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Opening the door to more efficient orbitronic devices

Electrons have three intrinsic properties: spin, charge and orbital angular momentum. Researchers have long studied how to use spin to more efficiently create an electrical current. But the field of orbitronics—which is based upon using an electron’s orbital angular momentum, rather than its spin, to create a current flow—remains relatively new.

“Traditionally, it has been technically challenging to generate orbital current,” says Dali Sun, a professor of physics and member of the Organic and Carbon Electronics Lab (ORaCEL) at NC State University.

In a recent study, however, Sun and an international team of researchers demonstrated a groundbreaking new method to generate orbital current.

Two’s company: Scientists identify new class of star remnants

In about 5 to 8 billion years, our sun is expected to evolve into a white dwarf—an extremely dense, Earth-sized stellar remnant that has exhausted its fuel and shed its outer layer. But while our sun is a solitary star, research over the past 15 years has demonstrated that binary or multi-star systems are far more common than astronomers once thought. When a dense and compact remnant like a white dwarf is involved in a binary system, it often “snatches away” material from its companion star. This process, called accretion, usually emits X-rays in what is considered a “signature” signal.

Now, scientists from the group of Ilaria Caiazzo, assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), confirm the detection of an X-ray signal in not just one, but two isolated objects called Gandalf and Moon-Sized. Highly magnetic and rapidly rotating, these two objects are called “merger remnants” as they each formed as a result of a violent cosmic collision. By emitting X-rays in the absence of a companion, they now form a new class of their own.

MXene breakthrough boosts conductivity 160x with perfect atomic order

A new technique known as the GLS method takes a very different approach. Instead of relying on harsh chemicals, it starts with solid materials called MAX phases and uses molten salts along with iodine vapor to form MXene sheets. This process allows researchers to control which halogen atoms, including chlorine, bromine, or iodine, attach to the surface.

The result is a much cleaner material. The surface atoms are arranged in a uniform and highly ordered way, and unwanted impurities are greatly reduced. The team demonstrated the versatility of this approach by successfully producing MXenes from eight different MAX phases.

New genetic toolkit enables genome-wide analysis

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a powerful new genetic toolkit that allows scientists to study how genes function at the level of individual cells, an advance that could accelerate discoveries in development, neuroscience and disease.

The system builds on MAGIC (Mosaic Analysis by gRNA-Induced Crossing-over), a method originally created by the labs of Chun Han, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. MAGIC uses CRISPR gene editing to generate individual mutant cells within otherwise normal tissue, enabling precise comparisons within a living organism.

In the new study, graduate researcher Yifan Shen expanded the approach into a genome-wide toolkit for Drosophila melanogaster, creating resources that work across all chromosomes and allow researchers to study genes that were previously difficult, or impossible, to analyze at single-cell resolution.

Scientists Discover Strange Property of Rice and Turn It Into a Smart Material

Rice behaves in an unexpected way under pressure. When compressed quickly, it becomes weaker, but under slow pressure it stays strong. This insight is helping scientists develop a new material that could be used in “soft” robots that automatically adjust stiffness, as well as protective gear that responds to how fast an impact occurs.

Using this property, researchers created a new type of “metamaterial,” an engineered structure designed to exhibit behaviors not found in natural materials.

Tomatidine is a senotherapeutic compound that improves cognitive function and reduces cellular senescence in aged mice

Cellular senescence drives aging and age-related dysfunction across multiple tissues, including the brain. Through a high-content, senescent cell-based phenotypic screen of a small panel of natural products, we identified tomatidine, an aglycone of tomatine found in tomatoes, as a previously unrecognized senotherapeutic agent. In senescent human brain microvascular endothelial cells and fibroblasts, tomatidine selectively suppressed SASP expression without affecting p16Ink4a or p21Cip1 levels consistent with a senomorphic effect. In aged mice, tomatidine reduced frailty and improved motor coordination and cognitive performance. These functional benefits were accompanied by reduced senescence markers (p16 Ink4a, p21 Cip1, and telomere-associated DNA damage foci) in liver, skin, and hippocampal neurons, along with decreased neuroinflammation and microglial activation. Tomatidine also diminished brain endothelial cell senescence while enhancing tight junction protein expression, suggesting preserved blood–brain barrier integrity. Together, these findings identify tomatidine as a promising senescence-targeting compound with beneficial effects in aged mice and support its further evaluation in mechanistic and translational studies.

Brain scans reveal how a woman voluntarily enters a psychedelic-like trance without drugs

A groundbreaking fMRI study has mapped the exact neural shifts of a self-induced visionary state. Researchers discovered that a woman capable of voluntary trance actively disconnects her sensory networks while boosting internal cognitive control.

Education Research: Validity and Reliability of the Neurophobia-Combined Measure (NCM) in Irish Medical Students

Background and ObjectivesNeurophobia, defined as a fear of neurology and the neurosciences, is a recognized barrier in medical education and clinical practice. It affects one-third of medical students internationally, yet measurement approaches remain…

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