This systematic review examined whether educational activities in medical school influence students' emotional empathy. The eight included studies reported some effects, but results differed across types of empathy and across interventions, so the overall findings remain uncertain.
A letter in Neural Computation extends the Thousand Brains Theory to explain how long-range connections in the neocortex may help the brain build models of objects and the world. It also outlines how the ideas could inform artificial intelligence, while presenting predictions for future experiments rather than new experimental results.
An ethnographic study examines how Febi clan heads in Papua New Guinea addressed a dispute over unpaid cash bridewealth involving Pangia neighbours and sometime affines. The case suggests that relationship-building and expectations of future resource benefits helped shift attention from repayment toward renewed sharing.
Researchers used erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate to build an on-chip quantum memory for telecom-band signals. It stored four time-bin modes and recovered single-photon-level qubits with 96.8% fidelity, although its storage efficiency was 1.95%.
A review of research on vagus-nerve stimulation found reports of lower inflammatory activity and fewer pro-inflammatory cytokines in rheumatic diseases. The studies also reported possible reductions in pain, fatigue and disease activity, although their small size and differing methods limit the conclusions.
Researchers studied a blood-based test designed to identify signals of several cancers and suggest where a cancer might be located. Among adults aged 50 and older without a clinical suspicion of cancer, the test detected a cancer signal in 0.54% of performance-analyzable participants, and 60.3% of positive results were linked to a confirmed cancer. The study measured test performance and safety, not whether screening improves health outcomes.
Researchers analyzed performance data from the human NHS-Galleri randomized trial, which included 142,250 adults aged 50–77. The multi-cancer early detection test produced positive results in about 0.8% to 1.0% of participants per screening round, but the study’s primary goal—reducing diagnoses of advanced cancer—was not met.
Researchers used an AI-assisted experimental workflow to design white circularly polarized luminescent materials. The materials combined a color-rendering index above 90 with a dissymmetry factor above 1.5 from 410 to 680 nanometers, and were used to make organic light-emitting devices.
Researchers tested a training-free method for protecting sensitive examples used by a multimodal AI system. On smart-grid and chest-image tasks, it retained more classification accuracy than other privacy-preserving approaches across the privacy settings studied.
Researchers developed an AI system that identifies offensive Arabic social-media text while using significantly fewer fine-tuning samples than existing methods. The system combines related language tasks, uncertainty-based sample selection and weighted emoji handling.
A combined microwave-drying and cold-plasma treatment preserved the color and sensory quality of Turkish stuffed pasta, known as mantı, during 30 days of storage. The researchers also found that the treatment affected the retention of different minerals in different ways.
A simulation study found that using geometric altitude instead of barometric altitude during cruise flight would, on average, increase fuel use. It also found a considerable risk of exceeding aircrafts’ maximum barometric altitude, potentially requiring more step descents.
A new structural model estimates how adding a pukao, or stone topknot, changes the stability of moai on Rapa Nui. It finds that toppling toward the statue’s face requires less tilt and energy than toppling sideways, offering a way to prioritize restored assemblies for monitoring.
Researchers developed a 140-milligram insect-scale robot that can take off, crawl, glide across the water surface and undergo controlled immersion. The robot uses one shape-changing frame, rather than separate actuators for each mode, with the capabilities demonstrated in representative open-loop tests.
Residues from Amazonian copper mining were used to make a magnesium-and-iron material for removing Congo red dye from water. In laboratory tests, the material had a calculated maximum adsorption capacity of 435.19 milligrams per gram at 313.15 K.
