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Can personality change after 60? An eight-week program suggests it can

Younger and older adults alike are able to adopt new socio-emotional behaviors. Even older adults benefit from a personality intervention aimed at handling stress and challenging social situations better. This is the conclusion of a psychological aging research study conducted by researchers from Germany and Switzerland led by Prof. Dr. Cornelia Wrzus (Heidelberg University) and Prof. Dr. Corina Aguilar-Raab (University of Mannheim). The study examined the effects of an intervention program in participants of varying ages. It concluded that social and emotional skills training benefits both younger and older adults.

The study is published in the journal Communications Psychology.

According to the scientific community, socio-emotional behaviors include a person’s ability to recognize, express, and regulate their feelings as well as social relationships. This ability is associated with personal traits that influence, for example, how a person typically thinks, feels, and behaves in certain situations.

Novel quantum dynamics with superconducting qubits

The prevailing view is that quantum phenomena can be leveraged to tackle certain problems beyond the reach of classical approaches. Recent years have witnessed significant progress in this direction; in particular, superconducting qubits have emerged as one of the leading platforms for quantum simulation and computation on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) processors. This progress is exemplified by research ranging from the foundations of quantum mechanics to the non-equilibrium dynamics of elementary excitations and condensed matter physics.

By utilizing the contextuality of quantum measurements to solve a 2D hidden linear function problem, we demonstrate a quantum advantage through a computational separation for up to 105 qubits on these bounded-resource tasks. Motivated by high-energy physics, we image charge and string dynamics in (2+1)D lattice gauge theories, revealing two distinct regimes within the confining phase: a weak-confinement regime with strong transverse string fluctuations and a strong-confinement regime where these fluctuations are suppressed. Turning to condensed matter, we observe novel localization in one-and two-dimensional many-body systems that lack energy diffusion despite being disorder-free and translationally invariant. Additionally, we show that strong disorder in interacting multi-level landscapes can induce superfluidity characterized by long-range phase coherence.

New AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugs

Industrial yeasts are a powerhouse of protein production, used to manufacture vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, and other useful compounds. In a new study, MIT chemical engineers have harnessed artificial intelligence to optimize the development of new protein manufacturing processes, which could reduce the overall costs of developing and manufacturing these drugs.

Using a large language model (LLM), the MIT team analyzed the genetic code of the industrial yeast Komagataella phaffii — specifically, the codons that it uses. There are multiple possible codons, or three-letter DNA sequences, that can be used to encode a particular amino acid, and the patterns of codon usage are different for every organism.

The new MIT model learned those patterns for K. phaffii and then used them to predict which codons would work best for manufacturing a given protein. This allowed the researchers to boost the efficiency of the yeast’s production of six different proteins, including human growth hormone and a monoclonal antibody used to treat cancer.

Jupiter’s clouds are hiding something big

Jupiter’s swirling storms have concealed its true makeup for centuries, but a new model is finally peeling back the clouds. Researchers found the planet likely holds significantly more oxygen than the Sun, a key clue to how Jupiter—and the rest of the solar system—came together. The study also reveals that gases move through Jupiter’s atmosphere much more slowly than scientists once thought. Together, the findings reshape our understanding of the solar system’s largest planet.

Towering clouds ripple across Jupiter’s surface in dramatic patterns. Like Earth’s clouds, they contain water, but on Jupiter they are far denser and far deeper. These layers are so thick that no spacecraft has been able to directly observe what lies below them.

Now, scientists have taken a major step toward solving that mystery. A new study led by researchers at the University of Chicago and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced the most detailed model of Jupiter’s atmosphere ever created. The work provides a deeper look into the planet’s interior without needing to physically descend into its crushing depths.

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