in the vehicle and in control.

Direct plasma membrane-to-ER lipid transfer outpaces vesicular trafficking, study reveals

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics led a study showing that directional, non-vesicular lipid transport drives fast, species-selective lipid sorting, outpacing slower, less specific vesicular trafficking, and yielding a quantitative map of retrograde lipid transport in cells.

Thousands of lipid species occupy distinct organelle membranes, with task differences that determine cellular function. Gaps in live-cell imaging capabilities have limited clarity on how individual lipids move between organelles to maintain those tasks.

Biosynthesis of lipids begins in the (ER), followed by distribution toward the and subsequent recycling back into the ER or catabolism in lysosomes, peroxisomes, and mitochondria.

Quantum entanglement lasts 600 times longer in elusive dark states, study finds

A research team affiliated with UNIST has successfully demonstrated the experimental creation of collective quantum entanglement rooted in dark states—previously confined to theoretical models. The findings are published online in Nature Communications.

Unlike bright states, dark states are highly resistant to external disturbances and exhibit remarkably extended lifetimes, making them promising candidates for next-generation quantum technologies such as and ultra-sensitive sensors.

Led by Professor Je-Hyung Kim in the Department of Physics at UNIST, in collaboration with Dr. Changhyoup Lee from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) and Dr. Jin Dong Song from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the team has achieved the controlled induction of dark state-based collective entanglement. Remarkably, this entanglement exhibits a lifetime approximately 600 times longer than that of conventional bright states.

Scientists find that ice generates electricity when bent

A study co-led by ICN2 reveals that ice is a flexoelectric material, meaning it can produce electricity when unevenly deformed. Published in Nature Physics, this discovery could have major technological implications while also shedding light on natural phenomena such as lightning.

Frozen water is one of the most abundant substances on Earth. It is found in glaciers, on mountain peaks and in polar ice caps. Although it is a well-known material, studying its properties continues to yield fascinating results.

An international study involving ICN2, at the UAB campus, Xi’an Jiaotong University (Xi’an) and Stony Brook University (New York), has shown for the first time that ordinary ice is a flexoelectric material.

Something from nothing: Physicists model vacuum tunneling in a 2D superfluid

In 1951, physicist Julian Schwinger theorized that by applying a uniform electrical field to a vacuum, electron-positron pairs would be spontaneously created out of nothing, through a phenomenon called quantum tunneling.

The problem with turning the matter-out-of-nowhere theory into Star Trek replicators or transporters? Enormously high electric fields would be required—far beyond the limits of any direct physical experiments.

As a result, the aptly-named Schwinger effect has never been seen.

Scientists develop the world’s first 6G chip, capable of 100 Gbps speeds

Sixth generation, or 6G, wireless technology is one step closer to reality with news that Chinese researchers have unveiled the world’s first “all-frequency” 6G chip. The chip is capable of delivering mobile internet speeds exceeding 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) and was developed by a team led by scientists from Peking University and the City University of Hong Kong.

6G technology is the successor to 5G and promises to bring about a massive leap in how we communicate. It will offer benefits such as ultra-high-speed connectivity, ultra-low latency and AI integration that can manage and optimize networks in real-time. To achieve this, 6G networks will need to operate across a range of frequencies, from standard microwaves to much higher terahertz waves. Current 5G technology utilizes a limited set of radio frequencies, similar to those used in previous generations of wireless technologies.

The new is no bigger than a thumbnail, measuring 11 millimeters by 1.7 millimeters. It operates across a wide frequency range, from 0.5 GHz to 115 GHz, which traditionally takes nine separate radio systems to cover this spectrum.

Neuroscientists show for first time that precise timing of nerve signals determines how brain processes information

It has long been known that the brain preferentially processes information that we focus our attention on—a classic example is the so-called cocktail party effect.

“In an environment full of voices, music, and , the brain manages to concentrate on a single voice. The other noises are not objectively quieter, but are perceived less strongly at that moment,” explains brain researcher Dr. Eric Drebitz from the University of Bremen.

The brain focuses its processing on the information that is currently relevant—in this case, the voice of the conversation partner—while other signals are received but not forwarded and processed to the same extent.

Comprehensive molecular atlas of human hippocampus maps cell subtypes and organization

The hippocampus is an important brain region known to support various cognitive (i.e., mental) processes, including the encoding and retrieval of memories, learning, decision-making and the regulation of emotional states. While extensive research has tried to delineate the structure, functions and organization of the hippocampus, the cell types contained within it and their connections with other neurons have not yet been fully mapped out.

Over the past decades, available methods for studying cell subpopulations, the expressions of genes within them and their connectivity have become increasingly advanced. One of these methods, known as spatially resolved transcriptomics, works by measuring the expression of genes in cells while preserving their arrangement in space. Another called single-nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq), allows scientists to examine RNA molecules inside individual cell nuclei to detect differences between them and categorize cells into different subtypes.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine recently used a combination of these two experimental techniques to examine cells in tissue extracted from the hippocampus. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, introduces a comprehensive molecular atlas of the hippocampus that maps different cell subtypes and their organization.

Depression linked to presence of immune cells in the brain’s protective layer

Immune cells released from bone marrow in the skull in response to chronic stress and adversity could play a key role in symptoms of depression and anxiety, say researchers.

The discovery—found in a study in mice—sheds light on the role that inflammation can play in mood disorders and could help in the search for new treatments, in particular for those individuals for whom current treatments are ineffective.

Around 1 billion people will be diagnosed with a mood disorder such as or anxiety at some point in their life. While there may be many underlying causes, —when the body’s immune system stays active for a long time, even when there is no infection or injury to fight—has been linked to depression. This suggests that the immune system may play an important role in the development of mood disorders.

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