Science

Mark Thomson, a professor of experimental particle physics at the University of Cambridge, has landed one of the most coveted jobs in global science. But it is hard not to wonder, when looked at from a certain angle, whether he has taken one for the team.

On 1 January, Thomson takes over as the director general of Cern, the multi-Nobel prizewinning nuclear physics laboratory on the outskirts of Geneva. It is here, deep beneath the ground, that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest scientific instrument ever built, recreates conditions that existed microseconds after the big bang.

Among pressing ethical concerns are whether brain organoids can feel pain or become conscious—and how would we know?

Olson challenged students to develop a printable aluminum alloy stronger than any that existed at the time. Aluminum's strength depends heavily on its microstructure, particularly the size and density of tiny internal features called "precipitates." Smaller, more closely packed precipitates generally result in a stronger metal.

Students used simulations to test different combinations of elements and concentrations, attempting to predict which mixtures would produce the strongest alloy. Despite extensive modeling, the effort did not outperform existing printable aluminum designs. That outcome prompted Taheri-Mousavi to consider a different approach.

"At some point, there are a lot of things that contribute nonlinearly to a material's properties, and you are lost," Taheri-Mousavi says. "With machine-learning tools, they can point you to where you need to focus, and tell you for example, these two elements are controlling this feature. It lets you explore the design space more efficiently."

Researchers have uncovered ancient wolf remains on a small, isolated island in the Baltic Sea, a location the animals could not have reached without human help. The findings point to a surprising possibility that prehistoric people deliberately brought grey wolves to the island and may have kept or managed them. The research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, Stockholm University, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of East Anglia

The samples in this seemingly unremarkable room are part of the International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM), the world’s largest living library of soil fungi. Four decades in the making, it could cease to exist within a year due to federal budget cuts.

...

“To have any hope in leveraging fungi for future climate change strategies, restoration efforts and regenerative agriculture, we need to safeguard this collection,” Kiers said.

Other papers:

The bioethics of skeletal anatomy collections from India - Nature

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/44213958

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40624764

The European Commission and Japan have successfully concluded negotiations on Japan's association to Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship €93.5 billion research and innovation funding programme. The agreement, expected to be signed in 2026, represents the closest form of collaboration offered by the EU to global partners in this field. It will enable Japanese researchers to lead and coordinate their own research and innovation projects under the programme, to apply and receive funding, and to seek closer collaboration with partners in the EU and other associated countries.

New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has revealed that light's magnetic field plays a direct role in the Faraday effect, overturning a 180-year understanding of the phenomenon[^1][^2].

The study, published in Scientific Reports in November 2025, shows that the magnetic component of light contributes about 17% of the observed Faraday rotation at visible wavelengths and up to 75% in the infrared spectrum when using Terbium-Gallium-Garnet (TGG)[^1].

"In simple terms, it's an interaction between light and magnetism," explains Dr. Amir Capua. "The static magnetic field 'twists' the light, and the light, in turn, reveals the magnetic properties of the material. What we've found is that the magnetic part of light has a first-order effect, it's surprisingly active in this process"[^2].

The researchers used the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation to demonstrate that light's magnetic field can generate magnetic torque inside materials, similar to a static magnetic field[^1]. This discovery challenges the traditional view that only light's electric field contributes to the Faraday effect[^4].

The findings have potential applications in:

• Optical data storage
• Spintronics
• Light-based magnetic control
• Quantum computing technologies[^2]

[^1]: Nature - Faraday effects emerging from the optical magnetic field
[^2]: QD Latin America - New magnetic component discovered in the Faraday effect after nearly two centuries
[^4]: The Debrief - Scientists Revisiting the 'Faraday Effect' Have Uncovered a Surprising Magnetic Interaction Between Light and Matter

We successfully plugged the hole in the ozone layer that was discovered in the 1980s by banning ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). But, it seems we might be unintentionally creating another potential atmospheric calamity by using the upper atmosphere to destroy huge constellations of satellites after a very short (i.e. 5 year) lifetime.

According to a new paper by Leonard Schulz of the Technical University of Braunschweig and his co-authors, material from satellites that burn up in the atmosphere, especially transition metals, could have unforeseen consequences on atmospheric chemistry—and we're now the biggest contributor of some of those elements.

It's been a long time coming that we would be though—Earth has plenty of other material spread through its upper atmosphere via meteorites burning up. In fact, even now, according to the paper, the total mass of material injected into the atmosphere from rockets and satellites is only about 7% of the mass of meteors that hit Earth annually. However, since rockets and satellites are primarily made up of metals, whereas meteors are primarily made up of silicates, the amount of metal we inject into the atmosphere is around 16% that of natural causes.

That may not sound like much, but for a few particular elements it's much, much higher. In 2015, anthropogenic (i.e. human-made) sources were the highest contributor to 18 different elements in the atmosphere. In 2024, that number jumped to 24 different elements. That could grow to as many as 30 different elements that will be the primary reason for their increased levels in the atmosphere in the coming decades.

[...]

The paper itself: Space waste: An update of the anthropogenic matter injection into Earth atmosphere