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Blog – Page 7

A team of stem cell scientists have successfully used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bi-paternal mouse—a mouse with two male parents—that lived until adulthood.

Their results, published on January 28, 2025, in Cell Stem Cell, describe how targeting a particular set of genes involved in reproduction allowed the researchers to overcome previously insurmountable challenges in unisexual reproduction in mammals.

Scientists have attempted to create bi-paternal mice before, but the embryos developed only to a certain point and then stopped growing. Here, the investigators, led by corresponding author Wei Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, focused on targeting imprinting genes, which regulate in a number of ways.

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One of the key goals within the field of quantum computing is to achieve what is known as a quantum advantage. This term essentially describes the point after which a quantum computer can outperform a classical computer on a specific task or solve a problem that is beyond the reach of classical computers.

One task that could be used to demonstrate a , known as quantum random sampling, entails the generation of samples from a probability distribution. This task is very difficult for classical computers to perform, but it could theoretically be completed by quantum computers.

While past studies have successfully tackled random sampling tasks using quantum computers, actually verifying that a system effectively performs these tasks has proved challenging. This is because many existing verification techniques based on classical data are either too computationally demanding or difficult to apply to larger quantum systems.

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New Cornell University led-research challenges the long-standing belief that active volcanoes have large magma bodies that are expelled during eruptions and then dissipate over time as the volcanoes become dormant.

Researchers used seismic waves to identify beneath the surface of six volcanoes of various sizes and dormancy within the Cascade Range, which includes half of the U.S. volcanoes designated by the U.S. Geological Survey as “very high threat.” The team found that all of the volcanoes, including dormant ones, have persistent and large magma bodies.

The study, led by postdoctoral researcher Guanning Pang, was published in Nature Geoscience and co-authored by Geoffrey Abers, professor in .

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Quantum researchers from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, have demonstrated the potential for quantum computing to significantly improve how we solve complex problems involving large datasets, highlighting the potential of using quantum in areas such as real-time traffic management, agricultural monitoring, health care, and energy optimization.

By leveraging the unique properties of quantum computing, like superposition and entanglement, researchers compressed and analyzed a large dataset with speed, accuracy, and efficiency that traditional computers cannot match.

The work is published in the journal Advanced Science.

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Scientists have studied the moon’s surface for decades to help piece together its complex geological and evolutionary history. Evidence from the lunar maria (dark, flat areas on the moon filled with solidified lava) suggested that the moon experienced significant compression in its distant past. Researchers suspected that large, arching ridges on the moon’s near side were formed by contractions that occurred billions of years ago—concluding that the moon’s maria has remained dormant ever since.

However, a new study reveals that what lies beneath the lunar surface may be more dynamic than previously believed. Two Smithsonian Institution scientists and a University of Maryland geologist discovered that small located on the moon’s far side were notably younger than previously studied ridges on the near side. Their findings were published in The Planetary Science Journal on January 21, 2025.

“Many scientists believe that most of the moon’s geological movements happened two and a half, maybe three billion years ago,” said Jaclyn Clark, an assistant research scientist in UMD’s Department of Geology. “But we’re seeing that these tectonic landforms have been recently active in the last billion years and may still be active today. These small mare ridges seem to have formed within the last 200 million years or so, which is relatively recent considering the moon’s timescale.”

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A Franco-German research team, including members from the University of Freiburg, shows that supramolecular chemistry enables efficient spin communication through hydrogen bonds. The work is published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

Qubits are the basic building blocks of information processing in quantum technology. An important research question is what material they will actually consist of in technical applications. Molecular spin qubits are considered promising qubit candidates for molecular spintronics, in particular for quantum sensing. The materials studied here can be stimulated by light; this creates a second spin center and, subsequently, a light-induced quartet state.

Until now, research has assumed that the interaction between two spin centers can only be strong enough for successful quartet formation if the centers are covalently linked. Due to the high effort required to synthesize covalently bonded networks of such systems, their use in application-related developments in the field of quantum technology is severely limited.

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Half-metals are unique magnetic compounds that have been attracting interest in the development of mass-storage technologies. Some of the materials in the family of Heusler alloys were predicted to have a half-metallic nature, but their half-metallic electronic structure varies with their composition ratio and atomic ordered structure.

One property, , is fundamental to the material’s half-metallic properties. Spin polarization ratio is a physical property that indicates how polarized the number of electrons with spin in the up and down directions is.

Because spin polarization is influenced by the elemental composition of the Heusler alloy, it’s important to characterize and optimize the atomic composition of Heusler alloys to achieve the highest spin polarization. But current methods for determining the spin polarization of half-metals are either time-consuming or only provide an indirect measure.

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Yale physicists have uncovered a sophisticated and previously unknown set of “modes” within the human ear, which impose crucial constraints on how the ear amplifies faint sounds, withstands loud noises, and distinguishes an astonishing range of sound frequencies.

By applying existing mathematical models to a generic mock-up of the cochlea—a spiral-shaped organ in the inner ear—the researchers revealed an additional layer of cochlear complexity. Their findings provide new insights into the remarkable capacity and precision of human hearing.

“We set out to understand how the ear can tune itself to detect faint sounds without becoming unstable and responding even in the absence of external sounds,” said Benjamin Machta, an assistant professor of physics in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Science and co-senior author of a new study in the journal PRX Life. “But in getting to the bottom of this we stumbled onto a new set of low frequency mechanical modes that the cochlea likely supports.”

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Electromagnetic absorbers are essential in energy, stealth, and communication technologies, yet current designs underperform. A research team has introduced ultra-thin absorbers nearing theoretical efficiency limits, promising transformative industrial applications.

Absorbing layers are essential to advancements in technologies like energy harvesting, stealth systems, and communication networks. These layers efficiently capture electromagnetic waves across wide frequency ranges, enabling the creation of sustainable, self-powered devices such as remote sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) systems. In stealth technology, absorbing layers reduce radar visibility, enhancing the performance of aircraft and naval systems. They also play a vital role in communication networks by minimizing stray signals and mitigating electromagnetic interference, making them indispensable in today’s interconnected world.

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