Although we know that supermassive black holes (millions of times the mass of our Sun) lurk at the centre of most galaxies, their very nature makes them difficult to spot and study. In contrast to the popular idea of black holes constantly ‘gobbling up’ matter, these gravitational monsters can spend long periods of time in a dormant, inactive phase. This was true of the black hole at the heart of SDSS1335+0728, a distant and unremarkable galaxy 300 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. After being inactive for decades, it suddenly lit up and recently began producing unprecedented flashes of X-ray light. The first signs ...

Self-assembly or self-organization in molecular science refers to the phenomena where molecules spontaneously gather and form ordered structures, a unique property of materials used to develop optical and electronic materials. In a step towards fine-tuning this property, researchers from Japan successfully elucidated a technique where a small amount of residual aggregates drastically altered the self-assembly process of photo-responsive molecules. The research team was led by Professor Shiki Yagai from the Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, including Assistant Professor ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Bacteria can be engineered to sense a variety of molecules, such as pollutants or soil nutrients. In most cases, however, these signals can only be detected by looking at the cells under a microscope or similarly sensitive lab equipment, making them impractical for large-scale use. Using a new method that triggers cells to produce molecules that generate unique combinations of color, MIT engineers have shown that they can read out these bacterial signals from as far as 90 meters away. Their work could lead to the development of bacterial sensors for agricultural and other applications, which could be monitored by drones or ...

Capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial emissions is crucial in the fight against climate change. But current methods, like chemical absorption, are expensive and energy-intensive. Scientists have long eyed graphene—an atom-thin, ultra-strong material—as a promising alternative for gas separation, but making large-area, efficient graphene membranes has been a challenge. Now, a team at EPFL, led by Professor Kumar Agrawal, has developed a scalable technique to create porous graphene membranes ...

Researchers have developed a simple and cost-effective blood test capable of detecting Parkinson’s disease long before symptoms emerge, comparing the current state of diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases to the fight against cancer 50 years ago—when most cases were identified too late for effective treatment. The test quantifies specific RNA fragments in the blood, focusing on a repetitive RNA sequence that accumulates in Parkinson’s patients and a parallel decline in mitochondrial RNA, which deteriorates as the disease progresses. By measuring the ratio between these biomarkers, the test offers a highly accurate, non-invasive, rapid  and affordable diagnostic tool, ...

A novel paper led by Dr Ulrich Brose of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena is widening understanding of how species interact within ecosystems via the so-called “Internet of Nature.” Published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the paper reveals that species not only exchange matter and energy but also share vital information that influences behaviour, interactions, and ecosystem dynamics – revealing previously hidden characteristics of natural ecosystems. Traditionally, ecological studies have ...

Police officers are more than twice as likely to have traumatic brain injuries compared to the general population. Officers who incur these injuries while on duty face more than double the risk of developing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That’s according to a new survey-based study from the University of Exeter, published in The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, which found a connection between traumatic brain injuries and PTSD in police officers. Authors say the findings ...

SINGAPORE, 11 APRIL 2025—Duke-NUS Medical School has appointed Professor Patrick Tan as its next and fourth Dean, effective 1 January 2026, marking a new chapter for the School as it builds on its legacy of medical education, research and innovation. Prof Tan will serve as Dean-designate from 1 July 2025, succeeding Professor Thomas Coffman, the School’s longest-serving Dean since 2015. This leadership transition coincides with the School’s 20th anniversary, underscoring Duke-NUS’ commitment to advancing ...

Since cefixime and tellurite are known to inhibit most bacteria belonging to Enterobacterales, we found that addition of tellurite inhibited E. albertii growth in Luria Bertani broth but not in tryptic soy broth (TSB), and addition of phosphate and soy peptone enhanced E. albertii growth in TSB in presence of tellurite. Subsequently, to find the positive factor present in TSB, E. albertii growth was examined in tryptone, soy peptone, glucose, or phosphate deficient tryptic soy agar plates. Phosphate, soy peptone, and/or ...

Dr. Ho Seong Jang and colleagues at the Extreme Materials Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed an upconversion nanoparticle technology that introduces a core@multi-shell nanostructure, a multilayer structure in which multiple layers of shells surround a central core particle, and enables high color purity RGB light emission from a single nanoparticle by adjusting the infrared wavelength. Luminescent materials are materials that light up on their own and are used in a variety of display devices, including TVs, tablets, monitors, and smartphones, to allow us to view a variety of images ...

In today’s increasingly interconnected world, language learning has become essential for education, business, and cultural exchange. However, accurately measuring proficiency in language learners is a complex matter. One particularly valuable approach involves asking learners to listen to sentences and then repeat them back as accurately as possible. Known as elicited imitation (EI), this method reveals much more than mere memory and mimicking abilities. When sentences exceed our working memory capacity—typically beyond 8 to 10 syllables—successful repetition requires learners to quickly process and ...

The persistent higher rate of alcohol deaths in England since the pandemic in 2020 is an “acute crisis” requiring urgent action from government, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL and the University of Sheffield. For the study, published in Lancet Public Health, researchers analysed Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures of deaths caused solely by alcohol in England. They found that death rates were stable between 2009 and 2019, but increased by a fifth in 2020, rising by a further 13.5% between 2020 and 2022. The team estimated that 3,911 more people had died solely because of alcohol in England ...

