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MI weekly selection #584
The carbon impact of permafrost thawing Researchers have developed a model to assess permafrost thawing’s impact on carbon release. The study suggests that while thawing could release substantial carbon, only a fraction will reach the atmosphere by 2100, but this thawing still presents a significant challenge for climate mitigation efforts. Full Story: PhysOrg Rare neuron […]

The role of entanglement in quantum phase transitions
In a recent research, Jonathan D’Emidio and Anders W. Sandvik studied a property of quantum systems called Rényi entanglement entropy (EE) in a specific two-dimensional quantum spin model known as the J-Q model . This model is significant because it describes a type of deconfined quantum criticality , which occurs at a phase transition between […]

The Antarctic plastisphere
Authors: Pere Monràs i Riera, PhD candidate, Universitat de Barcelona and Elisenda Ballesté, assistant professor in Microbiology, Universitat de Barcelona Antarctica, the world’s most remote, harsh and pristine continent, is not free from marine pollution. Where human activity goes, plastic debris inevitably follows. What might the early explorers of this icy wilderness think today, upon […]

The equivalence of entropic uncertainty with wave-particle duality
Researchers have confirmed a theory that proposes a connection between the complementarity principle and entropic uncertainty. “Our results have no clear or direct application right now. It’s basic research that lays the foundation for future technologies in quantum information and quantum computers. There’s enormous potential for completely new discoveries in many different research fields,” says […]

The mystery of Garfield’s orange coat finally solved
Author: Lluís Montoliu , researcher, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB – CSIC, Spain) Garfield, star of the eponymous comic strip created by Jim Davis in 1978, is, like many of the cats that roam our homes, orange. He is orange in the same way that some people are redheaded, some horses are brown, or some […]

MI weekly selection #583
Climate change could drive mass extinctions by 2100 A new study warns that nearly one-third of Earth’s species could face extinction by 2100 if global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, surpassing the Paris Agreement target. The study emphasizes the urgent need for policymakers to limit greenhouse gas emissions to prevent accelerated extinction […]

A seamless 2D spintronic device by proximity effects
Spintronics is a field of technology that focuses on using the spin of electrons—an intrinsic property that can be thought of as a tiny magnetic moment—to store and process information. This concept is based on the fact that electrons, in addition to carrying electric charge, also have a “spin,” which can be oriented in different […]

Adipocytes orchestrate T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia propagation
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a devastating disease of T-cell progenitors that mainly affects children and young adults. Numerous genomic alterations are known to induce survival, proliferation, and differentiation of T-ALL cells . The interactions between leukemic cells and their microenvironment are known factors that contribute to T-ALL pathogenesis. The bone marrow (BM) microenvironment […]

Monolayers from aligned hexagonal islands
A method that can grow a useful insulating material into exceptionally high-quality films that are just one atom thick and are suitable for industrial-scale production has been developed. The material, called hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), is used in semiconductor devices and can also enhance the performance of other two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and […]