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Organic luminescent radicals enable bright circularly polarized light in the near-infrared region

Circularly polarized light has properties that make it useful in a growing range of technologies, from next-generation 3D displays to bioimaging tools that can detect signals deep within living tissues. One way to produce this kind of light is with the help of chiral molecules—compounds that have a mirror-image form to which they cannot be perfectly superimposed. Among these, small organic molecules (SOMs) offer tunable emission wavelengths.

Luminescent radicals represent a promising type of SOM for red and near-infrared circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emission. One particular family of radicals, tris(2,4,6‑trichlorophenyl)methyl (TTM)‑based radicals, is inherently chiral and a natural candidate for CPL.

In practice, however, these molecules fall short on multiple fronts, with tradeoffs between stable chirality, high emission efficiency, and durability under operating conditions.

Method for measuring energy amounts less than a trillionth of a billionth of a joule could boost quantum computing

The fundamentals of quantum mechanics are minuscule. Scientists constantly home in on finer resolutions to measure, quantify, and control these fundamentals, like photons that carry light and have no mass unless they are moving. The more precise the measurement, the more possibilities for better quantum technology or the ability to detect elusive dark-matter axions in deep space.

Now, researchers in Finland have successfully used a calorimeter, a type of ultra-sensitive heat-based energy sensor, to detect energy levels below one zeptojoule, or a trillionth of a billionth of a joule. For context, a zeptojoule is approximately the amount of work it takes for a red blood cell to move a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter, upwards in Earth’s gravity.

The team, led by Academy Professor Mikko Möttönen at Aalto University, together with industry collaborator IQM and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), used a novel technique to achieve the milestone measurement. The study is published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Gene circuits reshape DNA folding and affect how genes are expressed

Weng et al. investigate the function of polyglutamine (polyQ) in Runx2, demonstrating that the deletion of the polyQ repeat disrupts the interaction with KPNA3. This impairs the steric blocking effects of KPNA3 on Runx2 condensation. They revealed the unique role of polyQ repeat in modulating the liquid-like state of Runx2.

50 Years On: How Inhaled Corticosteroids Have Changed The Treatment of Asthma

Inhaled corticosteroids are the foundation of asthma therapy and now, 50 years on from their introduction, is an appropriate time to summarise some of the key studies that have progressed the field. We can now make better decisions in selecting the optimal inhaled corticosteroid-based regimens and identifying likely responders, based on biomarkers and patient characteristics. Inhaled corticosteroids reduce the risk of asthma attacks, but do not alter the course of the disease. Asthma remission, which is as yet an undefined therapeutic goal, is the aim, but the role of inhaled corticosteroids is unclear.

Outcomes After Minor Ischemic Stroke in Older Patients Treated With IV Thrombolysis vs Standard of Care in the TEMPO-2 Trial

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How Intestinal Aging Encourages Harmful Bacteria

In Aging Cell, researchers have elucidated the relationship between intestinal aging and age-related changes to the gut microbiome.

Two interdependent biologies

The human gut works through the interaction of two entirely different sets of cells. The first is the body’s actual cells, including the intestinal barrier between the gut and the rest of the body, various types of ordinary immune cells, and Peyer’s patches with follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) areas that contain microfold cells (M cells), which perform crucial immunoregulatory tasks [1]. The second is the gut microbiome, the various types of bacteria that help us digest food.

How Neutrino Oscillations Affect Supernovae

Numerical models of core-collapse supernovae have matured greatly over the past few decades. With impressive accuracy, they now couple relativistic gravity, magnetohydrodynamics, nuclear physics, and neutrino transport. Neutrinos, copiously produced in the collapsed core, are the main driver of most of these supernovae. Neutrino oscillations are probably the most crucial ingredient that is still missing from the majority of models, even though their presence and possible importance have long been suggested. The reason for this gap in modeling is twofold: Many relevant physical parameters are poorly known, and the most important oscillation processes are very difficult to simulate. Now Ryuichiro Akaho at Waseda University in Japan and colleagues have made a key step toward a self-consistent model and revealed some complexities that arise when incorporating neutrino oscillations [1].

Stars are supported against their own gravity primarily by gas pressure, which is maintained by exothermic nuclear reactions. In high-mass stars, nuclear burning starts with the fusion of hydrogen into helium and continues through progressively heavier elements until the core is dominated by iron-group nuclei, at which point fusion no longer releases energy. Pressure support then no longer suffices to stabilize the core, and it collapses to a protoneutron star, a hot compact object with about 1.5 solar masses concentrated in a radius of a few tens of kilometers. During the collapse, a shock wave forms at this object’s surface and stalls after propagating outward for only about 100 km (Fig. 1). Neutrinos generated in and around the protoneutron star can heat the surrounding gas, increasing its energy.

This tiny grain-of-rice sensor gives robots a new sense and changes what delicate tools can detect

Researchers have developed a sensor about the size of a grain of rice that can measure forces and twisting motions in all directions using light instead of traditional electronics. The new sensor could help robotic tools and medical devices “feel” what they are touching, especially at very small scales.

“Although modern imaging systems can show structures clearly, they do not provide information about physical interaction, such as force or torque, and existing force sensors are often too bulky or complex to fit into miniature tools,” said research team leader Jianlong Yang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. “By allowing machines to measure contact force, pressure, shear and twisting, our technology could make it possible for robots to detect unsafe contact early and adjust their actions in real time, especially in small and sensitive environments.”

In Optica journal, the researchers describe their new sensor, which measures just 1.7 millimeters and uses a single optical signal to measure forces and torques in all directions at once. Proof-of-concept tests showed that the sensor can detect stiffness variations and locate hidden structures in models that mimic a tumor embedded in tissue.

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