An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy candidate known to date. This ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang and already shows a remarkably mature structure, with a central old bulge, a large star-forming disk, and well-defined spiral arms. The discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and offers important insights into how galaxies can form and evolve so rapidly in…

Neural networks are one typical structure on which artificial intelligence can be based. The term ›neural‹ describes their learning ability, which to some extent mimics the functioning of neurons in our brains. To be able to work, several key ingredients are required: one of them is an activation function which introduces nonlinearity into the structure. A photonic activation function has important advantages for the implementation of optical neural networks based on light propagation. Researchers in the Stiller Research Group at…

New AI model explains the basis for its decisions and the intention behind actions The Titanic sunk 113 years ago on April 14-15, after hitting an iceberg, with human error likely causing the ship to stray into those dangerous waters. Today, autonomous systems built on artificial intelligence can help ships avoid such accidents, but could such a system explain to the captain why it was maneuvering a certain way? That’s the idea behind explainable AI, which should help human actors…

Findings identify opportunities for new treatments of Parkinson’s and related neurodegenerative disorders A longstanding mystery in Parkinson’s disease research has been why some individuals carrying pathogenic variants that increase their risk of PD go on to develop the disease, while others who also carry such variants do not. The prevailing theory has suggested additional genetic factors may play a role. To address this question, a new study from Northwestern Medicine used modern technology, called CRISPR interference, to systematically examine every…

Discovery in a magnetic crystal could enable breakthroughs in quantum tech A team of Rice University researchers reported the first direct observation of a surprising quantum phenomenon predicted over half a century ago, opening pathways for revolutionary applications in quantum computing, communication and sensing. Known as a superradiant phase transition (SRPT), the phenomenon occurs when two groups of quantum particles begin to fluctuate in a coordinated, collective way without any external trigger, forming a new state of matter. The discovery…

‘Optical rotatum’ describes new structure of light Beams of light that can be guided into corkscrew-like shapes called optical vortices are used today in a range of applications. Pushing the limits of structured light, Harvard applied physicists in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) report a new type of optical vortex beam that not only twists as it travels but also changes in different parts at different rates to create unique patterns. The way the light behaves…

A research paper by scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University presented a novel channel-wise cumulative spike train image-driven model (cwCST-CNN) for hand gesture recognition. The research paper, published on Mar. 21, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, leverage a custom convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract both local and global features for classifying hand gestures, by decomposing high-density surface EMG (HD-sEMG) signals into channel-wise cumulative spike trains (cw-CSTs) and reconstructing these into two-dimensional images based on the spatial…

A recent paper published in Engineering titled “Machine Memory Intelligence: Inspired by Human Memory Mechanisms” explores a novel approach to AIby drawing inspiration from the human brain’s memory mechanisms. This research aims to address the limitations of current large models, such as ChatGPT, and paves the way for the development of more efficient and intelligent machines. Large models have achieved remarkable performance in various fields but suffer from several drawbacks. They consume excessive amounts of data and computing power, are prone to…

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…

Scientists build ‘digital twin’ of mouse brain Much as a pilot might practice maneuvers in a flight simulator, scientists might soon be able to perform experiments on a realistic simulation of the mouse brain. In a new study, Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators used an artificial intelligence model to build a “digital twin” of the part of the mouse brain that processes visual information. The digital twin was trained on large datasets of brain activity collected from the visual cortex…

Doctor Elodie Bouzbib, from Public University of Navarra (UPNA), together with Iosune Sarasate, Unai Fernández, Manuel López-Amo, Iván Fernández, Iñigo Ezcurdia and Asier Marzo (the latter two, members of the Institute of Smart Cities) have succeeded, for the first time, in displaying three-dimensional graphics in mid-air that can be manipulated with the hands. ‘What we see in films and call holograms are typically volumetric displays,’ says Bouzbib, the first author of the work. ‘These are graphics that appear in mid-air…

Researchers at Fraunhofer IZM have developed a laser welding process that works without adhesives to connect Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) with optical fibers. Uniquely, the technology can be used at cryogenic temperatures down to a mere four Kelvin, 269.15° centigrade below zero. The direct quartz-to-quartz connections created by the technology promise more reliable, faster, and cheaper fiber-PIC- connections that will revolutionize quantum technology applications. Low temperatures are needed to observe quantum effects in action. These can have a real impact…

SmoothDetector’s multimodal approach uses probabilistic models and deep learning to spot misleading information Fake news across social media is becoming ever easier to spread and more difficult to detect. That’s thanks to increasingly powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and cuts to fact-checking resources by major platforms. This is especially concerning during elections, when local and international actors can use images, text, audio and video content to spread misinformation. However, just as AI and algorithms can propagate fake news, they can be…

Despite its uniquely rich inventory of organic molecules, the moon may be able to support only a minuscule amount of biomass, a bioenergetic modeling study suggests. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like “sand,” its topography has long fascinated scientists and invited speculation on whether lifeforms might lurk beneath the moon’s thick, hazy atmosphere. An international team of researchers co-led by Antonin Affholder at…

UTSA researchers recently completed one of the most comprehensive studies to date on the risks of using AI models to develop software. In a new paper, they demonstrate how a specific type of error could pose a serious threat to programmers that use AI to help write code. Joe Spracklen, a UTSA doctoral student in computer science, led the study on how large language models (LLMs) frequently generate insecure code. His team’s paper has been accepted for publication at the USENIX…

Cedars-Sinai-led study of AI-enabled virtual visits found that AI recommendations were graded higher than physician decisions Do physicians or artificial intelligence (AI) offer better treatment recommendations for patients examined through a virtual urgent care setting? A new Cedars-Sinai study shows physicians and AI models have distinct strengths. The late-breaking study presented at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting and published simultaneously in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared initial AI treatment recommendations to final recommendations of physicians who…