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Perovskite Nanocrystals, Quantum Dots, and Two-Dimensional Structures: Synthesis, Optoelectronics, Quantum Technologies, and Biomedical Imaging

💬Editorial: Decade-long follow-up highlights that patients with surgically treated ChronicSubduralHematoma have persistent excess mortality and long-term cognitive and functional impairment, even when overall quality of life appears preserved.

In the setting of aging populations and rising antithrombotic use, chronic subdural hematomas (cSDH) are increasingly common in high-income countries. While discussed in the medical literature for centuries,1 clinical research on cSDH in the modern era initially focused on surgical approaches and the risk of short-term mortality and recurrence.2-4 In this setting, cSDH was perceived to be a relatively benign disease; however, recent work has challenged this reputation. Patients with cSDH have persistently elevated long-term mortality when compared with controls,5 and those who survive are often left with functional and cognitive impairment.6 Unfortunately, most prior studies of long-term outcomes were small or had limited data on premorbid health, and none had data on functional status or quality of life.

In this issue of JAMA Neurol ogy, Petutschnigg et al7 expand on this work by examining mortality, function, and quality of life 10 years after surgical management of cSDH. To achieve this, they used patients who had previously been enrolled in a cSDH clinical trial from 2012 through 2016, which was conducted at a single center in Switzerland and examined the use of routine follow-up computed tomography scans in surgically managed patients with cSDH. The study authors obtained all-cause mortality for all 359 participants through 2023 using a nationwide data source. Each patient was then matched by age, sex, and birth month to controls from the Swiss population. Then, they obtained health-related quality of life by administering a validated survey to consenting participants, getting a response in 147 of 202 survivors at a mean of 10.55 years from the cSDH. Results from these participants were compared with normative values for a European population, using standardized age and sex strata.

The authors7 found a significantly higher mortality rate among patients with cSDH when compared with controls, with the absolute risk difference widening from 6% at 1 year to 18% at 10 years. Among those who survived, both men and women showed significant impairment in cognitive and role functioning (ie, how much their daily work/hobbies are impaired) when compared with normative controls. In addition, men (but not women) showed significant additional impairment in physical functioning and social functioning when compared with normative controls. Importantly, perceived quality of life was not reduced in either men or women. Discordance between functional impairments and perceived quality of life has been observed in other types of brain injury, a phenomenon termed the disability paradox,8 and should similarly caution against therapeutic nihilism when it comes to patients with cSDH.

Scap stabilizes PKM2 to promote glycolysis and enhance anti-fungal immunity in macrophages

Huang et al. identify Scap as a key regulator of macrophage anti-fungal immunity that stabilizes PKM2 and sustains glycolysis independently of SREBP-mediated lipid synthesis, thereby establishing a Scap-PKM2 axis essential for cytokine production, phagocytosis, and fungal control.

The once-theoretical skyrmion could unlock supercomputing memory

When looking to the future of information technology, researchers have pinpointed a once-theoretical particle-like structure: the skyrmion. Magnetic skyrmions are very stable structures found on micromagnetic materials that have a vortex-like spin. Because they can be moved with minimal electrical current, these structures could help develop memory to power the next generation of computing without consuming a lot of power.

But until recently, the fundamental properties of the skyrmion remained a mystery to researchers. In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers shared new details and properties about these structures.

“Skyrmions are highly stable and move with minimal electrical current, paving the way for next-generation memory with extremely low power consumption. It’s the ultimate miniaturization, utilizing ‘world-class’ 2-nanometer structures that will allow ultra-high-density data storage and much smaller electronic devices,” said Kosuke Nakayama, a professor at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.

Scientists Grow Electronics Inside the Brains of Living Mice

Yet most implants require extensive surgery and risk damaging the brain’s delicate tissue. The new technology would avoid these downsides by building electrodes directly at the target.

“Our work points to a future where doctors could ‘grow’ soft, wire-free electronic interfaces inside the brain using the patient’s own blood, then gently dial brain activity up or down from outside the head using harmless near-infrared light,” study author Krishna Jayant said in a press release.

The brain produces every one of our sensations, movements, emotions, and decisions. Scientists have long sought to decode and manipulate its activity with a range of hardware.

Is Big Tech Teaching Machines To Be Conscious? Google Mind’s Move To Hire A Philosopher Raises Eyebrows

The race to build smarter artificial intelligence has taken an unexpected philosophical turn after Google DeepMind quietly hired an in-house philosopher to investigate the potential for machine consciousness



DeepMind is now integrating philosophical reasoning directly into its research pipeline rather than treating ethics as an external concern. This move suggests that Big Tech is no longer viewing sentience as a science-fiction trope but as a technical and moral hurdle, thereby witnessing a transition from building tools to questioning the nature of those tools themselves.

The Google DeepMind philosopher role focuses on the machine sentience debate, aiming to define what it means for a digital system to ‘feel’ or ‘experience’

This internal appointment comes at a time when large language models are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from human interlocutors. While most researchers maintain that these systems are mere statistical predictors, the boundary is thinning. The decision to bring a philosopher into the core development team indicates that Google expects its path toward artificial general intelligence to raise profound questions about awareness and machine rights.

Google DeepMind has hired an in-house philosopher to explore the boundaries of machine consciousness and ethics. This move follows years of controversy surrounding AI sentience and the limits of large language models.

Elon Musk’s xAI sues over Colorado’s AI antidiscrimination law, claiming it’s a threat to Grok’s free speech

Senate Bill 205, passed in 2024, is one of the nation’s first attempts to regulate ‘high-risk’ AI systems and protect consumers from ‘algorithmic discrimination’ — or disparate treatment or impacts on protected classes under Colorado law.

In the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Denver, Musk’s lawyers contend that the law is ‘unconstitutionally vague’ and ‘invites arbitrary enforcement’ because it fails to define some key terms. They also contend that Colorado’s law would cause Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, to ‘abandon its disinterested pursuit of truth and instead promote the State’s ideological views on various matters, racial justice in particular,’ which they say violates the First Amendment.

‘Unless the implementation and enforcement of SB24-205 is enjoined, it will violate xAI’s constitutional rights and cause irreparable constitutional harm, impose enormous burdens on xAI and the AI industry, and substitute Colorado’s political preferences for the national economic and security imperative of American AI dominance,’ the complaint reads in part



State Rep. Briana Titone, D-Arvada, one of Senate Bill 205’s lead sponsors, told The Sun that Musk’s lawsuit seems like a ‘fishing expedition’ that misinterprets the core of the law.

‘This is where the disconnect is. SB 205 is about consequential decisions, not about freedom of speech,’ Titone said. ‘It’s completely detached from it. And they’re trying to use this argument for a law that has nothing to do with what he’s saying. We’re not restricting speech. Our bill does not say that Grok still can’t be a dick.’

The lawsuit was filed at a time when the Trump administration looks to preempt state regulation of AI models through executive fiat.

Continue reading “Elon Musk’s xAI sues over Colorado’s AI antidiscrimination law, claiming it’s a threat to Grok’s free speech” | >

P53: from understanding its structure to advances in therapeutic targeting — Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Wang, W., Liu, X., Liu, H. et al. p53: from understanding its structure to advances in therapeutic targeting. Sig Transduct Target Ther 11, 121 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-025-02549-5

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