EverythingScience

Harvard Scientists Reveal Secret Structure Behind How You Smell Smell plays a vital role in daily life. It helps us detect danger, enriches the way food tastes, and is closely tied to memory and emotion. Even so, scientists have long struggled to fully explain how this sense works at a basic biological level. “Olfaction is super-mysterious,” said Sandeep (Robert) Datta, professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School. Compared with sight, hearing, and touch, the science behind smell has remained less developed. First Detailed Map of Smell Receptors in the Nose Using mice, Datta and his team have now produced the first detailed map showing how more than a thousand different smell receptors are arranged inside the nose. Their findings overturn a long-standing assumption. Instead of being randomly distributed, the neurons that carry these receptors are arranged in a highly organized way. They form horizontal stripes that extend from the top of the nose to the bottom, grouped by receptor type. “Our results bring order to a system that was previously thought to lack order, which changes conceptually how we think this works,” said Datta, senior author of the study. The team also found that this layout in the nose aligns with corresponding maps in the olfactory bulb of the brain. This connection offers new clues about how scent signals travel from the nose into the brain. Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience

This Simple Movement Could Be Secretly Cleaning Your Brain Scientists have found that the brain is more physically linked to the body than once believed. Reporting in Nature Neuroscience, a research team used mice and computer models to uncover a possible explanation for why physical activity benefits brain health. Their findings suggest that when abdominal muscles tighten, they squeeze blood vessels connected to the spinal cord and brain. This pressure causes the brain to shift slightly inside the skull. That small motion appears to help cerebrospinal fluid move across the brain, which may carry away waste that can interfere with normal brain function. How Abdominal Contractions Influence Brain Motion Patrick Drew, professor of engineering science and mechanics, of neurosurgery, of biology and of biomedical engineering at Penn State, said the study builds on earlier research showing that sleep and neuron loss can affect how cerebrospinal fluid moves through the brain. “Our research explains how just moving around might serve as an important physiological mechanism promoting brain health,” said Drew, corresponding author on the paper. “In this study, we found that when the abdominal muscles contract, they push blood from the abdomen into the spinal cord, just like in a hydraulic system, applying pressure to the brain and making it move. Simulations show that this gentle brain movement will drive fluid flow in and around the brain. It is thought the movement of fluid in the brain is important for removing waste and preventing neurodegenerative disorders. Our research shows that a little bit of motion is good, and it could be another reason why exercise is good for our brain health.” Drew, who also serves as associate director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, compared the process to a hydraulic system in which pressure drives fluid movement. In this case, the “pump” is the abdominal contraction. Even mild tightening, such as bracing before standing up or taking a step, can create this effect. The pressure is transmitted through the vertebral venous plexus, a network of veins connecting the abdominal and spinal cavities, which results in subtle brain movement. Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience

Earthset 🌏🌑🛰️ (Apr 6) Camera setup by Artemis II Christina H Koch Raw photos courtesy of the ESRS NASA EarthNASA Johnson ID ART002-E-21062 to 21302 (only 400mm ƒ/8 frames - stabilized - linear interpolation - rotoscoping) Edit by Riccardo Rossi (ISAA) Source: @RikyUnreal @EverythingScience

Photonics advance could enable compact, high-performance lidar sensors Lidar systems use pulses of infrared light to measure distance and map a 3D scene with high resolution, allowing autonomous vehicles to rapidly react to obstacles that appear in their path. But traditional lidar sensors are expensive, bulky systems with many moving parts that degrade over time, limiting how the sensors can be deployed. A new study from MIT researchers could help to enable next-generation lidar sensors that are compact, durable, and have no moving parts. The key advance is a novel design for a silicon-photonics chip, which is a semiconductor device that manipulates light rather than electricity. Typically, such silicon-photonics chip-based systems have a restricted field of view, so a silicon-photonics-based lidar would not be able to scan angles in the periphery. Existing workarounds to this problem increase noise and hamper precision. To avoid these drawbacks, the MIT researchers designed and demonstrated an array of integrated antennas that minimizes unwanted crosstalk between the antennas. Their innovation allows a lidar chip to scan a wider field of view while maintaining low-noise operation compared to other silicon-photonics-based approaches. This novel demonstration could fuel the development of advanced lidar sensors for demanding applications like autonomous vehicle navigation, aerial surveying, and construction site monitoring. Source:Phys.org @EverythingScience

