New animal studies show how gene editing may improve heart repair, reduce inflammation, and enhance recovery after heart injury.
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Arginine supplementation curbs Alzheimer’s disease pathology in animal models
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is one of the leading causes of dementia worldwide, and currently has no definitive cure. Although antibody-based therapies that target amyloid β (Aβ) have recently been developed, their clinical effectiveness remains limited. These treatments can be costly and cause immune-related side effects, highlighting the need for safer, affordable, and widely accessible approaches that can slow the progression of AD.
In a study, published online on October 30, 2025, in Neurochemistry International, researchers from Kindai University and collaborating institutions discovered that oral administration of arginine, a naturally occurring amino acid and safe chemical chaperone, effectively suppresses Aβ aggregation and its toxic effects in animal models of AD.
The researchers emphasized that although arginine is available as an over-the-counter dietary supplement, the dosage and administration protocol employed in this study was optimized for research purposes and does not correspond to commercially available formulations.
CaSrxCu3−xTi4O12 Ceramic Oxide Modified with Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxide for Supercapacitor Applications
This study investigates CaCu3−xSrxTi4O12 (CCSTO) systems synthesized using the solid-state method, with x compositions of 0.00, 0.15, and 3.00. The samples were modified using 6 wt% graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) prepared via Hummer’s method to evaluate their performance as electrodes in supercapacitors. The results indicate that the addition of 6wt% rGO to CCTO (CCTO-6rGO) led to an improvement in specific capacitance, reaching 237.76 mF·g−1 at a scan rate of 10 mV/s, compared to 29.86 mF·g−1 for pure CCTO and only 7.83 mF·g−1 for CCTO-6GO, suggesting that rGO enhances charge storage. For the CCTO15Sr samples, CCTO15Sr-6rGO exhibited the highest specific capacitance, with 321.63 mF·g−1 at 10 mV/s, surpassing both pure CCTO15Sr (80.19 mF·g−1) and CCTO15Sr-6GO (25.73 mF·g−1). These results stem from oxygen and metal vacancies, which aid charge accumulation and ion diffusion.
Scientists get a first look at the innermost region of a white dwarf system
Some 200 light years from Earth, the core of a dead star is circling a larger star in a macabre cosmic dance. The dead star is a type of white dwarf that exerts a powerful magnetic field as it pulls material from the larger star into a swirling, accreting disk. The spiraling pair is what’s known as an “intermediate polar” — a type of star system that gives off a complex pattern of intense radiation, including X-rays, as gas from the larger star falls onto the other one.
Now, MIT astronomers have used an X-ray telescope in space to identify key features in the system’s innermost region — an extremely energetic environment that has been inaccessible to most telescopes until now. In an open-access study published in the Astrophysical Journal, the team reports using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to observe the intermediate polar, known as EX Hydrae.
The team found a surprisingly high degree of X-ray polarization, which describes the direction of an X-ray wave’s electric field, as well as an unexpected direction of polarization in the X-rays coming from EX Hydrae. From these measurements, the researchers traced the X-rays back to their source in the system’s innermost region, close to the surface of the white dwarf.
Single-photon switch could enable photonic computing
There are few technologies more fundamental to modern life than the ability to control light with precision. From fiber-optic communications to quantum sensors, the manipulation of photons underpins much of our digital infrastructure. Yet one capability has remained frustratingly out of reach: controlling light with light itself at the most fundamental level using single photons to switch or modulate powerful optical beams.
Now, researchers at Purdue University have achieved this long-sought milestone, demonstrating what they call a “photonic transistor” that operates at single-photon intensities.
Their findings, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, report a nonlinear refractive index several orders of magnitude higher than the best-known materials, a leap that could finally make photonic computing practical.
Potentially distinct structure in Kuiper belt discovered with help of clustering algorithm
A vast region of our solar system, called the Kuiper belt, stretches from the orbit of Neptune out to 50 or so astronomical units (AU), where an AU is the distance between Earth and the sun. This region consists mostly of icy objects and small rocky bodies, like Pluto. Scientists believe Kuiper belt objects (KPOs) are remnants left over from the formation of the solar system.
Now, a new preprint paper on arXiv describes a newly identified region that appears to be completely distinct from other parts of the Kuiper belt—but some uncertainty remains.
Final experimental result for the muon still challenges theorists
For experimental physicists, the latest measurement of the muon is the best of times. For theorists there’s still work to do.
Colliding 300 billion muons over four years at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the U.S., the Muon g-2 Collaboration —a group of over 200 researchers—has measured the magnetic strength of the muon to unprecedented precision: accurate to 127 parts per billion.
These final results on the muon’s magnetic moment—measured by its frequency of the moment’s wobbling in an external magnetic field—are the end of a chain of experimental efforts going back 30 years and have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.