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Frozen, but not sealed: Arctic Ocean remained open to life during ice ages, study suggests

For years, scientists have debated whether a giant thick ice shelf once covered the entire Arctic Ocean during the coldest ice ages. Now, a new study published in Science Advances challenges this idea as the research team found no evidence for the presence of a massive ~1km ice shelf. Instead, the Arctic Ocean appears to have been covered by seasonal sea ice—leaving open water and life-sustaining conditions even during the harshest periods of cold periods during the last 750,000 years.

The paper is titled “Seasonal sea ice characterized the glacial Arctic–Atlantic gateway over the past 750,000 years.”

This discovery gives insights crucial for our understanding of how the Arctic has responded to in the past—and how it might behave in the future.

3D-printed magnetoelastic smart pen may help diagnose Parkinson’s

Every year, tens of thousands of people with signs of Parkinson’s disease go unnoticed until the incurable neurodegenerative condition has already progressed.

Motor symptoms, such as tremors or rigidity, often emerge only after significant neurological damage has occurred. By the time patients are diagnosed, more than half of their dopamine-producing neurons may already be lost. This kind of diagnostic delay can limit treatment options and slow progress on early-stage interventions.

While there are existing tests to detect biomarkers of Parkinson’s, including cell loss in the brain and inflammatory markers in blood, they typically require access to specialists and costly equipment at major medical centers, which may be out of reach for many.

Improving randomness may be the key to more powerful quantum computers

Understanding randomness is crucial in many fields. From computer science and engineering to cryptography and weather forecasting, studying and interpreting randomness helps us simulate real-world phenomena, design algorithms and predict outcomes in uncertain situations.

Randomness is also important in quantum computing, but generating it typically involves a large number of operations. However, Thomas Schuster and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology have demonstrated that quantum computers can produce randomness much more easily than previously thought.

And that’s good news because the research could pave the way for faster and more efficient quantum computers.

Pilot program integrates AI-generated notes with human community notes on X platform

X (formerly Twitter) launched its “Community Notes” program in 2021 to combat misinformation by allowing users to add contextual notes on posts that might be deceptive or lead to misinterpretation. An example would be users labeling an AI-generated video as such, so that other users would not be tricked into believing the event in the video actually occurred. Community notes are rated by the decentralized social media community to determine their usefulness. Only the notes determined useful by raters are shown on the post. X’s Community Notes later inspired other platforms to launch similar programs.

Record-Shattering Molecule Stores Data at “Dark Side of the Moon” Temperatures

A new molecule may soon enable tiny hard drives that store vastly more data. Withstanding extreme cold, it paves the way for dense and efficient storage solutions. Researchers from The University of Manchester and The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a novel molecule capable of

Gene therapy restored hearing in deaf patients

Gene therapy can improve hearing in children and adults with congenital deafness or severe hearing impairment, a new study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet reports. Hearing improved in all ten patients, and the treatment was well-tolerated. The study was conducted in collaboration with hospitals and universities in China and is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Evaluation of the diuretic activity in two mexican medicinal species: Selaginella nothohybrida and S. lepidophylla

PDF | S. nothohybrida Valdespino and S. lepidophylla (Hook & Grev) Spring (Selaginellaceae) (doradillas) are used in the Mexican traditional system of… | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

When therapy-induced senescence meets tumors: A… : Medicine

Ficial and detrimental effects on the TME, and the underlying mechanisms contributing to its dual effects. It further elaborates on optimizing the beneficial aspects of therapy-induced cellular senescence while concomitantly mitigating its adverse effects in the treatment of tumors and prevention of recurrence. Finally, potential interventions, including antiaging drug therapies, senescence inducers, senescence clearance agents, and inhibition of adverse senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) production were explored to inhibit the harmful SASP induced by therapy, with the aim of limiting the production of detrimental SASP in the TME, thereby reducing the risk of tumor recurrence.

Gene Therapy Can Restore Hearing in Adults, First-of-Its-Kind Trial Shows

Up to three in every 1,000 newborns has hearing loss in one or both ears. While cochlear implants offer remarkable hope for these children, it requires invasive surgery. These implants also cannot fully replicate the nuance of natural hearing.

But recent research my colleagues and I conducted has shown that a form of gene therapy can successfully restore hearing in toddlers and young adults born with congenital deafness.

Our research focused specifically on toddlers and young adults born with OTOF-related deafness. This condition is caused by mutations in the OTOF gene that produces the otoferlin protein –a protein critical for hearing.

Machine learning outpaces supercomputers for simulating galaxy evolution coupled with supernova explosion

Researchers have used machine learning to dramatically speed up the processing time when simulating galaxy evolution coupled with supernova explosion. This approach could help us understand the origins of our own galaxy, particularly the elements essential for life in the Milky Way.

The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The team was led by Keiya Hirashima at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) in Japan, along with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) and the Flatiron Institute.