Icy object beyond Pluto has an atmosphere that shouldn't exist, study suggests Astronomers have detected an atmosphere that shouldn't exist on an icy object beyond the orbit of Pluto — sparking calls for follow-up observations. Japanese astronomers found evidence for a thin atmosphere surrounding the body, which is located within the Kuiper Belt in the cold outer reaches of the solar system, according to a new study published May 4 in the journal Nature Astronomy. The object, known as (612533) 2002 XV93, is supposed to be too small and too cold to sustain an atmosphere. At about 311 miles (500 kilometers) across — a little wider than the Grand Canyon is long — the object is more than four times smaller than Pluto, which was thought to be the only body beyond Neptune with an atmosphere in our solar system. The new observations challenge assumptions about which objects can sustain atmospheres in our solar system. However, these initial findings must be verified by outside researchers, with some experts keen to make follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to confirm the atmosphere exists. "This is an amazing development, but it sorely needs independent verification," Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and principal investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, who was not involved in the new study, told the Associated Press. "The implications are profound if verified." Source:Live Science @EverythingScience

Start your week with some new photos from Artemis II! Though our journey around the Moon has ended, we're still retrieving plenty of new images. Keep an eye on our Artemis II multimedia gallery for image highlights from the mission: go.nasa.gov/4usiN8W Source: @NASA @EverythingScience

Time-varying magnetic fields can engineer exotic quantum matter Quantum technology has promising potential to revolutionize how large and complex amounts of information are processed. While already in use primarily in laboratory and research settings globally, quantum technologies are in a transition phase for broader industry applications across many economic sectors. Exploring unusual behavior in quantum matter In researching fundamental aspects of quantum physics, or the behavior of nature at the smallest scales—involving atoms, electrons and photons—a study led by Cal Poly Physics Department Lecturer Ian Powell analyzed how a changing magnetic field can make matter behave in unusual ways. Powell and student researcher Louis Buchalter, who graduated with a Cal Poly bachelor's degree in physics in 2025, published the article "Flux-Switching Floquet Engineering" in the journal Physical Review B, highlighting how changing magnetic fields over time can create quantum states that do not exist in any stationary material (remaining in the same state as time elapses). "On a big-picture level, I would describe this as an advance in our understanding of how time-dependent control can create and organize new forms of quantum matter," Powell said. "The central idea is that useful quantum properties can depend not just on what a material is, but on how it is driven in time. In our case, we show that periodically changing a magnetic field can produce driven quantum phases with no static counterpart." By engineering new quantum behaviors by timing the field, physicists can potentially create technologies that are very stable and hard to disrupt by "noise" or imperfections that can interfere with quantum technology functionality and avoid system errors. Admittedly, Powell said that it's difficult to describe the technical aspects of the study to non-physicists. But conceptually, research points to possible routes for engineering these kinds of exotic-driven quantum states in controlled platforms such as ultracold-atom experiments. Source:Phys.org @EverythingScience

Why Your Dreams Feel So Real Sometimes and So Strange Other Times Why do some dreams feel vivid and lifelike while others seem disjointed or hard to understand? A new study from researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca offers answers, showing that both personal traits and shared life experiences shape what we dream about. Large Study Tracks Dreams and Daily Experiences Published in Communications Psychology, the study examined more than 3,700 descriptions of dreams and waking experiences from 287 participants ranging in age from 18 to 70. Over a two-week period, participants recorded their experiences each day. Researchers also collected detailed data on sleep patterns, cognitive abilities, personality traits, and psychological characteristics. AI Analysis Reveals Patterns in Dream Content The team used advanced natural language processing (NLP) methods to analyze the meaning and structure of dream reports. This approach allowed them to study dreams in a systematic and measurable way. The results show that dreams are not random or chaotic. Instead, they reflect a complex interaction between internal factors such as mind-wandering tendencies, interest in dreams, and sleep quality, and external influences, including major societal events like the COVID-19 pandemic. How the Brain Reworks Reality During Sleep By comparing descriptions of daily life with dream reports, researchers found that the brain does not simply replay waking experiences. Instead, it reshapes them. Familiar settings like workplaces, hospitals, or schools are not reproduced exactly. They are transformed into vivid scenes that often combine different elements and shift perspectives in unexpected ways. This process suggests that dreams actively reconstruct reality. The mind blends memories with imagined or anticipated experiences, creating new scenarios that can feel immersive or even surreal. Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience

