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‘Tour de force’ mouse study shows a gut microbe can promote memory loss

Scientists have plenty of ideas about why aging impairs memory. Reductions in blood flow in the brain, shrinking brain volume, and malfunctioning neural repair systems have all been blamed. Now, new research in mice points to another possible culprit: microbes in the gut.

In a new study, scientists show how a bacterium that is particularly common in older animals can drive memory loss. This microbe makes compounds that impair signaling along neurons connecting the gut with the brain, dampening activity in brain regions associated with learning and memory, the team found.


Research suggests the microbiome may contribute to cognitive decline—but its relevance in humans is unclear.

Ageing promotes metastasis via activation of the integrated stress response

Ageing reprograms the evolutionary trajectory of KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma, limiting primary tumour growth while promoting metastatic dissemination through epigenetic activation of the integrated stress response, and a therapeutic opportunity in older patients is revealed.

Cool Qubits Make Faster Decisions

Classical machine learning has benefited several physics subfields, from materials science to medical imaging. Implementing machine-learning algorithms on quantum computers could expand their use to more complex problems and to datasets that are inherently quantum. Nayeli Rodríguez-Briones at the Technical University of Vienna and Daniel Park at Yonsei University in South Korea have now proposed a thermodynamics-inspired protocol that could make quantum machine-learning techniques more efficient [1].

In one common classical machine-learning task, a system is trained on a known dataset and then challenged to classify new data. Its output quantifies both the classification and that classification’s uncertainty. Once the system’s parameters are fixed, evaluating the same data yields the same output. In contrast, the output of a quantum machine-learning algorithm is read out as binary measurements of qubits, which are inherently probabilistic. Because a single measurement provides only limited information, the computation must be repeated many times.

Rodríguez-Briones and Park recognized that how clearly a quantum computer reveals its output is determined by entropy. When the readout qubit is highly polarized—strongly favoring one outcome—its entropy is low. Few repetitions are needed to obtain a firm result. An unpolarized, high-entropy readout qubit returns both states more evenly, meaning more repetitions are required. The researchers showed that the readout qubit’s polarity can be increased by transferring its entropy to ancillary qubits, effectively cooling one while warming the others. Between runs, the ancillary qubits are reset by coupling them to a heat bath. Crucially, this entropy transfer affects the readout qubit’s degree of polarization without changing the encoded decision. The upshot: A given result can be arrived at with fewer repetitions.

Galactic islands of tranquility: ‘Little red dots’ may have brewed life’s building blocks

Astronomers have found that both the core of our Milky Way and the earliest proto-galaxies in the universe share a surprising trait: They are unusually calm and quiet in terms of harsh radiation. This tranquility is not just a cosmic curiosity; it may be essential for forming complex molecules that provide the ingredients of life.

A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters highlights how the Milky Way’s center and mysterious early proto-galaxies known as “little red dots” (LRDs) harbor massive black holes within peaceful, dust-and gas-rich environments. These conditions create natural laboratories for prebiotic chemistry, suggesting that the universe may have supported life’s chemical precursors far earlier than previously imagined.

The work was led by Professor Remo Ruffini and Professor Yu Wang from the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics Network (ICRANet) and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF).

Asymmetric spin torque unlocks deterministic control of antiferromagnetic memory

A research team led by Prof. Shao Dingfu from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has proposed a universal mechanism that enables deterministic electrical control of collinear antiferromagnets—overcoming a long-standing bottleneck in antiferromagnetic spintronics. The study is published in Physical Review Letters.

Palm-sized superconducting magnet achieves 42 tesla, rivaling the world’s biggest

When we think of powerful magnets used in particle accelerators or for NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), we often envision bulky machines, sometimes the size of buildings. But in an extraordinary breakthrough for physics, scientists at ETH Zurich have created magnets that are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand yet powerful enough to rival some of the world’s most powerful magnets.

Fantastic fungi found with ability to freeze water

Can fungi influence the weather? Turns out, they just might. An international group of researchers that includes Virginia Tech’s Xiaofeng Wang and Boris A. Vinatzer discovered the identity of fungal proteins that can catalyze ice formation at high subzero temperatures. The research is published in Science Advances. One potential application of this discovery could be to engineer weather.

Seeing global trade through the lens of physics

New research from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) shows why widely used algorithms for measuring economic complexity produce trustworthy results and how these tools may benefit diverse areas such as ecology, social science, and agentic AI. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review E.

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