Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists recreated molecular switches that regulate biological timing, aiding nanotechnology and explaining evolutionary advantages.

Living organisms monitor time – and react to it – in many different ways, from detecting light and sound in microseconds to responding physiologically in pre-programmed ways, via their daily sleep cycle, monthly menstrual cycle, or to changes in the seasons.

These time-sensitive reactions are enabled by molecular switches or nanomachines that function as precise molecular timers, programmed to activate or deactivate in response to environmental cues and time intervals.

MicroAlgo Inc. has announced the development of a quantum algorithm it claims significantly enhances the efficiency and accuracy of quantum computing operations. According to a company press release, this advance focuses on implementing a FULL adder operation — an essential arithmetic unit — using CPU registers in quantum gate computers.

The company says this achievement could open new pathways for the design and practical application of quantum gate computing systems. However, it’s important to point out that the company did not cite supporting research papers or third-party validations in the announcement.

Quantum gate computers operate by applying quantum gates to qubits, which are the basic units of quantum information. Unlike classical bits that represent data as either “0” or “1,” qubits can exist in a superposition of probabilistic states, theoretically enabling quantum systems to process specific tasks more efficiently than classical computers. According to the press release, MicroAlgo’s innovation leverages quantum gates and the properties of qubits, including superposition and entanglement, to simulate and perform FULL adder operations.

Solar storm-driven waves reach Earth’s surface in just 10 minutes, carrying magnetic energy.

A team of materials scientists, physicists, mechanical engineers, and molecular physiologists at Stanford University have developed a nanoparticle technique that can be used to measure force dynamics inside a living creature, such as Caenorhabditis elegans worms biting their food.

In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they used infrared radiation to excite luminescent nanocrystals in a way that allowed the energy levels of cells inside a C. elegans worm to be measured.

Andries Meijerink, with Utrecht University, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue, outlining the work done by the team in California.

Birds are the undisputed champions of epic travel, but they are not the only long-haul fliers. A handful of bats are known to travel thousands of kilometers in continental migrations across North America, Europe, and Africa. The behavior is rare and difficult to observe, which is why long-distance bat migration has remained an enigma.

Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) have studied 71 common noctule bats on their spring migration across the European continent, providing a leap in understanding this mysterious behavior. Ultra-lightweight, intelligent sensors attached to bats uncovered a strategy used by the tiny mammals for travel: they surf the warm fronts of storms to fly further with less energy. The study is published in Science.

“The sensor data is amazing,” says first author Edward Hurme, a postdoctoral researcher at MPI-AB and the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behavior at the University of Konstanz. “We don’t just see the path that bats took, we also see what they experienced in the environment as they migrated. It’s this context that gives us insight into the crucial decisions that bats made during their costly and dangerous journeys.”

To overcome that limitation, MIT researchers have developed a computational technique that allows large language models to predict antibody structures more accurately. Their work could enable researchers to sift through millions of possible antibodies to identify those that could be used to treat SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A group of astronomers from numerous institutions have investigated a recently discovered nearby tidal disruption event known as ASASSN-22ci. They detected two luminous flares from this event. The finding was reported in a paper published Dec. 19 on the preprint server arXiv.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are astronomical phenomena that occur when a star passes close enough to a supermassive black hole and is pulled apart by the black hole’s tidal forces, causing the process of disruption.

Such tidally disrupted stellar debris starts raining down on the black hole and radiation emerges from the innermost region of accreting debris, which is an indicator of the presence of a TDE. All in all, the debris stream–stream collision causes an energy dissipation, which may lead to the formation of an accretion disk.

Hula hooping is so commonplace that we may overlook some interesting questions it raises: “What keeps a hula hoop up against gravity?” and “Are some body types better for hula hooping than others?” A team of mathematicians explored and answered these questions with findings that also point to new ways to better harness energy and improve robotic positioners.

The results are the first to explain the physics and mathematics of hula hooping.

“We were specifically interested in what kinds of body motions and shapes could successfully hold the hoop up and what physical requirements and restrictions are involved,” explains Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the senior author of the paper, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Detecting infrared light is critical in an enormous range of technologies, from remote controls to autofocus systems to self-driving cars and virtual reality headsets. That means there would be major benefits from improving the efficiency of infrared sensors, such as photodiodes.

Researchers at Aalto University have developed a new type of infrared photodiode that is 35% more responsive at 1.55 µm, the key wavelength for telecommunications, compared to other germanium-based components. Importantly, this new device can be manufactured using current production techniques, making it highly practical for adoption.

“It took us eight years from the idea to proof-of-concept,” says Hele Savin, a professor at Aalto University.