Researchers have reviewed genetic circuits that use light, ultrasound or magnetic fields to control gene activity and cell functions. The analysis compares how these systems sense outside signals, process them inside cells and produce genetic responses, while outlining the tests needed for potential medical use.
An exploratory study compared four ways to develop software with and without conversational AI systems. Human–AI collaboration produced higher-quality, better-organized test suites, while autonomous AI agents generated functionally correct code more quickly but added complexity and untested decisions.
A survey of MESSENGER measurements identified 116 candidate magnetic reconnection layers near Mercury’s magnetopause. The structures appear to recur under the planet’s typically low-Alfvén-Mach-number solar wind, but they cannot yet be confirmed as reconnection outflows.
Laboratory populations of unicellular green algae evolved motile multicellular forms in water with Snowball Earth-like viscosity. The results suggest that thick, cold oceans may have favored larger, collectively moving organisms during an important period in the evolution of multicellular life.
Dutch-backed circular-economy projects in Kenya are reshaping who controls waste and whose knowledge counts, according to a qualitative study. The changes can marginalize informal workers who have long collected, sorted and recovered materials through community-based systems.
Among 735 American Indian and First Nation adolescents, those with strong family support and greater participation in land-based cultural activities generally had healthier alcohol, mental-health and physical-health trajectories. Risk-taking peers were associated with more alcohol use, more depression and anxiety symptoms, and poorer physical health.
A study of aerosol plumes over northeast Pacific clouds found that natural differences in plume-spreading speed did not materially change the sunlight-reflecting effect of brighter clouds. But idealized simulations suggest models that assume aerosols spread instantly could overestimate cooling by 10–200%.
A systematic review examined how artificial intelligence was being used in radiation oncology in low- and middle-income countries. Among 18 studies, most described limited, task-specific uses, while only one reported coordination across multiple stages of care. The review found that validation, infrastructure, workflow development, and governance were not yet sufficiently developed for broad scale-up.
Human epithelial cells formed reversible wrinkles in their nuclear envelopes as cell density rose or the cells rounded. The wrinkles appeared without detectable envelope rupture, DNA damage or a stress-associated histone change, supporting a geometric explanation for how nuclei accommodate mechanical constraints.
Researchers created light-emitting W centers in silicon photonic circuits made by a commercial, CMOS-compatible foundry. The centers produced photoluminescence comparable in brightness to earlier custom-made versions, while the circuits’ electrical function remained intact.
Researchers developed an AI tool that predicts meropenem resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae from genome data. It showed higher sensitivity and fewer missed resistant strains than ResFinder and AMRFinderPlus in global, African and Thai test datasets.
Researchers combined results from 22 observational studies of 2,977 people undergoing spinal deformity surgery with or without intraoperative cell salvage, a process that collects and returns a patient’s own blood during surgery. Cell salvage was linked with a modest reduction in postoperative transfusion volume and higher hemoglobin on the first day after surgery, but it was not linked with lower total transfusion volume or fewer overall complications.
A 10-month test on Alaska’s North Slope produced gas steadily from a gas-hydrate-bearing sand reservoir during its longest continuous operating period. The gas-to-water ratio averaged about 600 cubic meters per cubic meter, far above results from earlier short tests and computer simulations.
Researchers developed an AI system that rapidly estimates where a tsunami began and the earthquake fault conditions that produced it. Tests with simulated data and real observations from Japan’s 2024 Hyuga-nada earthquake produced source estimates within a few minutes.
Researchers developed a light sensor whose response time can be continuously adjusted across seven orders of magnitude, from 614 nanoseconds to 8.28 seconds. The same device can perform high-speed detection at low bias and neuromorphic, or brain-inspired, processing at higher bias.
