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Category: computing

Scientists Visualize the Complex, Dynamic World Inside a Human Cell

The interactive image was created for Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., and was inspired by the work of David Goodsell, a professor of computational biology at Scripps Research Institute, who is widely recognized for his vibrant watercolor paintings of cells and viruses. Alongside some artistic interpretation, portions of the image were digitally rendered using datasets gathered through scientific methods.

“This 3D rendering of a eukaryotic cell is modeled using X-ray, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and cryo-electron microscopy datasets for all of its molecular actors,” explains McGill. “It is an attempt to recapitulate the myriad pathways involved in signal transduction, protein synthesis, endocytosis, vesicular transport, cell-cell adhesion, apoptosis, and other processes.”

Although some online are calling it “the most detailed image of a human cell ever captured” Evan Ingersoll and Gael McGill emphasize that it’s really an educational tool. Elements of the cell have been simplified, and in some cases “squashed together,” to help viewers better understand what happens inside it.

Mathematical modeling helps advance use of magnetic particles in targeted drug-delivery systems

A Florida State University computational scientist is paving the way for future medical breakthroughs by developing mathematical models and simulations to predict the behavior of a unique drug-delivery method, which aims to deploy treatments directly to targeted sites in the body.

Florida State University Associate Professor of Scientific Computing Bryan Quaife is part of a multi-institutional team of engineers, mathematicians and computational scientists conducting foundational research essential to the design of a drug-delivery system that could reduce medication side effects while increasing treatment efficacy. Their research expands on work proposing the use of magnetic particles to guide cell-like drug carriers toward a specific target, like a tumor.

This work, which was published in Physical Review Letters, reveals how tiny particles moving inside microscopic drug carriers can gradually stress and eventually rupture the enclosing membrane. These findings could help engineers design smarter drug-delivery systems to protect therapeutic cargo during transport and release it on demand at the desired location.

Quantum Paradoxes: 5 Ways to Test the Multiverse | Maria Violaris

Can we actually test whether the multiverse is real? Not just philosophicallybut scientifically?

Quantum physicist Maria Violaris presents five remarkable experiments, from Schrödinger’s cat to Google’s Willow quantum chip, that put the multiverse to the test. Along the way, she untangles two of the strangest phenomena in all of physics — quantum measurement and entanglement — and reveals how a thought experiment designed to test the multiverse in 1985 accidentally launched today’s billion-dollar quantum computing race.

Maria also shares a puzzling thought experiment of her own that overturns a long-held assumption: that you can never communicate across branches of the multiverse.

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Maria Violaris is a quantum physicist and prize-winning science communicator with a PhD in the foundations of quantum information from the University of Oxford. She works on quantum theory research at Oxford Quantum Circuits, runs a YouTube channel and the Quantum Foundations Podcast, and pioneered the use of quantum thought experiments for quantum computing education through her Quantum Paradoxes series at IBM Quantum.

Continue reading “Quantum Paradoxes: 5 Ways to Test the Multiverse | Maria Violaris” | >

Scientists uncover a genetic ‘shield’ that lowers the risk of colorectal cancer

A team of scientists from the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University and institutions across the U.S. have published a new paper on the role of TGFBR1*6A, a naturally occurring genetic mutation in the TGFBR1 gene found in approximately 14% of the general population.

The study, “TGFBR1*6A and risk for colorectal cancer,” published June 9, 2026, in Cancer Communications, focuses on TGFBR1*6A and how it influences a person’s risk of developing colorectal cancer. Dr. Boris Pasche, president and CEO of the Karmanos Cancer Institute and chair of the Wayne State University Department of Oncology, was the first to discover TGFBR1*6A as a cancer risk allele.

“This mutation has often been overlooked by genome-wide association study chips, which cannot detect TGFBR1*6A, and is commonly missed by next-generation sequencing platforms due to the complexity of the region,” said Dr. Allan Johansen, a postdoctoral fellow and first author of the paper.

FTC gives Musk the OK to acquire SpaceX alumni startup Mesh

Mesh Optical came out of stealth in February when it announced that it raised a $50 million Series A led by Thrive Capital.

Before founding Mesh Optical, the startup’s co-founders, Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli, developed the optical communication links that keep thousands of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites interconnected.

The Mesh co-founders saw an opportunity to develop optical transceivers for terrestrial data centers, as light-based hardware is faster and more energy-efficient than traditional electrical-based systems.

Artificial ‘leaf’ powers wireless biomedical device

Plants convert light into energy efficiently through photosynthesis—an ability that scientists and engineers still struggle to match with electronic devices. Recently, researchers have looked beyond traditional semiconductor materials to create devices using a promising class of materials called nanoplasmonics. These tiny metal structures can absorb and concentrate optical energy and generate energetic charge carriers.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and Department of Chemistry developed a nanoplasmonic “leaf,” a wireless bioelectronic device they used to stimulate nerves and pace heartbeats in an animal model.

The team also showed that their material could be used as a computer-like sensing platform, where users can interact with the screen using invisible light—a potentially secure way to transmit information.

Dog-bone design helps 2D nanoribbon transistors stay fast and efficient as widths shrink

Transistors, small semiconductor-based switches that control the flow of electricity, are central components of all electronic devices, from computers to smartphones, wearables, sensors and smart appliances. Over the past decades, electronics engineers have been continuously working to boost the speed and performance of transistors while also reducing their size.

A promising approach for miniaturizing transistors entails the use of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, materials that are only one or a few atoms thick. Despite their potential, most high-performing 2D transistors have so far been demonstrated using relatively wide channels, and it has remained unclear whether their performance can be preserved when the channels are made much narrower.

Researchers at Stanford University recently developed new compact transistors based on narrow strips of monolayer 2D semiconducting materials known as nanoribbons. These transistors, introduced in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, were found to perform remarkably well despite their small size, outperforming previously developed nanoribbon transistors based on the same 2D materials.

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