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North Texas is getting a new commercial airport — here’s what airline is in talks to fly out of it

MCKINNEY, Texas — Ultra-low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines is in talks with McKinney to be among the first to fly commercial passengers following the city’s airport controversial expansion, a letter from the Texas Attorney General’s Office indicated.

Houston-based Avelo already flies from DFW International Airport to its hub in New Haven, Connecticut, but its self-described strategy is to fly into smaller and “more convenient” airports.

McKinney plans to break ground on a controversial expansion to its airport this summer, with the goal of commercial flights taking off by the end of next year.

Photons collide in the void: Quantum simulation creates light out of nothing

Using advanced computational modelling, a research team led by the University of Oxford, working in partnership with the Instituto Superior Técnico in the University of Lisbon, has achieved the first-ever real-time, three-dimensional simulations of how intense laser beams alter the ‘quantum vacuum’ — a state once assumed to be empty, but which quantum physics predicts is full of virtual electron-positron pairs.

Simple insulin resistance test may also predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients

Insulin resistance detected by routine triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index can flag people with early Alzheimer’s who are four times more likely to present rapid cognitive decline, according to new research presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025.

Neurologists at the University of Brescia reviewed records of 315 non-diabetic patients with cognitive deficits, including 200 with biologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease. All subjects underwent an assessment of insulin resistance using the TyG index and a clinical follow-up of three years.

The work is published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Synthetic ‘killswitch’ uncovers hidden world of cellular condensates

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics have developed a novel synthetic micropeptide termed the “killswitch” to selectively immobilize proteins within cellular condensates, unveiling crucial connections between condensate microenvironments and their biological functions.

Biomolecular condensates are specialized regions inside cells, existing without membranes, where critical biochemical reactions occur. Their importance in health and disease is well established, including roles in cancer progression and viral infection.

Methods to precisely probe and manipulate condensates in living cells remain limited. Existing strategies lack specificity, either dissolving condensates indiscriminately or requiring artificial protein overexpression, which obscures the natural behavior of native cellular proteins.

Scientists develop stable all-perovskite tandem solar cells

A research group led by Prof. Ge Ziyi from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an innovative strategy to alleviate NiOx corrosion, enabling more efficient and stable all-perovskite tandem solar cells (TSCs).

AI system predicts early childhood cavities in individual teeth with high accuracy

Early childhood caries (ECC)—the world’s most prevalent chronic childhood disease—disproportionately targets specific teeth, a mystery that has remained unresolved until now.

A collaborative research team from the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS-QIBEBT), Qingdao Stomatological Hospital, and Qingdao Women and Children’s Hospital has made a discovery that could revolutionize the prevention of childhood tooth decay.

The team has developed the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of predicting early childhood caries risk for individual based on microbial characteristics, achieving an accuracy rate of more than 90%. The study is published in Cell Host & Microbe.

Tesla Robotaxi Changes Everything!

Tesla’s Robotaxi has the potential to revolutionize transportation and disrupt various industries, including car ownership, urban planning, and traditional car dealerships, with its autonomous driving technology and low-cost, hassle-free ride experience ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.

Transportation Revolution.

🚕 Q: How will Tesla’s Robotaxi network change urban transportation?

A: Tesla’s Robotaxi will make personal vehicle ownership obsolete in dense cities, offering rides at 25 cents per mile that are both cost-effective and convenient, eliminating the need for parking spaces.

🚗 Q: What makes Tesla’s Cybercab unique?

A: Cybercab is designed to be the most utilitarian vehicle ever built, featuring 50% fewer parts than the Model 3, making it highly scalable for millions of rides with wireless charging and autonomous capabilities.

Engineers turn toxic ancient tomb fungus into anti-cancer drug

Penn-led researchers have turned a deadly fungus into a potent cancer-fighting compound. After isolating a new class of molecules from Aspergillus flavus, a toxic crop fungus linked to deaths in the excavations of ancient tombs, the researchers modified the chemicals and tested them against leukemia cells. The result? A promising cancer-killing compound that rivals FDA-approved drugs and opens up new frontiers in the discovery of more fungal medicines.

“Fungi gave us penicillin,” says Sherry Gao, Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and in Bioengineering (BE) and senior author of a new paper in Nature Chemical Biology on the findings. “These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found.”