An AI-powered tool can interpret 3D images from CT scans and diagnose certain disorders.
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Optoelectronic synapse shows exceptional photoresponse for neuromorphic vision
Like so much else in nature, the human visual system has both a complex structure and functional efficiency that is difficult for scientists to replicate. The system is both a sensor and a processor, with the eyes and the brain working together to resolve images with less energy use than anything people have invented.
But a technology called optoelectronic synapses can reproduce at least some of the phenomena that make human vision so successful, and a team of researchers at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) has discovered why certain materials perform so well at artificial vision and memory.
In their article “Interlayer Exciton Polarons in Mesoscopic V2O5 for Broadband Optoelectronic Synapses” published in Advanced Functional Materials, the NLR-led research team discovered the source of persistent photoconductivity—a mechanism that mirrors some of the functionality of biological synapses in the eye—for a particular vanadium-oxide material.
What if the direction of a magnet could shape the building blocks of life?
In a new discovery, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have found that something in the direction of a magnetic field can influence how molecules of life behave at the most fundamental level and how early chemical processes linked to life may have unfolded.
The study, published in Chem and led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel (Hebrew University) and Prof. Michal Sharon (Weizmann Institute), shows that tiny differences between atoms (different isotopes) can lead to measurable changes in molecular behavior when combined with an invisible quantum property known as electron spin. Separation of the different isotopes can be achieved by magnetic surfaces.
At the center of the story is L-methionine, an amino acid, a basic building block of life. Like other biological molecules, methionine has a specific “handedness,” meaning it exists in a form that is not identical to its mirror image. This property, called chirality, is a mystery: why did nature choose one “hand” over the other?
The complete evolution of spin glass from order to chaos
How come our universe is full of disorder, when all elementary particles appear to follow strictly ordered laws of physics? And are there organizing principles behind disorder and apparent chaos?
One avenue of studying these fundamental questions is through an assembly of spins: the quantum property that makes electrons behave like tiny bar magnets, with a preferred orientation of either up or down. Neighboring spins align either in parallel (up-up) or antiparallel (up-down-up-down), as in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, respectively. This simple ruleset makes spin systems very attractive for studying the emergence of order.
However, while the theory of spin is well-established, creating the material conditions for observing spin disorder has proven notoriously elusive. While physicists have been able to create exotic materials that exhibit spin disorder, tracing the evolution from order to disorder within materials has been challenged by the lack of a clean starting point.
NASA’s Fermi glimpses power source of supercharged supernovae
LSU researchers helped uncover what may be the first clear detection of gamma rays from a superluminous supernova, using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope—a breakthrough that offers new insight into the powerful magnetars believed to drive some of the universe’s brightest stellar explosions.
An international team studying data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope concludes the mission detected a rare, unusually luminous supernova. The researchers say it likely received its power-up from a supermagnetized neutron star born in the stellar collapse that triggered the explosion.
The Fermi mission is part of NASA’s fleet of observatories monitoring the changing cosmos to help humanity better understand how the universe works.
The quantum key to seeing through chaos
Researchers from the Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, the Kastler Brossel Laboratory and the University of Glasgow have developed an innovative method that renders a scattering medium transparent solely for information carried by entangled photon pairs, while the same medium remains completely opaque to classical light.
Their works are published in the journals Optica (optimization) and Nature Physics (selective image transmission).
Faithfully transmitting spatial information, such as the image of an object, is a major challenge in modern optics. However, this task becomes complex as soon as light travels through disordered media, such as biological tissues, atmospheric turbulence, or multimode optical fibers. In these environments, scattering scrambles the information, making the final image completely unreadable.
Quantum sensors use atoms, electrons and light as ultra‑steady rulers
Quantum computers get a lot of attention, even though they are not ready for prime time, but quantum sensors are already doing useful work. These sensors measure fields, forces and motion so small that ordinary background noise can drown them out. Some sensors are already in daily use, while others are moving from research labs into flight tests, hospitals and field instruments.
For example, a human brain produces magnetic signals in the femtotesla-to-picotesla range—billions of times weaker than a refrigerator magnet—far weaker than the magnetic noise in an ordinary room. That is why brain scanners that measure these signals need ultrasensitive detectors and strong magnetic shielding. In some hospitals, these detectors use quantum technology to help map brain activity before epilepsy surgery, without touching the brain.
Quantum sensors are showing up in other fields as well, including in navigation when GPS signals are jammed or spoofed, mapping gravity to reveal what’s underground, and boosting astronomers’ ability to measure gravitational waves. I am a photonics and quantum technologies researcher. My lab applies physics to develop a range of devices, including quantum sensors.
Better helium reporting to improve fission and fusion materials modeling
Standardizing calculations of the helium byproducts generated in advanced fission and fusion energy system materials can increase reactor safety and longevity, according to a study led by University of Michigan Engineering with collaborators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its management contractor UT-Battelle.
Through a series of simulations, the researchers found that modeling assumptions and key alloy elements—like carbon, nitrogen and nickel—significantly influence helium generation predictions. If left unaddressed, excess helium in real-world reactors could lead to faster component failure as materials swell and become brittle.
“If used, our reporting methods will improve the experimental and modeling fidelity of the nuclear materials databases being generated both domestically and internationally, driving the rapid deployment of advanced nuclear,” said Kevin Field, a professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at U-M and corresponding author of the study published in the Journal of Physics: Energy.