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Humans and songbirds hear the same sounds, but organize them differently

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University have discovered that humans and songbirds use markedly different strategies to recognize sequences of complex sounds. The findings shed new light on how biology and experience shape the way we perceive complex sounds, with implications for music and speech.

When people hear a familiar melody, they generally follow its pitch pattern (how high or low a sound is), even when it is played on another instrument. But do songbirds recognize sound patterns in the same way?

A new study by researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University suggests that they do not. Using a listening task in which humans and zebra finches were exposed to the same artificial sounds, the researchers found that humans attend predominantly to pitch, whereas zebra finches combine pitch with changes in the spectral structure—or formants—of these sounds. The study is published in Communications Biology.

Ultrashort laser pulses offer a new way to probe electrons’ quantum geometry

Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg have developed a method for determining, using light, a quantum property of electrons that has hitherto been difficult to access. The focus is on what is known as Berry curvature—a quantity that describes certain geometric properties of the quantum mechanical states of electrons. The researchers measured it in a layer of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide, just one atomic layer thick, using ultrashort laser pulses. The results have been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Photonics.

Electrons in a crystal do not simply move like tiny particles along fixed paths. Their behavior is determined by quantum mechanical states. Researchers summarize the geometric properties of these states under the term “quantum geometry.” An important parameter here is the Berry curvature. Among other things, it influences how electrons react to light or electric fields.

Until now, Berry curvature has mainly been calculated theoretically or investigated using comparatively complex experimental methods. The team from Jena and Regensburg is taking a different approach: it combines optical measurements with an analytical model and is thus able to quantitatively estimate the local Berry curvature of the material.

Variations in the human vocal tract could have influenced language diversity

The anatomical differences in our vocal tracts could be one of the sources of our Tower of Babel—the vast difference in languages spoken around the world, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Steven Moran and Tiena Danner from the University of Neuch tel, Switzerland, and colleagues.

Many variations exist in the human voice. People vary in the size and shape of the tissues in the head and neck and also shape that anatomy differently to produce similar sounds. Developmental and cultural factors will shape the way people speak.

Optical skyrmions can control the motion of magnetic skyrmions

Magnetic skyrmions (MSks) are swirling patterns of magnetization that form inside certain magnetic materials. They can behave like actual particles in many ways, exhibiting a stable internal structure and distinct boundaries. Because they are extremely small and can be pushed around with relatively little energy, MSks are regarded as promising information carriers in emerging technologies, including low-power memories and logic circuits. However, a major goal in the field has been to find practical ways to control their motion with high precision.

Interestingly, MSks have a counterpart in light called optical skyrmions (OSks). These are structured polarization textures of electromagnetic fields that share the same underlying topological description as MSks. Despite their common topology, the two have been largely studied separately in their respective fields of magnetism and photonics. This raises a fundamental question: Can the topology of light control the dynamics of a MSk?

A research team led by professor Masahito Mochizuki in the Department of Applied Physics at Waseda University, Japan, and Dr. Lan Bo, a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow at Waseda University, attempted to fill the knowledge gap using micromagnetic simulations. Their study, co-authored by Dr. Xichao Zhang, a former research associate professor at Waseda University, was published online in the journal Physical Review Letters on Sept. 14, 2026.

Computational model guides lighting design to improve color discrimination in aging eyes

Researchers have developed a new computational model that accounts for the effects of aging on our eyes’ ability to discriminate color. It could help guide lighting designs that make it easier for older adults to perceive colors while preserving the expected appearance for people with typical color vision.

“As people age, the lens inside the eye gradually yellows and absorbs more short-wavelength light, which can make similar colors harder to discriminate,” said research team leader Qi Dai from Fudan University in China. “We incorporated these age-related changes into a model that can be used to guide the spectrum, or mixture of wavelengths, used for white lighting to make it easier for older adults to perceive colors.”

