During ketamine anesthesia, the brain’s nerve cells fall silent—as consciousness returns, they begin to reconnect. For the first time, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have shown that immune cells in the brain play a critical role in this process—with differences between female and male brains. The findings were published in Science Advances.

Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, in collaboration with scientists at the Allen Institute, discovered that when female mice are recovering from a single ketamine sedation, their brains become much more active than their male counterparts, specifically their microglia.

Every internet search, AI-generated image, recommendation, scientific simulation and large language model creates and processes enormous amounts of information that must be stored, transferred and analysed. As AI continues to expand across every sector of society, global demand for data storage and computing is rising dramatically.

Xenophagocytosis is a natural immune process that limits interspecies organ generation by eliminating living donor cells, report researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. By uncovering how embryonic macrophages eliminate living donor cells, the researchers developed strategies to block this response. Using this strategy, they significantly improved donor cell survival and generation of rat pancreas in mice, bringing us one step closer to producing transplantable human organs in animals.

Solar-driven desalination is a promising way to produce freshwater sustainably using sunlight. However, existing systems struggle when desalinating oily seawater because oil fouls their specialized membranes. Now, researchers from Korea and Singapore have collaboratively developed a multifunctional hydrogel membrane that combines oil removal with solar-powered desalination. The membrane achieved over 99.99% oil rejection while maintaining stable and efficient freshwater production, demonstrating a promising strategy for treating real-world oily seawater.

A new study suggests that a soy-derived lysolecithin, LPC70, reduced high-salt diet (HSD)-induced hypertension, social behavior deficits, and object recognition memory impairment in mice. The benefits are associated with receptor-specific regulation in prostaglandin (PG) signaling. An increased production of arachidonic acid-derived PGs was also noted. The findings suggest LPC70 may serve as a functional food ingredient to mitigate HSD-associated cardiovascular and cognitive decline.

Keeping hydrogen liquid at about 20 K demands exceptional insulation, since small heat leaks generate boil-off gas and raise tank pressure. A new study used 3D multiphase simulations to evaluate a semi-active system in which a secondary cryogenic coolant, liquefied natural gas or liquid nitrogen, circulates through embedded insulation channels, intercepting heat before it reaches the inner tank. In optimized configurations, simulated heat ingress fell by 43.6% with both coolants, guiding cooling-channel placement and design.