When you pull a polymer sheet with T-shaped cuts, all the slits pop open simultaneously. Magnetize the same sheet, and the rows open one at a time in a repeatable sequence. Pairing two magnetized sheets back-to-back forces an ordered top-to-bottom opening 90% of the time — and absorbs 30% more kinetic energy.

A Cambridge-led team engineered a hafnium oxide thin film that switches resistance at an internal p-n junction rather than through filament formation. The result: switching currents roughly a million times lower than conventional oxide memristors, with hundreds of stable conductance levels for neuromorphic computing.

A new hydrogel wound dressing developed at Brown University stays inert until harmful bacteria show up. When it detects beta-lactamase enzymes from infectious microbes, it degrades and releases trapped antibiotics, clearing infections in mice with a single application while sparing healthy skin flora.

The SynGAP Research Fund has formally rebranded as CURE SYNGAP1 to better communicate its mission of developing treatments for SYNGAP1-related disorders, a rare genetic condition affecting brain development. Leadership and scientific strategy remain unchanged.

Studying 75 participants who paused antiretroviral therapy, scientists identified two genes - DDIT4 and ZNF254 - that keep HIV dormant in reservoir cells. Metformin, a widely available diabetes drug, boosts DDIT4 and blocked HIV reactivation in lab experiments.

The Brunel Centre's Strategic Economic Audit shows the West of England outperforms most UK regions on productivity and exports but faces structural limits in transport, housing, and inequality that threaten sustained growth.

By creating silver oxide nanoclusters at the metal-perovskite interface, UCLA researchers reduced the energy barrier tenfold and enabled quantum tunneling of charge carriers - a potential path to practical perovskite transistors and sensors.

A new fiber-coupled terahertz imaging system from the University of Warwick captures biological tissue at near video rates with 360-micrometer resolution - fast and portable enough for bedside wound assessment without ionizing radiation.

Adults whose systolic blood pressure stayed about 10 mm Hg above their peers from age 30 to 40 had a 27% higher risk of heart disease and 22% higher risk of kidney disease after 40, according to a study of nearly 300,000 South Korean adults.

A study of 67 aquifer recovery cases worldwide reveals that multi-pronged strategies work best for reversing groundwater depletion, with alternative water sources involved in 81% of successes - but gains are fragile and can reverse if monitoring stops.

The receptor that tells mosquitoes they are full after a blood meal lives in the rectum, not the brain. The finding reshapes understanding of mosquito feeding behavior and opens a potential new target for disrupting disease-carrying bites.

Low-income adults with diabetes who lost health insurance showed worse blood sugar control and needed more intensive medications within months, according to a study of community health center patients across 20 states - raising alarms as millions face Medicaid disenrollment.

A study of older adults at a socioeconomically vulnerable NYC emergency department found significant heat-health risks at temperatures below the city's 95F heat advisory trigger, suggesting tailored warning strategies are needed for at-risk populations.

Smokers who receive negative results on baseline low-dose CT screening still face substantially elevated long-term lung cancer risk - but the danger only becomes statistically significant after two years, suggesting current annual screening intervals could be safely extended.

A case-control study of low-income adults at community health centers found that sustained insurance loss was linked to worse blood sugar control, increased insulin use, and more acute diabetes complications - findings with urgency as Medicaid cuts loom.

Corals, jellyfish, and sea anemones share a common ancestor but have wildly different body shapes. A new study identifies three mechanical tissue properties - 'mechanotypes' - that predict and even control which form an organism takes.

Analysis of 55,200 ER visits across two NYC hospitals found that older adults in underserved communities face amplified heat-health risks starting at 90F - five degrees below the city's heat advisory threshold of 95F.

Embryonic mice heal wounds without scars by regenerating all skin cell types. Harvard researchers found the mechanism shuts off days after birth when fibroblasts recruit excess nerves -- and showed that blocking this signal restores scar-free healing.

Experiments with clonal raider ants show that nestmate recognition is far more flexible than assumed. Ants can learn to tolerate genetic outsiders through sustained contact, but even ants raised entirely among foreigners still accept their own genotype, suggesting an indelible sense of self.

A wheat immune receptor called WAI3 forms an octameric resistosome - the first eight-subunit immune complex found in plants. The structure, resolved by cryo-EM and published in Cell, reveals a distinct channel architecture that triggers calcium influx and requires plant-specific factors to function.

Sea urchin spines produce up to 100 millivolts when struck by water, thanks to their gradient porous internal structure. Researchers 3D-printed artificial versions that generate eight times the signal amplitude of non-gradient designs, creating self-powered underwater sensors.

Using miniature microscopes implanted in mice, McGill researchers found that the brain's internal compass - the head-direction system - remains structurally stable over months, even as the hippocampus constantly reshuffles. The stability may explain how memories persist despite shifting neural activity.

Michael Franklin, the computer scientist who co-founded the AMPLab at UC Berkeley and helped build UChicago's data science infrastructure, has been appointed Deputy Dean for Computational and Mathematical Sciences in the university's Physical Sciences Division.

A smartphone-based AI algorithm correctly identified occlusive heart attacks in 84% of cases among 1,490 patients who lacked the classic ST-elevation ECG sign, compared to 42% for standard diagnostic pathways, according to results presented at ESC Acute CardioVascular Care 2026.

Researchers found that the protein SHP suppresses cartilage-degrading enzymes MMP-3 and MMP-13 through the NF-kB pathway. SHP levels drop as osteoarthritis worsens, and restoring the protein via gene therapy reduced cartilage damage and pain in mouse models.