In the journal Optics Express, researchers from Fudan University and OPPLE Lighting report results from a study that used the new model to design lighting spectra that account for how aging eyes perceive color. In a group of adult volunteers ages 70 and older, the resulting lighting improved color discrimination compared with an LED-simulated D50 daylight reference at nearly the same color temperature, while familiar colors still looked natural.

Could meditation reveal an SU(3) symmetry shared by the observer and the universe?

You sit down to meditate. A conversation returns, then thoughts. You bring your attention back to the breath. Sometimes, after many such returns, the effort eases. Thoughts lose their urgency, while awareness remains clear. Less occupies the mind, yet the moment still feels whole.

We are interested in what makes that wholeness possible. Even an ordinary moment brings together vision, memory, bodily sensation and attention. Their contents change constantly, but they belong to one experience. What physical organization allows the brain to hold them together, and what happens to that organization when experience itself appears to stop?

In our paper, “A Coherence–Dissipation Framework for Brain Dynamics and Consciousness,” published in the journal Entropy, we approach these questions through the quantum phenomenon of superconductivity, symmetry and the balance between coherence and dissipation. We propose a mathematical structure that could be sought in neural recordings, with meditation offering a setting in which to study how the relationship between activity and experience changes.

‘Carpet’ growth method yields long-sought 2D quantum material

For decades, physicists have sought a practical two-dimensional topological insulator: an ultrathin material whose interior blocks electricity but whose edges conduct it. In ordinary wires, electrons constantly bounce off imperfections, losing energy. But along the edges of a 2D topological insulator, electrons with opposite spins travel in opposite directions, like cars in one-way lanes, so they rarely scatter and lose energy.

Now, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have shown that ultrathin films of bismuth telluride are such a material. The work, published in ACS Nano, used a new approach to produce a uniform-thickness bismuth telluride film and confirm theoretical predictions about the material’s properties.

“In a strict scientific sense, we are the first to demonstrate conclusive spectroscopic evidence that this is indeed a 2D topological insulator,” said Shuolong Yang, assistant professor of molecular engineering at UChicago PME and senior author of the new work. “When people created these films in the past, they were all mixed up with one, two, three or four layers, and the topological electronic properties weren’t resolved.”

Faster molecular simulations identify promising diamond defects for quantum computers and sensors

A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The new approach has already identified promising materials for practical quantum sensors and computers that could one day transform scientific research as a whole. The research was recently published in the journal ACS Central Science and has already garnered attention from other experts in the field.

Many types of materials are currently being considered for use in quantum technology, but most can only hold a stable quantum state when chilled to extreme temperatures. Diamond-based materials, however, offer promising alternatives because they are functional at room temperature. This is just one way that PPPL continues to advance strategic national priorities, such as creating the technology of the future.

Quantum technology is critical because the sensors would be more sensitive and accurate than anything currently available, and quantum computers would be able to handle highly complex problems far faster than any traditional supercomputer on Earth today.

New topological microscope tip reveals evidence of 2D altermagnetism

Researchers have fashioned a layered topological material into a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip that senses spin-related electronic states at atomic resolution.

The research team, led by Chen Xianhui and Wang Zhenyu from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with Xiang Bin from USTC, Liu Junwei from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and other collaborators, used this probe to obtain converging evidence for two-dimensional d-wave altermagnetic order on the surface of KV₂Se₂O.

The study was published online in Nature on Oct. 13.

Scientists Build a World-First DNA Computer That Runs Without Continuous Power

Reusable for up to 25 different calculations, a DNA computer points toward possible uses in energy-efficient computing and long-term data storage.

A DNA computer has added 10 and 3 in 30 seconds, using interacting strands in water instead of a silicon chip. Developed by researchers at Maynooth University (MU), the system can also multiply and divide without a continuous electricity supply.

The work, published in Nature, presents a first-of-its-kind system described as one of the most complex and fastest molecular computers yet reported.