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Astrocytes are superstars in the game of long-term memory

Why are we able to recall only some of our past experiences? A new study led by Jun Nagai at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan has an answer. Surprisingly, it turns out that the brain cells responsible for stabilizing memories aren’t neurons. Rather, they are astrocytes, a type of glial cell that is usually thought of as a role player in the game of learning and memory.

Published in Nature, the study shows how emotionally intense experiences like fear biologically tag small groups of astrocytes for several days so that they can re-engage when a mouse recalls the experience. It is this repeated astrocytic engagement that stabilizes memories.

Astrocytes have traditionally been thought to have a supporting role in the brain, literally. But when it became clear that engrams—the actual traces that exist in neurons—cannot alone account for stabilized, , Nagai and his team turned to astrocytes for a solution.

Large language models prioritize helpfulness over accuracy in medical contexts, finds study

Large language models (LLMs) can store and recall vast quantities of medical information, but their ability to process this information in rational ways remains variable. A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham demonstrated a vulnerability in that LLMs are designed to be sycophantic, or excessively helpful and agreeable, which leads them to overwhelmingly fail to appropriately challenge illogical medical queries despite possessing the information necessary to do so.

Findings, published in npj Digital Medicine, demonstrate that targeted training and fine-tuning can improve LLMs’ abilities to respond to illogical prompts accurately.

“As a community, we need to work on training both patients and clinicians to be safe users of LLMs, and a key part of that is going to be bringing to the surface the types of errors that these models make,” said corresponding author Danielle Bitterman, MD, a faculty member in the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program and Clinical Lead for Data Science/AI at Mass General Brigham.

Is This the End of the Silicon Era? Scientists Unveil World’s First 2D Computer

Researchers at Penn State have developed the first silicon-free computer using atom-thin materials. This breakthrough could reshape the future of electronics, paving the way for ultra-efficient, miniaturized computing devices. Silicon has long been the foundation of semiconductor technology that

Amazon reveals 960 megawatt nuclear power plans to cope with AI demand — Richland, Washington site tapped for deployment of Xe-100 small modular reactors

The Cascade Advanced Energy Facility would use next-gen Xe-100 reactors to deliver 960 megawatts of carbon-free power — but it’s years from becoming reality.

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