Neuroscie

Brain Cells That Thrive on Uncertainty Help Us Adapt and Learn

Summary: Scientists have discovered a group of brain cells in the orbitofrontal cortex that become more active when outcomes are uncertain, revealing how the brain adapts and learns from unpredictable…

Social Inference Could Be the Key to Healing Schizophrenia

Summary: Researchers have identified a brain function that could transform how schizophrenia is treated—by focusing on social inference, the ability to interpret social cues and intentions. The study found that…

Reelin Shows Promise for Healing Both Gut and Depression

Summary: A new study reveals that the protein Reelin may hold the key to treating both “leaky gut” and major depressive disorder. Chronic stress lowers Reelin levels in the gut,…

Five Sleep Types Revealed: How Your Brain Wiring Reflects Rest

Summary: A new study has identified five distinct “sleep-biopsychosocial” profiles that connect how we sleep with our brain networks, mental health, cognition, and lifestyle. Using data from over 700 participants,…

Life

Nature

Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record

Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…

Astronomy

Unified model explains extreme jet streams on all giant planets

The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn exhibit eastward-flowing equatorial jet streams, while the ice giants Uranus and Neptune have westward-flowing ones. This work demonstrates that, under similar conditions, a jet…

SpaceX targets nighttime launch of competitor Amazon’s satellites

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain SpaceX is set to finish up its third of three contracted launches of competitor Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites on Thursday night. A Falcon 9 on the…

Simulations unveil the electrodynamic nature of black hole mergers and other spacetime collisions

Spinning black hole with gravitational electric (top) and magnetic fields (bottom). Shown in color is the gravitational electric charge density. Credit: Boyeneni, Wu & Most. Gravitational waves are energy-carrying waves…

Astronomers discover the most ‘pristine’ star in the known universe

Kinematic properties. The past orbit of J0715 − 7334 and the LMC in Galactic coordinates on-sky, overlaid on the distribution of all stars observed by Gaia. Not all stars are…