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A multi-institutional U.S. Department of Energy effort has delivered the first high-precision calculation of the sigma meson’s mass and lifetime, numbers nuclear theorists have chased for decades but never pinned down with confidence, according to findings published in the journal Physical Review D and highlighted in an announcement. The sigma meson is a subatomic particle…

SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission has swapped gravity for R&D, hauling a toolkit of particle-tracking, protein-clumping and Janus-base nanomaterial experiments the ISS National Lab says could speed up viral diagnostics and build lighter, hotter-running electronics back on Earth. Crew-10 commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA mission specialist Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos mission specialist Kirill Peskov reached…

Researchers at MIT and the Broad Institute have discovered TIGR-Tas, a novel family of RNA-guided DNA targeting systems found in bacteria and phages. Distinct from CRISPR-Cas, TIGR-Tas offers unique structural features, a much smaller size, and a different targeting mechanism that doesn’t appear to require specific DNA ‘anchors’ (PAM sites). These characteristics could directly address…

Dallas-based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences has announced what it’s calling the “world’s first de-extinction” by successfully creating three dire wolf pups using ancient DNA and cutting-edge genetic engineering. Scientists extracted genetic material from dire wolf fossils dating back 13,000 and 72,000 years, then used CRISPR technology to modify gray wolf DNA, essentially creating hybrid animals…

In a big step towards practical quantum computing applications, a collaboration involving JPMorgan Chase and Quantinuum has successfully used a quantum computer to generate verifiably random numbers. The team produced more than 70,000 certified random bits by tasking Quantinuum’s 56-qubit H2-1 trapped-ion processor with computations designed to be fundamentally challenging for classical machines. They detailed…

Something profound is stirring in the world’s research labs. Timelines for discovery are collapsing, complex problems are yielding to new approaches, and the very tools researchers use are beginning to design themselves. AI and advanced automation are no longer just aids; they are gradually finding widespread use among many scientists. Such advances are enabling advances…

In my pursuit to understand why certain themes consistently outperformed others, Google Analytics by itself was falling flat in helping uncover why certain articles soared while others stumbled. So I downloaded decades of data from Google Analytics and WordPress and loaded it into a Jupyter notebook and decided to use semantic clustering, a type of…

Anthropic, a favorite frontier AI lab among many coders and genAI power users has unveiled Claude 3.7 Sonnet, its first “hybrid reasoning” AI model. It is capable of both near-instant answers and in-depth, step-by-step reasoning within a single system. Users can toggle an extended thinking mode where the model self-reflects before answering, considerably improving performance…

The challenge of powering tiny robots and medical implants may have just gotten a boost. Researchers at UC San Diego and CEA-Leti have developed a microactuator driving system that’s not only compact and lightweight but also highly efficient. The research, which integrates energy storage and voltage conversion, could pave the way for novel designs in…

PacBio’s new Onso system offers a unique approach to short-read sequencing using sequencing-by-binding chemistry. This technology delivers low error rates, achieving a Q40+ specification – a 15-fold improvement over traditional methods. This translates to increased sensitivity for detecting rare variants, reduced sequencing requirements, and higher throughput at a lower cost per sample. Onso’s accuracy is…

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has launched Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup aimed at democratizing AI by making it more understandable, customizable, and collaborative for diverse applications. “We’re building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to make AI work for their unique needs and goals,” the company states on…

Nuclear energy is poised to reduce the world’s carbon footprint. TRIPWIRE from Idaho National Laboratory’s approach to managing and mitigating radiological risk is vital to building public trust in nuclear energy as a sustainable, low-carbon power source for a clean energy future. The radiation-monitoring system enables the safe, secure, and cost-effective long-term storage of nuclear…

Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 only to exit a few years later, has joined a consortium of tech investors in an unsolicited attempt to acquire OpenAI for $97.4 billion. Almost immediately after, CEO Sam Altman rebuked him over X, saying that OpenAI would buy the social media platform “for $9.74 billion if you…

