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Category: chemistry

Exposing Nuclear Magic

Calculations show how the mysterious “magic numbers” that stabilize nuclear structures emerge naturally from nuclear forces—once these are described with appropriate spatial resolution.

Atomic nuclei have been studied for over a century, yet some of nuclear physics’ most basic questions remain unanswered: How many bound combinations of protons and neutrons, or isotopes, can exist? Where do the limits of nuclear existence lie? How are chemical elements synthetized in the Universe? Clues to solving these puzzles lie in the vast phenomenology of nuclear structure—the measured properties of tens of thousands of nuclear states, their decays, and their reactions. In this bedlam of information, patterns and irregularities in data provide crucial hints. One such irregularity was spotted as early as 1934 [1]: Nuclei containing specific numbers of protons and neutrons (2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82…) are unexpectedly stable. These “magic numbers” (Fig.

A more realistic picture of platinum electrodes

Current electrochemical theory does not adequately describe realistic platinum electrodes. Scientists at Leiden University have now, for the first time, mapped the influence of imperfect platinum surfaces. This provides a more accurate picture of these electrodes, with applications in hydrogen production and sensors.

Platinum electrodes play a crucial role in electrochemical applications. They are used in sensors, catalysis and fuel cells, for example in the production of green hydrogen. These developments call for a better and more realistic understanding of the underlying fundamental electrochemistry. Current theory falls short.

The surface of a platinum electrode appears smooth. But if you zoom in to the atomic level, you see an irregular landscape with so-called defects. These turn out to influence the electrochemical reactions that take place there. Ph.D. candidates Nicci Lauren Fröhlich and Jinwen Liu investigated this influence under the supervision of Professor Marc Koper and Assistant Professor Katharina Doblhoff-Dier at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry. Their results are published in Nature Chemistry.

Earth’s largest volcanic event reshaped an oceanic plate, seismic wave analysis reveals

A research group has revealed through seismic wave analysis that the oceanic plate beneath the Ontong Java Plateau—the world’s largest oceanic plateau—was extensively altered by massive volcanic activity during its formation. The study is published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The oceanic plate beneath the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) has a composite structure consisting of layered structures overlaid by dike swarms. Low seismic velocity anomalies within the plate suggest chemical modification by magma derived from a thermochemical plume. These findings demonstrate that oceanic plates can undergo significant physicochemical modification due to large-scale volcanic activity, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of plate formation processes.

The research was led by Lecturer Azusa Shito of Okayama University of Science, together with Associate Professor Akira Ishikawa of the Institute of Science Tokyo and Professor Masako Yoshikawa of Hiroshima University.

A clearer look at critical materials, thanks to refrigerator magnets

With an advanced technology known as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), scientists are able to map out a material’s electron energy-momentum relationship, which encodes the material’s electrical, optical, magnetic and thermal properties like an electronic DNA. But the technology has its limitations; it doesn’t work well under a magnetic field. This is a major drawback for scientists who want to study materials that are deployed under or even actuated by magnetic fields.

Inspired by refrigerator magnets, a team of Yale researchers may have found a solution. Their study was featured recently on the cover of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Quantum materials —such as unconventional superconductors or topological materials—are considered critical to advancing quantum computing, high-efficiency electronics, nuclear fusion, and other fields. But many of them need to be used in the presence of a magnetic field, or even only become activated by magnetic fields. Being able to directly study the electronic structure of these materials in magnetic fields would be a huge help in better understanding how they work.

Zanidatamab in HER2-Positive Metastatic Biliary Tract Cancer: Final Results From HERIZON-BTC-01

Among adults with treatment-refractory, HER2-positive BiliaryTractCancer, zanidatamab produced sustained, meaningful clinical responses and extended survival compared to prior standards.

In patients with immunohistochemistry (IHC) 3+ tumors, response rates and overall survival were notably higher than those with IHC 2+ tumors, substantiating the use of reflex IHC testing to identify candidates for HER2-targeted therapy.

Safety remained consistent over 33 months of follow-up, and the ongoing HERIZON-BTC-302 phase 3 trial is assessing zanidatamab alongside first-line standard care in this setting.

This follow-up analysis of the phase 2 HERIZON-BTC-01 trial evaluates the efficacy, patient-reported outcomes, and safety profile of zanidatamab in patients with ERBB2-amplified biliary tract cancer with a HER2 immunohistochemistry score of 3+ or 2+ after 33 months of follow-up.

