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Making virtual brain models more biologically realistic by capturing ion exchange

Mean-field models are a powerful tool for understanding collective brain activity. A new model extends this approach by incorporating the exchange of ions between neurons and their surroundings, bringing important biological mechanisms into simulations of neuronal populations.

How can researchers simulate the activity of the whole brain without modeling every neuron in full detail? A new study, published in eLife, explores one part of the answer: retaining key biological mechanisms while simplifying the mathematics needed to model large neuronal populations.

The brain’s electrical activity depends on the movement of charged particles, called ions, across cell membranes and through the fluid surrounding neurons. These processes also influence one another: changes in ion concentration can affect how neurons fire and, in some circumstances, contribute to abnormal brain activity, including epileptic seizures.

Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation

Envision walking down a bustling Tokyo street at twilight in a virtual world. You turn a corner, and a sudden rain shower begins—not because it was pre-scripted into a video file, but because the world model is computing the #physics, the sound of droplets hitting umbrellas, and the way pedestrians react in real time.

That is the shift happening with Genie 4, Google DeepMind’s most realistic and interactive world model yet.

Instead of rendering static video files frame-by-frame or following pre-rendered animations, Genie 4 generates dynamic, living environments that respond fluidly as you explore them. Every sight, ambient sound, and human interaction adapts instantly to input.

To understand why this is a massive leap forward, think about where interactive simulations are heading:

* Next-Gen Game Prototyping: Developers can “sketch” interactive environments on the fly. Rather than spending months manually coding physics, lighting, and non-player character (NPC) behaviors, creators can generate fully responsive worlds instantly.

* Hyper-Realistic Training Simulations: Emergency responders, pilots, and medical professionals can train in infinitely variable, high-stakes scenarios that react naturally to split-second decisions, far beyond the limits of scripted branching paths.

Continue reading “Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation” | >

Forgotten Particle Could Answer The Mystery of Why We Exist, Say Physicists

The Big Bang should have been the start and the end of the Universe, as we understand it.

In many ways, the cosmos likes balance, so it’s thought the Big Bang should have made matter and antimatter in equal amounts, leading them to destroy each other and leave only space and energy.

But an infinitesimal imbalance existed at some point in the early Universe that allowed matter to exist, which is important because humans and other stuff tend to be made of matter.

Study establishes new perioperative standard in prostate cancer

An international phase 3 clinical trial that treated patients with high-risk localized and locally advanced prostate cancer with apalutamide — a next-generation neoadjuvant androgen-receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) — plus hormone therapy before and after prostate cancer surgery, was further validated by a substudy demonstrating a reduced risk of metastasis or death compared with standard of care.

The substudy, co-led by principal investigator Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD, medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026 in Madrid, Spain and published today in European Urology. Alberto Briganti, MD, PhD, Professor of Urology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, presented the data at ESMO.

Previous Dana-Farber research led by Taplin, presented earlier this year at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that apalutamide plus androgen-deprivation hormone therapy (ADT) prior to and after surgery showed significant promise for patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer. Patients treated with the apalutamide plus hormone therapy regimen were nine times more likely to have little to no cancer present at surgery, reduced the risk of metastases or death by 20% and delayed subsequent therapy by 33 months compared to ADT alone.

New converter could bridge light wavelength gap in quantum communications

Quantum networks, systems that connect devices using quantum mechanical effects, could potentially allow users to share information more securely and efficiently. Building these networks typically entails linking stationary qubits, units of quantum information encoded in trapped ions or other physical systems, using photons (particles of light) transmitted through optical fibers.

One challenge when trying to realize quantum networks is that some physical systems that serve as qubits emit ultraviolet light, electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from approximately 100 to 400 nanometers. This is problematic because optical fibers, the thin light-guiding strands used to link quantum devices, are known to transmit light at these wavelengths poorly.

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China, Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology and other institutions recently developed a new converter that could help to bridge the gap between the ultraviolet light emitted by these systems and the light wavelengths transmitted with fewer losses through optical fibers. Their device, introduced in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, relies on thin-film lithium niobate, a crystalline material that enables interactions between light waves with different wavelengths, patterned into a structure that confines and directs light.

Human and chimpanzee leaders share a taste for risk

People in leadership positions tend to rate themselves as more risk-loving than those without leadership responsibilities—and a similar pattern emerges among chimpanzees: High-ranking individuals are perceived as more risk-taking than their lower-ranking peers. This is the conclusion of a new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Dresden University of Technology, and the University of Portsmouth, published in The Leadership Quarterly.

What makes the findings compelling is that the link between leadership and risk-taking emerges in both humans and chimpanzees. As both species share a common ancestor, this relationship may have deep evolutionary roots. The study thus provides new evidence that traits associated with leadership and social influence are not shaped exclusively by modern social structures but may already have played a role in early forms of social coexistence.