Scientists Uncover “Astonishing” Hidden Property of Light Researchers at the University of East Anglia have identified a previously unknown property of light that allows it to twist, spin, and behave in unusual ways – without the need for mirrors, materials, or specialized lenses. In a finding that could reshape medical diagnostics, data transmission, and future quantum systems, scientists from the UK and South Africa demonstrated that light can be “programmed” by taking advantage of its inherent geometry. This result challenges long-standing assumptions, showing that light can develop chiral behavior – meaning it can act like a left or right hand – while moving freely through space. According to the team, this could eventually enable light to carry information, examine biological systems, manipulate matter, and safeguard quantum signals. Why Chirality Matters Chirality, or “handedness,” plays a key role in science. Many molecules, including those used in medicines, exist in left- and right-handed forms that appear nearly identical but can behave very differently in the body. To distinguish between them, scientists typically rely on specialized light that rotates either clockwise or anticlockwise. Until now, generating and controlling this type of light required carefully designed surfaces, advanced materials, or intense focusing with powerful lenses. The new research shows those steps may not be necessary. “Our work shows that light can naturally develop this handed behavior all on its own,” said Dr. Kayn Forbes from UEA’s School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology. “You just have to prepare it in the right way. Most people think of light as traveling in straight lines. But scientists can also create structured light – light whose brightness, shape, and direction are carefully arranged.” Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience

Looks like Mother Earth is putting her best face forward for Earth Day with some spectacular Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights! I couldn’t look away from the Space Station cupola window as I witnessed this magnificent Earthly phenomenon dance its magical ballet. Covering a majority of the area I could see, our precious blue gem had turned completely green! Mother Earth is undeniably gorgeous, but she is also utterly fragile. Let’s remember to treat her as well as she has treated us. I never saw anything near this scale during my previous mission here on the ISS. That’s because we are currently near a strong peak of the solar cycle, while my first mission coincided with solar minimum. Source: RT@Astro_Jessica @EverythingScience

What does it take to call home from the Moon? For most of human spaceflight history, the go to for communications has been radio waves, a technology that has served us remarkably well, but one that is beginning to show its age. When NASA's Artemis II mission carried four astronauts around the Moon in April the year, engineers quietly tested a laser communications terminal that could one day rewrite the rules of deep space exploration. Bolted to the exterior of the Orion spacecraft, the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System that was developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, became the first laser communications terminal ever to support a crewed mission at lunar distance. Rather than radio waves, the device used invisible infrared light to carry data between the spacecraft and receivers on Earth, exploiting the fact that the shorter the wavelength, the more information you can squeeze into a single beam. Traditional radio systems, operating at the distances involved in a lunar mission, were limited to single digit megabits per second. The optical terminal routinely achieved downlink speeds of 260 megabits per second, and ground stations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and White Sands Complex set a record of their own. In just under an hour, they received, processed it and retransmitted it to mission control! Until I had fibre installed, this was far superior than my home broadband system. Over the course of the roughly ten day journey, the system transferred 484 gigabytes of data between Orion and the ground in total. Those figures weren't just impressive on paper, they translated directly into the images that stopped the world. The striking photographs of Earthset, Earthrise, and the solar eclipse captured from the Moon's far side, images that circulated across front pages and social media feeds within hours of being taken. It all came home via that laser link. Source:Universe Today @EverythingScience

Scientists Just Made Carbon Capture Much Cheaper and Easier Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere is an important way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite decades of development, these technologies have not been widely adopted. The main reason is simple. Most existing methods are expensive and inefficient. For instance, the widely used aqueous amine scrubbing process requires heating large volumes of liquid to temperatures above 100 °C to release the captured CO2 and reset the system. This high energy demand significantly increases operating costs and limits large-scale use. Carbon-Based Adsorbents as a Lower-Energy Alternative Solid carbon materials have emerged as a promising option. These materials are affordable and have a high surface area, allowing them to capture CO2 and release it using less heat, particularly when nitrogen-containing functional groups are present. Even so, there has been a major challenge. Traditional synthesis methods place these nitrogen groups randomly across the material, often in mixed forms. This randomness makes it difficult to determine which specific arrangement is responsible for better performance. New Viciazite Materials With Controlled Nitrogen Structure To solve this issue, a research team led by Associate Professor Yasuhiro Yamada from the Graduate School of Engineering and Associate Professor Tomonori Ohba from the Graduate School of Science at Chiba University, Japan, developed a new category of carbon materials known as ‘viciazites.’ These materials are designed so that nitrogen groups are positioned next to each other in a controlled and predictable way. The study, published in the journal Carbon, was co-authored by Mr. Kota Kondo, also from Chiba University. Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience