Researchers discover a 20–45 Hz thalamic rhythm that serves as a biological signature of active states of consciousness.
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Human organoids reveal how to reverse “irreversible” nerve damage
Because the brain and spinal cord are separate but connected structures in the body, the team kept the organoids physically apart in the lab. They then observed axons from the brain tissue growing across the gap and connecting with the spinal cord tissue. The resulting neural circuit was functional enough to trigger contractions in tiny clusters of muscle cells.
Nerve Regrowth Declines During Development
The scientists maintained these miniature systems in the lab for more than a year. They discovered that until about day 150 of development, roughly corresponding to the middle stage of pregnancy, damaged axons could still regrow. After that point, the neurons showed a major decline in their ability to regenerate.
A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits
In 1937, a young graduate student named Claude Shannon submitted a master’s thesis with an unassuming title: “A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits.”
A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits is the title of a master’s thesis written by computer science pioneer Claude E. Shannon while attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1937, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and then published in 1938. In his thesis, Shannon, a dual degree graduate of the University of Michigan, proved that Boolean algebra [ 3 ] could be used to simplify the arrangement of the relays that were the building blocks of the electromechanical automatic telephone exchanges of the day. He went on to prove that it should also be possible to use arrangements of relays to solve Boolean algebra problems. His thesis laid the foundations for all digital computing and digital circuits. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
The utilization of the binary properties of electrical switches to perform logic functions is the basic concept that underlies all electronic digital computer designs. Shannon’s thesis became the foundation of practical digital circuit design when it became widely known among the electrical engineering community during and after World War II. At the time, the methods employed to design logic circuits (for example, contemporary Konrad Zuse’s Z1) were ad hoc in nature and lacked the theoretical discipline that Shannon’s paper supplied to later projects.
Shannon’s work also differed significantly in its approach and theoretical framework compared to the work of Akira Nakashima. Whereas Shannon’s approach and framework was abstract and based on mathematics, Nakashima tried to extend the existent circuit theory of the time to deal with relay circuits, and was reluctant to accept the mathematical and abstract model, favoring a grounded approach. [ 6 ] Shannon’s ideas broke new ground, with his abstract and modern approach dominating modern-day electrical engineering. [ 6 ].
Teclistamab extends remission in relapsed myeloma, with 70% progression-free at 18 months
Patients with relapsed multiple myeloma treated with the immunotherapy teclistamab lived significantly longer and remained in remission far longer than those receiving standard therapies, according to results from a major international Phase III clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.
The study, led by senior author C. Ola Landgren, M.D., Ph.D., found nearly 70% of patients receiving teclistamab had no disease progression after 18 months—compared with about 27% of patients receiving standard treatments—while nearly two-thirds achieved complete remission, including many with no detectable cancer on highly sensitive testing.
Landgren is chief of the Sylvester Myeloma Institute at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Method for long-term room temperature storage of mouse freeze-dried sperm
Kamada, Y., Yamaji, K., Ushigome, N. et al. Method for long-term room temperature storage of mouse freeze-dried sperm. Sci Rep 15, 303 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83350-2
Lab-grown brain organoids power biocomputers
A feature story authored by Simon Spichak, MSc investigates how biotech companies like Cortical Labs and FinalSpark harness human brain cells to electrodes, performing computational functions and testing the cells’ responses to electrical and chemical stimuli. To create biocomputers, scientists grow organoids—small spheres of, in this case, neural tissue—on top of multi-electrode arrays in a hardware shell, which can then be used for everything from testing medications to playing video games. The work is published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
IceCube detects break in cosmic neutrino spectrum, ruling out simple power-law model
A new study published in Physical Review Letters by the IceCube Collaboration reports evidence that the energy spectrum of astrophysical neutrinos is not a simple straight line.
Astrophysical neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles produced when high-energy cosmic rays interact with matter or radiation near sources such as active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and supernova remnants. Because they barely interact with anything, they travel from the edges of the observable universe in straight lines, carrying information about the environments that produced them.
Analyzing more than a decade of data, the study found a break in the spectrum near 30 TeV, comparable to the energies seen at the Large Hadron Collider. This rules out the single power law with a statistical significance greater than 4σ, meaning the chance of the result being a fluke is less than about 1 in 16,000.