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No more guesswork in drug design—atomic-resolution method exposes what trial and error keep missing

Drug discovery still too often relies on expensive trial and error. Researchers from ICTER show there is another way—building molecules step by step and observing their behavior at atomic resolution. This approach could significantly speed up the development of new therapies while reducing side effects.

The starting point of the study, published in Diabetology by Vineeta Kaushik, Saurav Karmakar, and Humberto Fernandes, is aldose reductase (AR)—an enzyme that has long been at the center of research into diabetic complications. Under conditions of chronic hyperglycemia, the so-called polyol pathway becomes overactive, converting glucose into sorbitol. Its accumulation leads to osmotic stress, redox imbalance, and ultimately cellular damage.

This mechanism is directly linked to complications such as diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. Inhibiting aldose reductase, therefore, appears to be an obvious therapeutic strategy. Yet despite decades of research, no drug has successfully combined strong efficacy with a favorable safety profile.

Mathematical framework solves asteroid route planning exactly for first time

A new publication from Bielefeld University sets a benchmark in optimization research. Together with an international team, Professor Michael Römer from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics has developed a mathematical framework that solves a complex problem from space logistics exactly for the first time: the optimal planning of a route to visit several asteroids under conditions that are as close to reality as possible. The study is published in the INFORMS Journal on Computing.

At the center of the research is the so-called Asteroid Routing Problem. It addresses the question: In what order should a spacecraft visit multiple asteroids if both travel time and fuel consumption are to be minimized? The challenge is that, unlike in classical routing problems, the travel time between destinations is constantly changing because all celestial bodies are in continuous motion.

The idea for the study originated in Bielefeld, sparked by a success in a competition organized by the European Space Agency (ESA). During a research stay in Bielefeld, lead author Isaac Rudich revisited the topic and, together with the team, developed a new solution approach.

Magnon lifetime extended 100x paves the way for mini quantum computers

Magnons are tiny waves in magnetization that travel through solid magnetic materials, much like the ripples that spread across a pond when a stone is thrown into it. Unlike photons, which travel through empty space or optical fibers, magnons propagate within a magnetic solid. Their wavelengths can be reduced to the nanometer range, meaning that magnonic circuits could, in principle, fit onto a chip no larger than those found in today’s smartphones. Furthermore, as an excitation of a solid, a magnon naturally couples to numerous other fundamental quasi-particles—phonons, photons and others—making it an ideal building block for hybrid quantum systems and quantum metrology.

Until now, there has been one major obstacle: magnons have had a very short lifetime. This lifetime—the period during which they can reliably carry quantum information—was limited to a few hundred nanoseconds at best. Far too short for any practical quantum computation. The team led by Wiener has now achieved a breakthrough: the physicists were able to measure magnon lifetimes of up to 18 microseconds—almost a hundred times longer than any value observed to date.

In this state, magnons are no longer fleeting signals, but become long-lived, reliable carriers of quantum information, comparable to the superconducting qubits used in today’s leading quantum processors. The study has recently been published in the journal Science Advances.

A tiny world beyond Neptune has an atmosphere that shouldn’t exist

A team of professional and amateur Japanese astronomers have found evidence for a thin atmosphere around a small body in the outer solar system. The object is so small that it should not have a sustainable atmosphere, raising questions about when and how the atmosphere formed. Future observations to better characterize the atmosphere will help solve these mysteries.

Time-varying magnetic fields can engineer exotic quantum matter

Quantum technology has promising potential to revolutionize how large and complex amounts of information are processed. While already in use primarily in laboratory and research settings globally, quantum technologies are in a transition phase for broader industry applications across many economic sectors.

In researching fundamental aspects of quantum physics, or the behavior of nature at the smallest scales—involving atoms, electrons and photons—a study led by Cal Poly Physics Department Lecturer Ian Powell analyzed how a changing magnetic field can make matter behave in unusual ways.

Powell and student researcher Louis Buchalter, who graduated with a Cal Poly bachelor’s degree in physics in 2025, published the article “Flux-Switching Floquet Engineering” in the journal Physical Review B, highlighting how changing magnetic fields over time can create quantum states that do not exist in any stationary material (remaining in the same state as time elapses).

This New “Sound Laser” Could Measure Gravity With Stunning Precision

A new sound-based laser could measure gravity with unprecedented precision and reshape navigation technology.

Since their introduction in the 1960s, lasers have fueled major advances in science and everyday technology, from supermarket scanners to eye surgery. Traditional lasers operate by controlling photons, which are particles of light. Over the past two decades, researchers have expanded this concept to other particles, including phonons, which represent tiny units of vibration or sound. Learning to control phonons could unlock new capabilities, including access to unusual quantum effects such as entanglement.

Squeezed Phonon Laser Advances Precision.

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