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TNF compromises intestinal bile-acid tolerance dictating colitis progression and limited infliximab response

(Cell Metabolism 36, 2086–2103.e1–e9; September 3, 2024)

During a routine internal review of our data, we identified a data-transfer error that occurred during the preparation of these figures. Specifically, when the experimentally measured values were transferred into GraphPad Prism for plotting, an incorrect set of values was inadvertently pasted into the corresponding data fields. Consequently, Figures S4H and S4I were generated from these incorrectly transferred values. These errors have now been corrected. Related source data can now be accessed at Figshare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.34207137. The correction does not affect any of the conclusions of the article. The authors apologize for any confusion these errors may have caused.

Revealed: UK’s first operation using a robot that can ‘feel’

But that was not specifically why we were here. It was, instead, because the patient was about to become the first in the UK to have the surgery using a robotic-assisted technology.

Called Force Feedback, it is attached to the da Vinci 5 robotic system, allowing the surgeon for the first time to feel the pressure they are exerting as they push and pull on the patient’s tissue inside their body.

Early results from the US show it’s making surgery more gentle and recovery time faster — and it’s even improving the time the patient is in the operating theatre.

WEHI study reveals a new immune pathway for fighting small cell lung cancer

Researchers have uncovered a previously overlooked immune cell that can recognize and kill small cell lung cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease globally.

Published in Cancer Cell, the WEHI study found patients with higher levels of these cells lived longer, uncovering a hidden immune defence that could be exploited to attack these hard-to-treat tumors.

Researchers also showed existing drugs could be repurposed to boost the cancer-killing activity of these immune cells, opening new opportunities to strengthen current treatments and help more patients benefit from these therapies.

Silicon qubits surpass 99.99% gate fidelity while operating three at once

Silicon spin qubits are a promising platform for building scalable quantum computers as they are compatible with the semiconductor manufacturing technologies used to produce today’s computer chips. However, they have an important weakness: silicon spin qubits typically lose accuracy when several qubits are under parallel control. To be useful, quantum computers will need to operate many qubits simultaneously without compromising the accuracy of their operations.

Now, in a study published in Nature Physics, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and collaborators have addressed this challenge by achieving high-fidelity control of multiple silicon spin qubits operating in parallel. Using a five-qubit silicon array controlled through a single shared microwave line, they identified a key source of errors during the simultaneous operation of qubits and developed a way to mitigate its effects.

According to Leon Camenzind, a research scientist at RIKEN and co-first author who supervised the experiments, “This shows that high-fidelity control can be maintained even when several qubits are operated at the same time and represents an important step toward scaling up silicon-based quantum processors.”

Our Universe Was Born From a Black Hole—and Now ‘Baby’ Realities Are Nested Inside of Our Own, Physicist Says

We’re taught that our universe is the largest thing we can possibly conceive of, ever expanding into something even bigger. But what if our reality is just a small part of something much more vast? It’s a mind-bending proposition, given that it’s difficult to even imagine what’s beyond Earth, but some striking science suggests that we should reconsider the evidence.

If our universe were truly random, we could expect half of the galaxies to rotate one way, and the other half in the opposite direction—but that isn’t the case. Two-thirds of observed galaxies spin counterclockwise. To some scientists, this preferred direction supports a theory called black hole cosmology, or the idea that our universe was born inside of a black hole nested in a larger parent universe. Should this be true, it means that baby universes could exist inside of our own, and it could be possible to enter them under the right circumstances.

The discovery of the galaxy asymmetry dates back to 2011, when the late physicist Michael J. Longo, PhD, published an interesting paper in Physics Letters B. His research was based on an analysis of 15,158 spiral galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in New Mexico. Longo found that spiral galaxies in one sector of the sky appeared to have a preferred direction of rotation, indicating there may be an asymmetry in how galaxies present in the universe. Last year, scientists confirmed the asymmetry in a paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Lior Shamir, PhD—a data scientist and professor at Kansas State University—led the 2025 study. He declined requests for comment.

In a Huge First, Physicists May Have Found a Shortcut to Fusion Energy

The Sun at the center of our own Solar System is a great advert for nuclear fusion: ultra-high temperatures and pressures combining to fuse hydrogen nuclei together into helium nuclei, releasing a huge amount of energy along the way.

If we can get the same reactions happening on Earth, nuclear fusion has the potential to drive a revolution in abundant, carbon-free energy – but replicating a star inside a science lab is proving as challenging as you might expect.

Now, researchers from Princeton University have published a study in Physical Review Letters that details how we might get to nuclear fusion more quickly. It outlines what is effectively a shortcut to something called ignition, where plasma can maintain the necessary heat levels through its own fusion reactions.

Scientists Investigated People With Insomnia. A Health Risk Pattern Emerged

The researchers identified that across several studies, with more than 1.3 million participants involved, those with insomnia had a 26 percent higher risk of having a stroke. They also found that those people were 28 percent more likely to be hospitalized for any admission reason. Other conditions associated with insomnia included dementia, depression, and suicidal behavior.

When it comes to the association between insomnia and stroke, while research has not yet determined a causal link, Muench said that some theories point toward blood pressure as the potential reason.

“People with insomnia are more likely to develop high blood pressure, but this may be because insomnia and high blood pressure often share the same risk factors, such as stress and lifestyle factors,” she said. “High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke that people can seek treatment for.”

Superheavy-element compound reveals weaker-than-expected bond due to relativistic effects

An international collaboration led by a research group from GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany, has achieved the first measurement of the chemical stability of a superheavy element compound.

The focus was on the hexacarbonyl complex Sg(CO)₆ of seaborgium (Sg, element 106). The result: The bond between the seaborgium atom and a carbonyl ligand is weaker than expected based on its position in the periodic table. Relativistic effects are the cause.

The results are published in the journal Nature.