Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurological disorders associated with later life, and its prevalence rises sharply with age. It affects the brain systems that control movement, often causing tremor, stiffness, slowness and problems with balance, all of which can reduce independence and quality of life in older adults. The condition is mainly linked to the gradual loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells. Current treatment usually relies on medicines such as levodopa, which can improve symptoms, especially in the earlier stages, but their benefit may become less consistent over time. For some patients, deep brain stimulation (DBS) offers another option, yet this involves surgery to place electrodes deep inside the brain. 

When two tectonic plates collide, one plate sinks below the other – a process known as “subduction”. An international research team led by Göttingen University has discovered a rock in Papua New Guinea that, four million years ago, travelled over 90 km down into a subduction zone. The rock records an unusual journey, with higher-than-expected temperature conditions at a depth of around 45 km. This change from very hot subduction at this depth to the more common colder subduction at its final depth challenges scientists’ view of the thermal structure of subduction zones. The results were published in Nature Geoscience.

A new study led by the University of Michigan has shown that artificial intelligence can help researchers identify data-rich comments on eBird and iNaturalist, then extract and categorize the information to help build robust ecological datasets.

Researchers from Wuhan University have developed a new Uncertainty-Aware Filtering (UAF) algorithm that significantly enhances spacecraft autonomous navigation in deep-space environments characterized by weak gravity, strong perturbations, and limited prior knowledge, which is published in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2025.103971). The method shows clear advantages over conventional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) approaches and has been validated using simulations of China’s Tianwen-2 mission to asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS.

Assistant Professor Uğur Teğin from Koç University’s Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering has developed two new systems that use light itself, rather than conventional electronic circuitry, to perform computations for artificial intelligence. Published in two journals within Nature Portfolio, one of the world’s leading scientific publishing groups, the studies introduce new approaches to computing that could contribute to the development of faster and more energy-efficient AI systems.