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Visual thalamus reshapes information beyond simple relay function, study finds

When you see something—a tree in your backyard, say, or the toy your toddler hands you—that visual information travels from your retinas to your brain. And like a train stopping at stations along its route, the information pauses at particular regions of the brain where it’s processed and sent along to its next location.

A region called the visual thalamus has been thought to be primarily a relay, simply directing to its next area. But a new study published in Neuron finds that the thalamus actually integrates additional information from other and reshapes the information it sends along to the brain cortex.

Liang Liang, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and senior author of the study, suspected the thalamus might be doing more than it had been given credit for.

Using lasers to bring crystal vibrations to their quantum ground state

Using new techniques, Yale researchers have demonstrated the ability to use lasers to cool quantized vibrations of sound within massive objects to their quantum ground state, the lowest energy allowable by quantum mechanics. This breakthrough could benefit communications, quantum computing, and other applications. The results are published in Nature Physics.

Orbital Hall effect shows how defects can improve spintronic devices

Scientists have turned a longstanding challenge in electronics—material defects—into a quantum-enhanced solution, paving the way for new-generation ultra-low-power spintronic devices. Spintronics, short for “spin electronics,” is a field of technology that aims to go beyond the limits of conventional electronics.

Traditional devices rely only on the electric charge of electrons to store and process information. Spintronics takes advantage of two additional quantum properties: spin angular momentum, which can be imagined as a built-in “up” or “down” orientation of the electron, and orbital angular momentum, which describes how electrons move around atomic nuclei.

By using these extra degrees of freedom, spintronic devices can store more data in smaller spaces, operate faster, consume less energy, and retain information even when the power is switched off.

New co-assembly strategy unlocks robust circularly polarized luminescence across the color spectrum

To demonstrate practical functionality, the team incorporated various achiral luminescent dyes (red, green, blue) into the co-assembled polymer framework. The dyes were anchored via hydrogen bonding and adopted the chirality of their environment during co-assembly, resulting in CPL in all three colors.

Notably, this full-color CPL capability is rare, with red emission being especially difficult to achieve. In this system, the polymer matrix enabled chirality transfer and also passivated the dye molecules, leading to brighter, longer-lasting light with higher quantum yields compared to the same dyes used alone.

“The ability to produce strong CPL across the broadens the scope for practical applications, particularly in photonic devices that require low optical losses and high signal discrimination,” added Prof Lin.

Brain’s immune response linked to olfactory problems associated with Alzheimer’s

A fading sense of smell can be one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease even before cognitive impairments manifest. Research by scientists at DZNE and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) sheds new light on this phenomenon, pointing to a significant role for the brain’s immune response, which seems to fatally attack neuronal fibers crucial for the perception of odors.

The study, published in Nature Communications, is based on observations in mice and humans, including analysis of brain tissue and so-called PET scanning. These findings may help to devise ways for and, consequently, early treatment.

The researchers came to the conclusion that these olfactory dysfunctions arise because immune cells of the brain called “microglia” remove connections between two brain regions, namely the olfactory bulb and the .

Space mice babies: Stem cells cryopreserved in space produce healthy offspring

Features of spaceflight such as gravitational changes and circadian rhythm disruption—not to mention radiation—take a toll on the body, including muscle wasting and decreased bone density. These may even affect the ability to produce healthy offspring.

Studying the impact of spaceflight on —egg and sperm precursor cells—is particularly important because they directly influence the next generation, and any irreversible damage done to these will likely be transmitted to offspring. Previous examinations of embryonic that have undergone spaceflight have revealed abnormalities, but the exact cause of the damage has remained unknown.

This inspired a team of researchers at Kyoto University to test the potential damage to spermatogonial stem cells during spaceflight and the resulting offspring. The team utilized stem cells from , which have a much shorter reproductive life span than humans.

Sweden’s most powerful laser delivers record-short light pulses

For the first time, researchers at Umeå University have demonstrated the full capabilities of their large-scale laser facility. In a study published in Nature Photonics, the team reports generating a combination of ultrashort laser pulses, extreme peak power, and precisely controlled waveforms that make it possible to explore the fastest processes in nature.

This Martian Rock’s Mysterious Spots May Reveal Clues to Ancient Life

By studying the leopard-like spots on rocks from Earth and Mars now, scientists will be ready to analyze returned space samples when they arrive. In 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover retrieved an unusual rock sample from Mars. Named Sapphire Canyon, the specimen stands out for its striking pattern:

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