Decarbonisation in the automotive and housing sectors is paramount if the UK’s legally binding commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 is to succeed, say researchers at University of Sheffield Exploring the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in the uptake of low-carbon technologies (LCTs), such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has important policy implications for the decarbonisation in the UK The new report advocates for interventions at an individual, as well as community-level, to help those from more disadvantaged backgrounds adopt technologies that ...

TAMPA, Fla. (Apr. 10, 2025) — A multi-institutional study led by Moffitt Cancer Center found that percutaneous hepatic perfusion using a melphalan hepatic delivery system may help patients with a rare eye cancer that has spread to their liver. This disease, known as metastatic uveal melanoma, is traditionally very hard to treat and usually has poor outcomes. The phase 3 FOCUS trial, published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, compared two treatments for metastatic uveal melanoma. One group of patients received the melphalan hepatic delivery system treatment, while the other group received standard of care treatment. Patients treated with the melphalan hepatic delivery ...

MINNEAPOLIS —The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, has elected Natalia S. Rost, MD, MPH, FAAN, FAHA, as its 39th president. Rost is professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and the C. Miller Fisher Endowed Chair in Stroke Research and former chief of the stroke division at Massachusetts General Hospital. Rost succeeds Carlayne E. Jackson, MD, FAAN, who completed her two-year term as president during the recent AAN Annual Meeting. “I applaud Dr. Jackson for her leadership, and I am thrilled to take the helm at the American Academy of Neurology ...

Charlottesville, VA — The Center for Open Science (COS) has announced the launch of the Replicability Project: Health Behavior (RPHB), a collaborative initiative that aims to strengthen the evidence base and advance scientific integrity in health-related research. The project will examine the replicability of a diverse sample of quantitative health studies published over the past decade (2015–2024). Assessing the credibility of research is essential to advancing scientific integrity and maintaining public trust in science. The RPHB initiative aims to perform up to 60+ replications of empirical health behavior studies, providing crucial ...

CHICAGO – The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology will be presented to Crystal L. Mackall, MD, Fellow of the AACR Academy, during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, to be held April 25-30 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. Mackall is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University, the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford. She is being honored for her illustrious contributions to cancer immunotherapy, including ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2025.240260 discusses a novel strategy for detecting trace-level nanoplastics in aquatic environments.   Plastic materials have revolutionized human lifestyles through their versatile applications, yet their environmental legacy now presents critical challenges to global ecosystems and public health. Current models estimate annual plastic influx into aquatic systems at 4.8-12.7 million metric tonnes, with projections suggesting cumulative marine plastic accumulation ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2025.240220, discusses how phase-change perovskite enables traditional VCSEL to achieve low-threshold, tunable single-mode lasers.   As an important light source, lasers are widely used in many fields such as communications, medical treatment, display technology and scientific research. However, with the continuous advancement of technology, people have put forward higher requirements on the performance of lasers, especially in terms of integration and tunability. Traditional lasers typically rely on fixed gain media and external microcavity structures (such as Fabry-Perot cavities, ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2025.240189, discusses enhanced photoacoustic microscopy with physics-embedded degeneration learning.   In recent years, photoacoustic imaging (PAI), as an emerging imaging technology, has gradually attracted widespread attention across various fields, particularly in interdisciplinary areas such as medicine, physics, and chemistry. In brief, PAI combines the unique advantages of both optics and acoustics. The fundamental principle of PAI is as follows: when laser light ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; 10.29026/oea.2025.240207, discusses how light boosts exciton transport in organic molecular crystal.   Organic semiconductors, composed of organic molecules or polymers, offer advantages such as low cost, flexibility, lightweight design, and tunable structural-functional properties. They have significant applications in OLED displays (e.g., smartphones, TVs), organic photovoltaic cells (flexible solar panels), and flexible sensors. In organic semiconductors, excitons—carriers of excited-state ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2025.240250, discusses on-chip multi-channel near-far field terahertz vortices with parity breaking and active modulation.   Vortex beams with helical phase wavefronts can carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) and have promising applications in high-capacity communication, information processing and high-resolution imaging. With the further development of terahertz (THz) technology in the fields of communication, radar and substance detection, ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2025.240257 , discusses generation of avoided-mode-crossing soliton microcombs.   Optical frequency combs refer to spectra composed of a series of frequency components that are uniformly spaced, resembling the teeth of a comb, thus the term "optical frequency comb." In recent years, optical frequency combs generated in microresonators (known as microcombs) have attracted significant attention due to their high repetition rates, broad bandwidths, ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI   10.29026/oes.2025.240030, discusses unlocking the vibrant photonic realm.   Nature not only provides humans with abundant material resources but also offers rich colors, satisfying both material and spiritual needs. The vibrant and diverse colors displayed by peacock feathers, opals, and beetles are all a result of the exquisite structural colors found in nature. The micro- and nanostructures on their surfaces interact with light, producing phenomena such as diffraction, scattering, ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI   10.29026/oes.2025.240032 , discusses integrated photonic polarizers with 2D reduced graphene oxide.   In modern optical systems, controlling light polarization is of fundamental importance and underpins a variety of advanced optical technologies. Optical polarizers, which selectively transmit light with a specific polarization orientation while blocking light of the orthogonal polarization, are essential components underpinning modern optical systems for a diverse range of applications. The applications are divided into ...