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Why do pickles glow? Researcher investigates explosive answer

If you mount a pickle on two metal forks and plug it into a socket, one end will light up in a brilliant orange glow. It’s a classic K–12 science demonstration, but the exact physics behind the illumination has long remained a mystery.

Josh Méndez, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Portland State University, was surprised to learn that the glowing pickle was still an unsolved electrostatics problem. As a scientist with an interest in obscure electrostatic problems, Méndez felt called to delve into the pickle jar. More than 100 burned pickles later, he is finally approaching an answer.

Because pickles are soaked in salty brine, they readily conduct electricity. When a current passes through, two competing theories usually explain the resulting glow: a spark discharge or the ignition of hydrogen gas.

Scientists Develop Local Anesthetic That Lasts Weeks Instead of Hours

The findings could help researchers make local anesthetics last longer in people.

Patients recovering from surgery may need pain relief beyond the eight to 12 hours, or about a day at most, that most local anesthetics provide.

Seeking a longer-lasting option, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have redesigned liposomes, microscopic carriers made from fatty molecules, to release a numbing drug more gradually. In rats, the formulation sustained local anesthesia for two to three weeks, compared with about four to eight hours for a commercial formulation.

The Secret to Better Magnetic Memory May Be the Light, Not the Material

Reshaping a laser beam let engineers switch thicker magnetic materials with light, expanding the possibilities for faster, more compact data storage.

Every digital photo, document, and video saved on a hard drive is stored as a vast sequence of 1s and 0s, represented physically by tiny magnetic regions. Writing that information typically means using an external magnetic field to switch those regions between states. The process consumes substantial energy and limits how quickly data can be written.

Light can deliver energy in extremely short bursts and concentrate it into a small area, making it a promising tool for switching magnetic states. Researchers at the University of California San Diego estimate that this process, called optical switching, could be more than 1,000 times faster than approaches that rely on external magnetic fields. But making it work has meant dealing with restrictions on the magnetic material itself.

Scientists Watch New Particles “Pop Into Existence” on a Quantum Computer

A new Duke Quantum Center study shows how quantum simulators can help researchers explore particle formation and the conditions that followed the Big Bang.

Quarks are the fundamental building blocks of matter, but they never exist alone. Bound tightly inside protons and neutrons, pairs of quarks behave as if connected by a taut string. Pulling them apart takes so much energy that when the connection finally snaps, that built-up energy transforms into entirely new particles. This process, known as string breaking, normally occurs only in extreme environments such as the Large Hadron Collider or the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.

A team led by faculty at the Duke Quantum Center has now recreated analogous behavior using a quantum simulator built from 13 trapped ions, or electrically charged atoms. By programming the ions to follow a mathematical model, the researchers could track how a simulated string broke and effective charges emerged. The results, published September 23 in Nature Physics, are among the field’s first quantum simulations of string-breaking dynamics related to particle-antiparticle formation.

The Hidden Mathematics of Alzheimer’s Plaques Could Reveal New Treatment Strategies

Mathematics may offer a new way to investigate the complex chemistry behind Alzheimer’s-related plaque formation.

Plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease begin with molecular interactions that are difficult to observe directly as they unfold. Shantia Yarahmadian, an associate professor at Mississippi State University, is using mathematics to simulate part of that process, focusing on how metals such as copper and zinc may influence the behavior of amyloid-beta proteins.

His latest model follows a chain of reactions that can lead amyloid-beta to aggregate, or clump together, and form plaque. It also allows researchers to test how two potential therapeutic approaches might interfere with those reactions. The work was published in Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and extends Yarahmadian’s earlier efforts to model Alzheimer’s disease mathematically.

Microsoft enables Windows settings backup by default for orgs

Microsoft announced that Windows settings backup and restore is now enabled by default on all Microsoft Entra-joined or Microsoft Entra hybrid-joined enterprise systems upgraded to Windows 11 26H2.

The Windows settings backup tool (formerly known as Windows Backup for Organizations) backs up and restores enterprise users’ Windows settings after a device is reset, replaced, upgraded, or reimaged.

Microsoft unveiled it two years ago at the Ignite conference in November 2024 as an opt-in feature (disabled by default), and it reached public preview in May 2025 and general availability in August 2025.

Metamask discloses security incident affecting its infrastructure

On Thursday, cryptocurrency wallet provider MetaMask has disclosed an ongoing infrastructure security incident affecting some of its infrastructure.

The company is working to address the issue internally, with help from external partners and security advisors, and says there is “no immediate threat to MetaMask wallets.”

“As a precautionary measure, we are proactively exiting affected validators within our non-custodial staking operations, in coordination with clients and partners,” MetaMask noted. “As a reminder, our staking operations are non-custodial in nature and we do not manage withdrawal keys for stake on behalf of our clients.”

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