Astronomers have found a system of three supermassive black holes, all actively feeding, that appear to be combining into a single system – a rare event that will help elucidate the physics of complex mergers
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A lupus-derived autoantibody that binds to intracellular RNA activates cGAS-mediated tumor immunity and can deliver RNA into cells
Harnessing antibodies found in patients with lupus, researchers test a new cancer therapy that turns autoimmune responses against tumor cells in mice, suggesting similar approaches could be integrated into immunotherapy regimens.
Learn more in Science Signaling.
Delivery of autoimmune disease–associated antibodies activates the immune system to fight glioblastomas.
Diversified, endothelial cell-dependent cancer cell response to hypertensive serum modified by antihypertensive drugs
Uruski, P., Mikuła-Pietrasik, J., Tykarski, A. et al. Sci Rep 15, 43,463 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27414-x.
How imagining a positive encounter can make you like them better
Cardiovascular risk factors can spark inflammation by eliciting misdirected responses of intrinsic vascular cells and leukocytes, culminating in lesion initiation, progression, and complication. Soehnlein and Libby review key underlying inflammatory mechanisms in atherosclerosis and discuss how new understanding based on increasingly sophisticated tools has enabled translation to the clinic.
Ants may hold solution to human superbug, researchers discover
Has a crucial component to the development of human medicine been hiding under our feet? Auburn University Assistant Professor of Entomology Clint Penick and a team of graduate students may have found that ants are far ahead of humans in antibiotic innovation. “In our study, we tested how ants use antibiotic compounds to fight off pathogens and asked why their chemical defenses remain effective over evolutionary time,” Penick said.
“Humans have relied on antibiotics for less than a century, yet many pathogens have already evolved resistance, giving rise to ‘superbugs.’ Ants, by contrast, have been using antibiotics for tens of millions of years, and they might hold the key to using these powerful drugs more wisely.”
Ants as a source of antibiotics The team looked at just six ant species, all found easily in the Southeastern United States.
New memristor-based converter boosts energy efficiency in AI hardware
A cross-institutional team led by researchers from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), under the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), have achieved a major breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware by developing a new type of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that uses innovative memristor technology. The work is published in Nature Communications.
Challenges with conventional AI hardware Conventional AI accelerators face challenges because the essential components that convert analog signals into digital form are often bulky and power-consuming. Led by Professor Ngai Wong, Professor Can Li and Dr. Zhengwu Liu of HKU EEE, in collaboration with researchers from Xidian University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the cross-disciplinary research team developed a new type of ADC that uses innovative memristor technology. This new converter can process signals more efficiently and accurately, paving the way for faster, more energy-efficient AI chips.
Adaptive system and efficiency gains The research team created an adaptive system that automatically adjusts its settings based on the data it receives, i.e., dynamically fine-tuning how signals are converted. This results in a 15.1× improvement in energy efficiency and a 12.9× reduction in circuit area compared with state-of-the-art solutions.
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