InformerNow

The brain’s ability to interpret the visual world does not depend solely on its advanced outer layer, the cortex. A new study in PLOS Biology reveals that an evolutionarily older brain region, the superior colliculus, contains neural networks capable of carrying out fundamental visual computations. These circuits enable the brain to separate objects from their…

Superconductors work like express trains for electricity. Once electric current enters one, it can travel through without resistance or energy loss. Because of this remarkable efficiency, superconductors are already key to technologies such as MRI scanners and particle accelerators. However, these “conventional” superconductors only operate at extremely cold temperatures. They must be kept in specialized…

A new study from the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa, published on November 6 in Nature Communications, provides the first direct evidence that waste from deep-sea mining could disrupt vital ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). This area, one of the most biologically rich regions of the deep sea, is now the…

Black holes are often described as cosmic gluttons, consuming everything that drifts too close — including light itself. This is what makes the images of the supermassive black holes at the centers of the galaxy M87 and our own Milky Way so remarkable. Captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration a few years ago,…

A team of scientists has found that the Southern Ocean emits far more carbon dioxide (CO2) during the lightless Antarctic winter than researchers once believed. According to their new study, this wintertime release of CO2 has been underestimated by as much as 40%. The research was led by scientists from the Second Institute of Oceanography,…

A new antibody therapy developed at Stanford Medicine has shown that it can prepare patients for stem cell transplants without the need for toxic chemotherapy or radiation, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial. The study focused on patients with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disorder that makes traditional stem cell transplants extremely…

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disorder that causes children to show signs of accelerated aging. Those affected often develop early skin wrinkling, loss of skin elasticity, reduced body fat, hair loss, hardened arteries, and insulin resistance. Scientists have found that about 90% of HGPS cases result from a defective protein known as…