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A hidden rivalry between two quantum states at the heart of superconductors

Transmitting electricity without losing any energy may sound impossible, yet this is precisely the promise of superconductivity. For nearly 40 years, scientists have been working to understand materials that exhibit this remarkable property at relatively high temperatures. Unlocking their secrets could one day help make power grids more efficient, enhance medical technologies and support the development of quantum computing.

Among the most promising of these materials are cuprates, a family of copper-based compounds discovered in 1986. The breakthrough was so significant that its discoverers, Bednorz and Müller, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics the following year. Despite decades of research, however, the mechanisms that allow cuprates to become superconducting remain poorly understood.

At the heart of this puzzle lies the pseudogap, a mysterious quantum state whose exact role continues to spark debate. Some scientists believe it helps superconductivity emerge, while others see it as a competing phenomenon.

Soybean waste yields 3D-printable material that could help repair skin

Transforming a soybean processing byproduct into a material for skin protection and repair is the prospect outlined by a study that used okara, a residue from the production of tofu and soy-based beverages, to obtain a bioactive, biodegradable, 3D-printable biomaterial.

The material could contribute, in the future, to the development of devices for the local treatment of pain associated with breastfeeding and postoperative recovery following breast cancer surgery.

The interdisciplinary research was coordinated by Carmen Lammi, professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Milan, in collaboration with the team led by professor Serena Graziosi of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, and with Raffaele Pugliese, a researcher at the NeMO Lab Research Center—Niguarda Hospital in Milan.

AI challenges math by solving the unsolvable

Announcements over recent months that artificial intelligence models have cracked previously unsolvable problems are shaking top-level mathematicians to the core, and they are now asking themselves: Where do we come in?

“All the avenues of research I had are now gone; we’re facing a new day,” Hugo Duminil-Copin, winner of the 2022 Fields Medal, one of the highest honors in mathematics, recently told his colleagues at the French Mathematical Society.

Since April, AI firms have regularly been publishing solutions to previously unsolved mathematical problems as they seek to demonstrate the power of their latest models.

Using eyedrops in space—wearable patch offers a new approach

Applying eyedrops is difficult in space, where there is almost no gravity. A KAIST research team has developed a wearable patch that delivers eyedrops to the eye without relying on gravity. The research team was led by Professor Ki-Hun Jeong from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, in collaboration with a research team led by Professor Se Joon Woo from Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The paper is published in the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

During long-duration space exploration, technologies that allow astronauts to manage their health without direct help from medical staff are essential. In particular, microgravity causes body fluids to shift toward the head, which can change the structure of the eyes and visual function. However, the standard method of applying eyedrops on Earth depends on drops falling by gravity, so it cannot be used in space without modification.

AI slays the dragon as four agents conquer Minecraft without human intervention

Minecraft is one of the world’s most popular video games, where players explore, gather resources, craft items and try to survive in a virtual universe constructed of 3D cubes that represent different materials.

The Ender Dragon is the game’s difficult final test. To reach and defeat this dragon, players must complete a long series of connected challenges, such as gathering raw resources, building tools and finding a hidden underground stronghold.

Now, four AI agents have done it, and they only needed one game-specific instruction: “defeat the Ender Dragon.”

‘Smoking gun’ may help solve mystery of high-temperature superconductivity

Superconductivity has many important practical applications, including creating powerful magnets used in high-resolution medical scans, transporting electricity efficiently and building ultrasensitive measuring devices. Until now, understanding exactly what lay behind this unique phenomenon at high temperatures has eluded scientists over many decades.

But research, led by physicists at the University of Bristol and published this week in the journal Nature Physics, has identified the mechanism which explains how electrons in these copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors combine to transmit power with no loss of energy—the ‘superconductive’ state of infinite electrical conduction.

Study co-lead author Nigel Hussey, professor of physics at the University of Bristol, said, Superconductivity is a remarkable, almost magical, phenomenon which has long fascinated famous physicists and resulted in various breakthroughs recognized with Nobel Prizes over the decades.

Supercomputer reveals how size could shape the future of nanomedicine

Scientists have long been interested in cellular nanodiscs, tiny particles made from natural cell membranes that mimic many of the functions of living cells. While previous studies demonstrated the therapeutic potential of nanodiscs for drug delivery, detoxification and vaccines, one fundamental question remained unanswered: How does size influence how well they work?

Researchers from the University of California San Diego have discovered that size has more of an impact than scientists once realized. Shrinking cellular nanodiscs dramatically improves their ability to bind biological targets and neutralize harmful bacterial toxins. The findings, recently published in the journal Small, establish new design principles that could help scientists build more effective nanomedicines by combining laboratory experiments with high-performance computing.

The interdisciplinary research effort included Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing affiliates Liangfang Zhang and Kesong Yang, who are professors in UC San Diego’s Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering. The study paired experimental biology with computer simulations, using National Science Foundation (NSF) ACCESS allocations on the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) Expanse system to uncover why particle size has such a profound effect on biological performance.

Secret trigger words could make AI-powered robots dangerous

Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google Gemini are increasingly being used to help robots perform tasks, but what if LLMs could be exploited to turn helpful robots into harmful robots?

A team of computer scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has demonstrated that hidden trigger words inserted maliciously into LLMs could cause a robot to go off-script and perform dangerous actions.

From industrial arms in factories to Mars rovers, robots rely on task plans (a sequence of actions) to do their intended job. Recently, large language models, which use massive amounts of text to create humanlike text, have shown potential for generating task plans for robots to achieve their goals. Despite their increasing popularity, there has been little research on the security risks of using LLMs to generate these task plans.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Is Sharper Than Anyone Expected

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has achieved nearly 30% better optical performance than required, promising stunningly sharp views of the universe and its greatest mysteries.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is performing even better than scientists anticipated after engineers completed an extensive series of tests and precision adjustments. The work has sharpened the observatory’s focus and brought its primary instrument closer to regular scientific operations. Remarkably, the telescope’s Wide Field Instrument is now delivering optical performance nearly 30% better than predicted.

“All of Roman’s sweeping surveys will rely on the Wide Field Instrument,” said Dave Hickey, a Wide Field Instrument systems engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Many of the mission’s primary goals, like studying dark matter and dark energy, wouldn’t be possible without it, so it’s both exciting and a huge relief to see that it’s working well!”

40 Years of Superconductor Science Just Got Turned Upside Down by a Stunning Discovery

A material that carries electricity without resistance may be held back by its own structure, challenging 40 years of assumptions about copper-based superconductors.

A crystal that scientists thought had the same structure throughout is actually a patchwork of two subtly different arrangements of atoms. The boundaries between those regions are hundreds of times wider than expected, so broad that they behave almost like a structure in their own right rather than a simple dividing line.

The material belongs to a family called cuprates, copper-based superconductors that can carry electricity without resistance at unusually high temperatures for superconductivity, although those temperatures are still very cold. High-temperature superconductivity underpins research into future power grids, medical scanners, and quantum computers. Its promise also includes magnets far more powerful than those possible today.