A fast-aging fish revealed how kidneys grow old—and how a common drug slows the damage.
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This paper-thin chip turns invisible light into a steerable beam
Researchers have built a paper-thin chip that converts infrared light into visible light and directs it precisely, all without mechanical motion. The design overcomes a long-standing efficiency-versus-control problem in light-shaping materials. This opens the door to tiny, highly efficient light sources integrated directly onto chips.
Project Genie | Experimenting with infinite interactive worlds
The holodeck is here with Project Genie.
Mitochondrial specialization and signaling shape neuronal function
How neuronal function is shaped by mitochondria.
Despite the established links between mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal disorders, the specialization of mitochondria to support the specific demands of neurons has been less extensively explored.
Proper mitochondrial positioning influences an array of neuronal functions and processes, from neurodevelopment through synaptic transmission, due to the participation of mitochondria as local ATP suppliers, Ca2+ sinks, and sites of neurotransmitter synthesis.
In neurons, mitochondria are also crucial for local translation in axons and dendrites, to which they provide both local ATP and mRNA transport. In this way, mitochondria emerge as centers for neuronal plasticity sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/Mitochondrial-specialization
Neurons are specialized cells designed to process information and transmit it, often across long distances. In many neurons, the axonal volume far exceeds the somato-dendritic volume, creating a need for long-range transport and local polarization mechanisms. In addition, action potential firing and restoration of ionic gradients, as well as dynamic changes in synaptic plasticity, further increase the energetic demands of neurons. In this review, we highlight the roles mitochondria play in vertebrate neuronal biology and how mitochondrial functionality is tuned to support the unique demands of neurons. We cover the influence of mitochondrial positioning, ATP generation and Ca2+ buffering on neuronal function, and explore the role of mitochondria in neurotransmitter metabolism and local protein translation.
Simple patch can make medications safer and more effective
Vancomycin is the antibiotic doctors reach for when almost nothing else will work. It’s used in hospitals for serious drug-resistant infections, or for when an infection is spreading through the patient’s bloodstream, but it’s also notoriously tricky to dose: too little and it won’t knock out the infection, too much and the patient risks kidney damage or even death. Up to 40% of patients receiving vancomycin develop an acute kidney injury.
Right now, dosage levels are monitored by repeated blood tests, an invasive and time-consuming process that can’t always give clinicians the data they need in time. Hoping to solve this issue, UNSW and international researchers working alongside Australian diagnostics company Nutromics developed a minimally invasive patch that tracks the antibiotic in patients every five minutes.
The team has published the results of a clinical trial in Nature Biotechnology, and say its success demonstrates that the major scientific and safety challenges have been solved.
The Philosophy of Entropy: Order, Decay, and the Meaning of Equilibrium
Entropy is one of the most profound and misunderstood concepts in modern science — at once a physical quantity, a measure of uncertainty, and a metaphor for the passage of time itself. Entropy: The Order of Disorder explores this concept in its full philosophical and scientific depth, tracing its evolution from the thermodynamics of Clausius and Boltzmann to the cosmology of the expanding universe, the information theory of Shannon, and the paradoxes of quantum mechanics.
At the heart of this study lies a critical insight: entropy in its ideal form can exist only in a perfectly closed and isolated system — a condition that is impossible to realize, even for the universe itself. From this impossibility arises the central tension of modern thought: the laws that describe equilibrium govern a world that never rests.
Bridging physics, philosophy, and cosmology, this book examines entropy as a universal principle of transformation rather than decay. It situates the second law of thermodynamics within a broader intellectual landscape, connecting it to the philosophies of Heraclitus, Kant, Hegel, and Whitehead, and to contemporary discussions of information, complexity, and emergence.
Computer simulations reveal hurricane currents can knock down surface wave heights
Using advanced computer simulations, researchers from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) have concluded how and why strong ocean currents modify surface waves. “Our primary finding is that hurricane-generated ocean currents can substantially reduce both the height and the dominant period of hurricane waves,” said Isaac Ginis, URI professor of oceanography. “The magnitude of wave reduction depends strongly on how accurately ocean currents are predicted. This highlights the importance of using fully coupled wave-ocean models when forecasting hurricane waves.”
Ginis conducted the research with URI Professor Tetsu Hara and Angelos Papandreou, who earned his Ph.D. in oceanography from URI in December 2025. Their results were published in a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Physical Oceanography in January 2026.
According to Ginis, waves are most strongly reduced by currents on the front right of the storm, where winds, waves, and currents are typically strongest.
