Every commercial nuclear reactor in the world runs on uranium. Uranium brings three undeniable problems. It creates weapons-grade plutonium. It melts down under pressure. Its radioactive waste lasts for tens of thousands of years.
Thorium solves all three.
Physicists have known this since the 1960s. The United States actually built a working thorium reactor. They proved the technology was viable. Then they deliberately abandoned it.
A record-shattering particle from deep space may have exposed some of the universe’s most extreme black hole engines. A mysterious particle from deep space has scientists buzzing after the most energetic neutrino ever detected slammed through the Mediterranean Sea. Now, researchers think they may have identified the cosmic “culprits” behind it: blazars — supermassive black holes blasting jets of matter straight toward Earth.
Three years ago, scientists detected something extraordinary deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea: the most energetic cosmic neutrino ever observed. The particle carried an astonishing energy of around 220 PeV, more than ten times greater than previously detected high energy neutrinos, and researchers still do not know exactly where it came from.
Now, a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP) suggests the particle may have originated from blazars, some of the universe’s most extreme objects. Blazars are active galactic nuclei powered by supermassive black holes that shoot enormous jets of plasma directly toward Earth.
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2D nanocavity exciton polaritons. (a) Schematic of the coupled TMD-PhC nanocavity. (b) Schematic of the gate-tunable TMD stack. © Scanning electron microscope image of the suspended Si3N4 nanobeam cavity, with the inset showing the simulated cavity mode profile. The dark area is suspended from the SiO2 substrate. Scale bar, 500 nm. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2026). DOI: 10.1103/gc15-qsvf.
Photonic devices are hardware systems that can process information using light instead of electricity. These systems could potentially perform computations faster than electronic devices, while also consuming less energy.
A key challenge faced by engineers developing photonic systems is achieving strong optical nonlinearities, or in other words, developing approaches that enable the control of light signals using light, all while consuming little power. A proposed solution to attain these light-light interactions entails the use of exciton polaritons, hybrid particles that are formed when photons couple with excitons (i.e., bound pairs of electrons and holes inside semiconductors).
While many American adults are trying to reduce cholesterol levels, certain cancerous tumors have a relentless appetite for the metabolite. Some tumor cells use as much cholesterol as they can access to accelerate their growth beyond the capabilities of normal cells.
Turning tumors’ cholesterol cravings into weakness Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and their collaborators at the University of Illinois Chicago have published findings in Science Advances regarding a potential method for turning the tables on these tumors by subverting their cholesterol cravings. The researchers revealed new insights into enzymes that help move cholesterol around cells. Without the help of these enzymes, a cholesterol traffic jam occurs, blocking the cancer cell’s ability to fuel tumor growth.
Cancer cells with a mutation in the tumor-suppressing TP53 gene are known to produce extra cholesterol. This may make them more vulnerable to starvation if scientists can put a stop to the steady supply of the lipid.
Antibodies directed against β-amyloid (Aβ) have been developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the in vivo central efficacy is reduced by the poor penetration of antibodies across the blood–brain barrier (BBB). In addition, these antibodies have been associated with adverse effects like amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. Thus, the development of new antibody-based therapies for AD with improved transport across the BBB may improve efficacy and reduce adverse effects. Antibodies targeting the BBB transferrin receptor (TfR) are able to cross the BBB through receptor-mediated transcytosis, producing a global distribution throughout the brain.
In recent years, computer chip performance has bumped up against the physical limitations of the space available on integrated circuits.
Now researchers think they’ve found a solution: Start building upwards.
The innovation could help extend or even exceed the Moore’s Law hypothesis established in the 1960s by Intel chairman Gordon Moore.
Thousands of small earthquakes, detected for the first time by a machine-learning process, reveal the distinct, razor-sharp edge of the Yakutat microplate as it subducts beneath the North American plate.
The Yakutat oceanic plateau is caught in the middle of a tectonic traffic jam with the Pacific plate as it subducts beneath the North American plate. The position and structure of the plates in this congested zone play a significant role in the earthquake and volcanic landscape of south-central Alaska.
The research published by Meghan Miller of Australian National University and her colleagues in The Seismic Record now shows the edge and extent of the Yakutat plate in astonishing detail.
