Chirality — the property of an object that is distinct from its mirror image — has long captivated scientists across biology, chemistry, and physics. The phenomenon is sometimes called “handedness,” because it refers to an object possessing a distinct left- or right-handed form. It is a universal quality that is found across various scales of nature, from molecules and amino acids to the famed double-helix of DNA and the spiraling patterns of snail shells. 

Now, researchers at Princeton University have uncovered a hidden chiral quantum state in a material previously thought to be non-chiral. The finding sheds light on an intense debate within the physics community and expands our understanding of what is possible in the quantum realm. 

Our brain is a complex organ. Billions of nerve cells are wired in an intricate network, constantly processing signals, enabling us to recall memories or to move our bodies. Making sense of this complicated network requires a precise look into how these nerve cells are arranged and connected. “LICONN”, a new microscopy method developed by scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Google Research, now helps piece together this puzzle. The method, which makes use of off-the-shelf light microscopes, hydrogel and deep learning, was published in Nature.

The UK will be getting a new centre to pioneer brain-inspired, energy-efficient computing technologies. The UK Multidisciplinary Centre for Neuromorphic Computing is led by Aston University and will receive £5.6 million over four years from the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The aim of the centre is to become a focal point for networking and collaboration on fundamental research and technology of neuromorphic computing to address the sustainability challenges facing today’s digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence systems.

MIT physicists captured the first images of individual atoms freely interacting in space. The pictures reveal correlations among the “free-range” particles that until now were predicted but never directly observed.