The Physics of Belief: Placebo Effects as Quantum Psychosomatics and the Material Reality of Meaning

Read “” by Myk Eff on Medium.

When a patient in a clinical trial experiences genuine pain relief from an inert sugar pill, something remarkable occurs that contemporary medicine awkwardly labels the placebo effect — a term that simultaneously acknowledges the phenomenon while dismissing it as mere illusion. Yet what if this dismissal represents not scientific rigor but ontological timidity? What if the placebo effect, rather than being a confounding variable to be controlled away, is actually nature’s clearest demonstration of a quantum interface between consciousness and physiology, hiding in plain sight within the very architecture of our clinical trials? The question is not whether belief heals, but what belief actually is when we take seriously the contemporary understanding that information itself possesses physical reality.

The empirical robustness of placebo effects has become impossible to ignore. In their comprehensive meta-analysis published in The Lancet, Hróbjartsson and Gøtzsche (2001) examined 114 clinical trials and found that while placebo effects vary considerably across conditions, they demonstrate genuine clinical significance in pain reduction, with effect sizes rivaling those of established pharmaceutical interventions. More provocatively, Benedetti’s research on placebo analgesia has revealed that the effect operates through identifiable neurochemical pathways — placebo-induced pain relief can be blocked by naloxone, an opioid antagonist, demonstrating that the patient’s belief literally triggers the release of endogenous opioids (Benedetti, Mayberg, Wager, Stohler, & Zubieta, 2005). This is not imagination overriding reality; this is imagination as a physical force, translating expectation into molecular cascade.

Yet the standard neurobiological explanation, while accurate, remains curiously incomplete. Yes, belief activates specific neural circuits; yes, these circuits trigger biochemical responses; yes, measurable physiological changes occur. But this mechanistic account merely pushes the mystery one level deeper. How does the abstract informational content of a belief — the semantic meaning this pill will relieve my pain — couple to the physical substrate of neurons and neurotransmitters? The conventional answer invokes learning, conditioning, and expectation, but these terms describe the phenomenon without explaining the fundamental ontological transition from meaning to matter, from information to effect.

A world-first mouse that makes gene activity visible

DNA can be thought of as a vast library that stores all genetic information. Cells do not use this information all at once. Instead, they copy only the necessary parts into RNA, which is then used to produce proteins—the essential building blocks of life. This copying process is called transcription, and it is carried out by a molecule known as RNA polymerase II.

When RNA polymerase II begins actively transcribing DNA, a specific site called Ser2 on its tail region is marked with a small chemical group known as a phosphate. This phosphate acts as a sign that transcription is in progress. Until now, observing this sign required stopping cellular activity and chemically treating the cells to visualize the phosphate. As a result, it was impossible to see how transcription changes dynamically in living cells.

To overcome this limitation, a research team led by Professor Hiroshi Kimura at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) chose a different approach. Instead of freezing cells at a single moment, they aimed to track transcription continuously without stopping cellular activity.

Unlocking defect-free graphene electrodes for transparent electronics

Transparent electrodes transmit light while conducting electricity and are increasingly important in bioelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Their combination of high optical transparency, low electrical resistance, and mechanical flexibility makes them well suited for applications such as displays, solar cells, and wearable or implantable technologies.

In a significant advancement, researchers led by Professor Wonsuk Jung at Chungnam National University in the Republic of Korea have introduced a new fabrication technique called one-step free patterning of graphene, or OFP-G, which enables high-resolution patterning of large-area monolayer graphene with feature sizes smaller than 5 micrometers, without the use of photoresists or chemical etching.

Published Microsystems & Nanoengineering, the method addresses a key limitation of conventional microelectrode fabrication, where lithographic processes often damage graphene and degrade its electrical performance.

Affinity-guided labeling reveals P2X7 nanoscale membrane redistribution during BV2 microglial activation

A new chemical labelling tool lets researchers watch the inflammatory receptor P2X7 reorganise and cluster on immune cells at the nanoscale, revealing how inflammatory signals reshape receptor behaviour in real time.

An affinity-guided chemical strategy enabling highly specific biotinylation of P2X7 receptors reveals, by super-resolution microscopy, how the nanoscale organization of endogenous P2X7 in BV2 microglial cells dynamically changes upon activation.

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