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Investigators are developing a new type of auditory brainstem implant that is designed to be soft, and flexible and address limitations of models currently in use. These implants may one day benefit people who can't receive a cochlear implant, such as those with Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and other severe inner ear abnormalities. In a new preclinical study, researchers report on benefits in large animal models, and based on the results, hope for future trials in humans.

Molecules like DNA are capable of storing large amounts of data without requiring an energy source, but accessing this molecular data is expensive and time consuming. Researchers have now developed an alternative method to encode information in synthetic molecules, which they used to encode and then decode an 11-character password to unlock a computer.

Molecules like DNA are capable of storing large amounts of data without requiring an energy source, but accessing this molecular data is expensive and time consuming. Researchers have now developed an alternative method to encode information in synthetic molecules, which they used to encode and then decode an 11-character password to unlock a computer.

Some jobs are more satisfying than others, and they're not necessarily the ones with a high income or a lot of prestige

When the JWST came to life and began observations, one of its first jobs was to gaze back in time at the early Universe. The Assembly of Galaxies is one of the space telescope's four main science themes, and when it observed the Universe's first galaxies, it uncovered a mystery. According to our understanding of how galaxies evolve, some were far more massive than they should be.

Did you spot the spider in this morning’s post?  Here’s the original photo:

The reveal:

It’s ready for its closeup:

. . . and a running crab spider (the tentative ID) from Wikipedia:

Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Waste from old landfill sites is spilling onto beaches as rising seas erode coastlines - and some of it is toxic

Reader Enrico sent me a link to this video called “Blind Spot“, a 2024 movie that’s 95 minutes long. The topic is antisemitism on American college campuses.

The YouTube notes:

“Blind Spot” is the only current film focused exclusively on campus antisemitism. Featuring never-before-seen interviews with students before and after October 7th, along with testimony before Congress and insights from officials, journalists, and university staff, it reveals how antisemitism on campus didn’t appear overnight—and what can be done about it. Described as “like nothing I’ve ever seen” and “a fire alarm ringing,” the film highlights the resilience of Jewish students and the urgent need for change.

It begins with the infamous conflict between Rep. Elise Stefanik and the Presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT. The Presidents’ answers about the rules were correct, but the Presidents of Penn and Harvard later resigned, largely because of the hypocrisy of their answers: free speech is indeed within the colleges’ ambit, but they enforced it erratically and hypocritically.

The rest of the video consists of short interviews and statements and scenes of anti-Israel demonstrations from many schools, including the University of Chicago. As we already know, anti-Semitism is pervasive at many of these schools. What impresses me is the resilience and determination of the Jewish students. Compared to the angry, shouty, ace-covered advocates of Palestine, they seem eminently rational. I found it both depressing and heartening.

This film was made last year, but I can’t say things have gotten palpably better in the last year.  As Hamas continues to lose in Gaza, the intensity of Jew hatred has only grown.

BTW, my Belgian colleague Maarten Boudry, a philosopher with whom I’ve published (and an atheist), just published an article in Quillette detailing his impressions of his first trip to Israel.

We have only one set of Readers’ Wildlife left, so I’m putting in a “Spot the. .  .” feature from Neil Taylor of Cambridge in the UK.  But please send in your photos, folks.

Neil says this:

The first photo is a tree stump draped in spider webs in which a spider is hiding. . . .I’m not a spider expert but I think it is a running crab spider (Philodromus sp.).  Quite a beautiful little thing.

Can you spot it? I’ll post the reveal at 11 a.m. Chicago time. I think this is of medium difficulty. Please do not reveal in the comments where it is; let others have the fun of finding it.

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility, an initiative spearheaded by Brazil, would raise money from investments and pay countries to preserve forests – can it succeed where carbon markets have failed?

NASA’s Perseverance Rover didn't just look up—it captured a sprint across the Martian sky! On March 1st, its navigation camera locked onto Deimos as the moon raced overhead in the pre-dawn darkness. Sixteen rapid-fire, 3-second exposures stacked together reveal the moon's movement across the Martian sky. The pictures were taken in very low light, so it's pretty grainy and noisy, but there are two additional stars in the sky, Regulus and Algieba, in the constellation Leo.

Stars that pass close to the solar system could pull planets out of alignment, sending them hurtling into the sun or out into space

The author of Ringworld, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, is quizzed on everything from if he’d like to meet an alien to the art of writing

Scientists have discovered that black holes don't just devour everything—they also fire back. While nothing can escape the event horizon, black holes generate ferocious winds that blast outward at significant fractions of the speed of light. New research challenges the long-held belief that they flow smoothly and continuously. Instead, these winds are violent, fragmented bursts resembling rapid-fire streams of gas bullets. Astronomers have now witnessed this phenomenon firsthand, detecting five distinct gas components travelling 20-30% the speed of light and erupting like geysers from the black hole's vicinity.

"Almost all crank movements will eventually devolve to sectarian strife... It’s the only upside of watching these idiots is knowing this fate." Dr. Mark Hoofnagle

The post Doctors Who Rose to Power Bashing the Medical Establishment Are Now the Medical Establishment. Good Luck With That. first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Astronomers have discovered a protoplanetary disks where planets are born thrive in the most violent region of our Galaxy. For years the galactic center was thought to be too chaotic and hostile for planet formation. This is wrong. New ALMA observations have seen planet nurseries flourishing in the turbulent Central Molecular Zone near our Galaxy's heart, challenging everything we thought we knew about how worlds are born. Planets find a way.

A new gene editor may soon open the door to gene therapies for a wider array of diseases.

A new study explores how EOS transmits ultrashort laser pulses through crystals that change in response to an applied electric field. This technique allows researchers to accurately capture the shape and timing of electric fields across a broad range of frequencies.

A new study explores how EOS transmits ultrashort laser pulses through crystals that change in response to an applied electric field. This technique allows researchers to accurately capture the shape and timing of electric fields across a broad range of frequencies.

Whether bismuth is part of a class of materials highly suitable for quantum computing and spintronics was a long-standing issue. Research has now revealed that the true nature of bismuth was masked by its surface, and in doing so uncovered a new phenomenon relevant to all such materials.