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Glutamine metabolic interaction network reshapes tumor immunotherapy resistance

Glutamine metabolism is often viewed as a cancer cell dependency, but its biological consequences depend on how glutamine and its carbon- and nitrogen-derived metabolites are used across malignant, immune, and stromal compartments. In this article, we introduce the glutamine metabolic interaction network (GMIN) as an analytical framework that integrates nutrient partitioning, competition, metabolic cooperation, and metabolite-mediated regulation while distinguishing candidate associations from functionally supported interactions. We review the biochemical, spatial, and treatment-dependent determinants of GMIN states, including emerging evidence for metabolic remodeling during immunotherapy resistance. Current clinical evidence neither supports uniform glutaminase 1 dependence nor establishes a single preferred strategy for glutamine-directed intervention. GMIN may therefore provide a framework for identifying context-specific glutamine-centered interactions and prioritizing them for state-resolved therapeutic targeting.

Unusual quantum states in six-layer graphene offer clues to superconductivity

Graphene, a material consisting of a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern, has proved promising for various technological applications. Materials in which several layers of graphene are stacked together can exhibit different advantageous properties.

Researchers at Cornell University in the U.S., the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Germany investigated the properties of rhombohedral hexalayer graphene, which includes six graphene layers shifted sideways in a repeating pattern.

Their paper, published in Nature Physics, reports various quantum states in this material under different conditions.

JWST reveals a distant galaxy that may let most of its ionizing radiation escape

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found evidence that a distant, exceptionally blue galaxy may allow most of its ionizing radiation to escape into space. Known as EBG-1, the gravitationally lensed galaxy is seen at a redshift of 9.244, about 530 million years after the Big Bang. The paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 16.

Scientists estimate that cosmic reionization happened roughly between 600 million and a billion years (around redshifts 6 to 8) after the Big Bang and was complete by redshift 5.5. During this epoch, ionizing ultraviolet radiation from early stars and galaxies converted the universe’s neutral hydrogen gas into the ionized state we see today.

The ultraviolet radiation driving this transition is mainly made up of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons with wavelengths less than 912 Å. Much of this light is absorbed by gas and dust inside a galaxy, so the fraction that escapes into intergalactic space, called the escape fraction, is key to estimating how much a galaxy contributed.

UTe₂ reveals two flavors of superconductivity under extreme pressure

Quantum researchers are searching for a topological superconductor—a material that, if discovered, would allow major advances in quantum computing by combining two distinct “flavors” of superconductivity.

This material remains elusive, but Cornell researchers have demonstrated that uranium ditelluride can exhibit both flavors at once, setting it apart as the leading candidate.

“No one has yet convincingly demonstrated a topological superconductor, but now we know that uranium ditelluride at least has the right ingredients to make it happen,” said Brad Ramshaw, associate professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics.