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An international collaboration between four scientists from Mainz, Valencia, Madrid, and Zurich has published new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life’s evolution on Earth: the origin of the eukaryotic cell.

While the endosymbiotic theory is widely accepted, the billions of years that have passed since the fusion of an archaea and a bacteria have resulted in a lack of evolutionary intermediates in the phylogenetic tree until the emergence of the eukaryotic cell. It is a gap in our knowledge, referred to as the black hole at the heart of biology.

“The new study is a blend of theoretical and observational approaches that quantitatively understands how the genetic architecture of life was transformed to allow such an increase in complexity,” stated Dr. Enrique M. Muro, representative of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in this project.

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Imagine the tiniest game of checkers in the world—one played by using lasers to precisely shuffle around ions across a very small grid.

That’s the idea behind a recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters. A team of theoretical physicists from Colorado has designed a new type of quantum “game” that scientists can play on a real quantum computer—or a device that manipulates small objects, such as atoms, to perform calculations.

The researchers even tested their game out on one such device, the Quantinuum System Model H1 Quantum Computer developed by the company Quantinuum. The study is a collaboration between scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and Quantinuum, which is based in Broomfield, Colorado.

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Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), in the of the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits its star in the habitable zone.

On Earth, DMS and DMDS are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton. While an unknown chemical process may be the source of these molecules in K2-18b’s atmosphere, the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.

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In the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, an unassuming yet remarkable butterfly has been quietly flying under our scientific radar for years. With a wingspan of an inch to an inch and a half, and wings that are brown on top and grayish brown with black spots below, this population was long thought to belong to the Half-moon Hairstreak (Satyrium semiluna). However, the isolated hairstreak butterflies of Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, have now been recognized as a distinct species: Satyrium curiosolus, or the Curiously Isolated Hairstreak.

A recent study by an international collaborative team, published in ZooKeys, uncovered the unique evolutionary history of this population. The results were striking: Satyrium curiosolus has been completely isolated from its closest relatives for quite a while—possibly up to 40,000 years—becoming more and more genetically and ecologically unique along the way.

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An international team of microbiologists from the Medical University of Graz, the DSMZ—German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (Braunschweig, Germany)—and the University of Illinois (U.S.) has identified and described a previously unknown species of methane-producing archaea in the human gut: Methanobrevibacter intestini sp. nov. (strain WWM1085).

In addition, a new variant of the species Methanobrevibacter smithii, which is referred to as GRAZ-2, was isolated. The scientists have thus taken another important step toward understanding the interaction between humans and the . The study is published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

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The development of increasingly sophisticated sensors can facilitate the advancement of various technologies, including robots, security systems, virtual reality (VR) equipment and sophisticated prosthetics. Multimodal tactile sensors, which can pick up different types of touch-related information (e.g., pressure, texture and type of material), are among the most promising for applications that can benefit from the artificial replication of the human sense of touch.

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The detection of dark matter, the elusive type of matter predicted to make up most of the universe’s mass, is a long-standing goal in the field of astrophysics. As dark matter does not emit, reflect or absorb light, it cannot be observed using conventional experimental methods.

A promising dark matter candidate is so-called ultralight dark matter, which consists of particles with extremely low masses. Astrophysicists have been searching for these ultralight using various approaches and methods, yet they have not yet been detected.

Researchers at the University of Florida recently proposed a new method for the direct detection of ultralight dark matter particles, which is based on astrometry, the precise measurement of the positions and motions of celestial objects.

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In a physics first, a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a way to make beams of neutrons travel in curves. These Airy beams (named for English scientist George Airy), which the team created using a custom-built device, could enhance neutrons’ ability to reveal useful information about materials ranging from pharmaceuticals to perfumes to pesticides—in part because the beams can bend around obstacles.

“We’ve known about these strange, self-steering wave patterns for a while, but until now, no one had ever made them with neutrons,” said NIST’s Michael Huber, one of the paper’s authors. “This opens up a whole new way to control neutron beams, which could help us see inside materials or explore some big questions in physics.”

A paper announcing the findings appears in Physical Review Letters.

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Northwestern Medicine investigators have discovered how disruptions in the circadian rhythm in our muscles combined with poor diet can contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“When we mess up our through environmental circadian disruption like , jet lag or , it’s possible that it’s impacting our muscle clocks and metabolism. If that’s happening and we are combining this with an unhealthy diet, this might make it more likely for us to develop glucose intolerance and diabetes,” said Clara Peek, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, who was senior author of the study.

The body’s natural is comprised of proteins called that are present throughout the body, including . The clock synchronizes physical and behavioral changes to the external environment during the 24-hour light cycle.

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Knots are generally understood to form due to twists and turns of long, flexible materials that keep shoes on your feet or frustrate your attempts at hanging holiday decorations. A beam of light doesn’t sound like a material that can create a knot.

But it is.

Imagine throwing several rocks into a pond all at once. At a certain point on the water’s surface, the resulting ripple rings would all mix to form a complex pattern. Now imagine being able to control the shape and speed of each ring. With enough planning, you could get that mesh point to form in 3D on demand.

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