CHIMEI Corporation and Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) have developed a close-looped, zero waste, and non-toxic method to make polycarbonate resin. It uses sophisticated catalysts to effectively address the common environmental problems in traditional methods. This technology avoids toxic chemical feedstock and recycles all solvents and wastewater, significantly reducing energy consumption and overall carbon emissions.…

The rapid advance of AI is hampered by the “memory bottleneck,” a challenge stemming from the separation of memory and processing units in the von Neumann architecture. This bottleneck is particularly pronounced in generative AI applications, where memory-intensive operations exacerbate the issue. Over the past two decades, the growth of computing power has outpaced memory…

The rapid shift towards electric vehicles is driving a demand for more powerful and efficient electric motors. Traditional electric motors lose a significant amount of energy due to losses in their soft magnetic cores, which are typically the bulkiest components in these systems. CorePower Magnetics (Co-developer: Carnegie Mellon University) has developed a new electric motor…

Military/law enforcement personnel are often exposed to blast overpressure in training and operational settings, which can lead to short-term cognitive impairments and increased risk of conditions like anxiety and depression. The Electrooculography and Balance Blast Overpressure Monitoring System (EYEBOOM) is a wearable monitoring system that provides early warning of blast exposure risk from MIT Lincoln…

Data centers are facing a growing energy challenge as demand for computing power, particularly for AI applications, continues to surge. According to Goldman Sachs Research, data center power demand is projected to increase by 160% by 2030. This growing demand translates into increased heat generation and, consequently, higher cooling requirements, putting a strain on energy…

Current wireless charging technology for electric vehicles is limited by the bulky and heavy nature of high-power systems. While light-duty vehicles are limited to 11 kW charging, systems capable of 100 to 250 kW are too large for practical use, even in heavier vehicles. This new wireless charging technology development from Oak Ridge National Laboratory…

Satellite communications, known as non-terrestrial networks (NTN), are bridging the gap in cellular coverage, bringing connectivity to remote areas and disaster zones. NTN technology allows devices to remain connected even when outside the range of traditional cell towers, enabling users to communicate, receive emergency warnings, and navigate.Ameba RAN is a software-defined cellular base station. Ameba…

Tree root systems are often metaphors for strong foundations, strength, and resilience. They are also being used as prototypes for more substantial, adaptable electronics. Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong University have unveiled a new development in conformal electronics, addressing long-standing mechanical and thermal durability challenges. Their newly developed Template-Constrained Additive (TCA) printing technology, inspired by the…

Elegen has developed a custom synthetic DNA product that is changing genetic medicine development. This new technology, which uses a combination of molecular biology, chemistry, and microfluidics, produces linear, double-stranded DNA in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods. ENFINIA DNA boasts a 20x higher accuracy and lengths up to 20,000 base pairs,…

Detailed knowledge of seafloor topography is valuable for applications ranging from locating missing objects and undersea resources like oil and minerals to tracking human impacts, monitoring marine life, and modeling deep-ocean currents’ climate effects. Yet, most of the Earth’s oceans remain largely unmapped. The challenge lies in the lack of technology capable of producing high-resolution,…

Hemolysis accounts for up to 70% of all unsuitable specimens and can falsely elevate potassium by up to 152%. Potassium is critical in managing cardiac function. Misdiagnosis due to hemolysis can significantly affect the management of the patient, causing repeated blood draws, delays in care, or unnecessary medical interventions. Studies demonstrate hemolysis prevalence throughout acute…

It’s 10 p.m. on a Sunday when your lead researcher rushes onto an emergency video call. On screen are your CTO and CISO—both visibly alarmed—demanding the immediate deployment of an untested AI model to patch a critical security vulnerability. Their voices and mannerisms feel perfectly authentic. Except they aren’t real. They’re AI-generated clones. And with…