The C-STARS experiment aims to gather data on how astronauts maintain mental health while on long-duration missions.
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Why Alzheimer’s patients forget loved ones
Few moments are more heartbreaking for families of Alzheimer’s disease patients than when a loved one no longer recognizes them. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia may reveal why that happens and offer hope for prevention.
UVA’s Harald Sontheimer, graduate student Lata Chaunsali and their colleagues found that when protective structures around brain cells break down, people may lose the ability to recognize loved ones. In lab studies, keeping these structures intact helped mice remember one another.
“Finding a structural change that explains a specific memory loss in Alzheimer’s is very exciting,” said Sontheimer, chair of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience and member of the UVA Brain Institute. “It is a completely new target, and we already have suitable drug candidates in hand.”
AI tech can compress LLM chatbot conversation memory by 3–4 times
Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Professor Hyun Oh Song from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has developed a new AI technology called KVzip that intelligently compresses the conversation memory of large language model (LLM)-based chatbots used in long-context tasks such as extended dialog and document summarization. The study is published on the arXiv preprint server.
The term conversation memory refers to the temporary storage of sentences, questions, and responses that a chatbot maintains during interaction, which it uses to generate contextually coherent replies. Using KVzip, a chatbot can compress this memory by eliminating redundant or unnecessary information that is not essential for reconstructing context. The technique allows the chatbot to retain accuracy while reducing memory size and speeding up response generation—a major step forward in efficient, scalable AI dialog systems.
Modern LLM chatbots perform tasks such as dialog, coding, and question answering using enormous contexts that can span hundreds or even thousands of pages. As conversations grow longer, however, the accumulated conversation memory increases computational cost and slows down response time.
Identical particles as a genuine non-local resource
npj Quantum Inf ormation volume 11, Article number: 171 (2025) Cite this article.
Goodbye, Cavities? Scientists Just Found a Way to Regrow Tooth Enamel
A newly developed material has been used to create a gel capable of repairing and rebuilding tooth enamel, offering a potential breakthrough in both preventive and restorative dental care.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy and Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering designed this bioinspired substance to restore damaged or eroded enamel, reinforce existing enamel, and help guard against future decay. Their findings were published in Nature Communications.
This protein-based gel, which contains no fluoride, can be quickly applied to teeth using the same method dentists use for traditional fluoride treatments. It imitates the natural proteins responsible for guiding enamel formation early in life. Once in place, the gel forms a thin, durable coating that seeps into the tooth surface, filling small cracks and imperfections.
How tiny drones inspired by bats could save lives in dark and stormy conditions
Don’t be fooled by the fog machine, spooky lights and fake bats: the robotics lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute lab isn’t hosting a Halloween party.
Instead, it’s a testing ground for tiny drones that can be deployed in search and rescue missions even in dark, smoky or stormy conditions.
“We all know that when there’s an earthquake or a tsunami, the first thing that goes down is power lines. A lot of times, it’s at night, and you’re not going to wait until the next morning to go and rescue survivors,” said Nitin Sanket, assistant professor of robotics engineering. “So we started looking at nature. Is there a creature in the world which can actually do this?”
Quantum “Pinball” State of Matter: Electrons That Conduct and Insulate at the Same Time
Physicists at Florida State University (FSU) have uncovered a fascinating new phase of matter — a “ quantum pinball state” in which electrons act both as conductors and insulators at the same time. In this bizarre quantum regime, some electrons freeze into a rigid crystalline lattice while others move freely around them, much like balls ricocheting around fixed pins in a pinball machine. The discovery offers a new perspective on how quantum materials behave and could pave the way for breakthroughs in quantum computing, spintronics, and superconductivity.
The research, published in npj Quantum Materials, was led by Dr. Aman Kumar, Prof. Hitesh Changlani, and Prof. Cyprian Lewandowski of FSU’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Their study explores how electrons in a two-dimensional “moiré lattice” can transition between solid-like and liquid-like states under certain conditions, forming what physicists call a generalized Wigner crystal.
