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upstart writes:

9-mile-thick layer of solid diamonds may lurk beneath Mercury's surface, study hints:

Mercury may have a thick layer of diamonds hundreds of miles below its surface, a new study shows. The findings, published June 14 in the journal Nature Communications, may help solve mysteries about the planet's composition and peculiar magnetic field.

Mercury is filled with mysteries. For one, it has a magnetic field. Although it's much weaker than Earth's, the magnetism is unexpected because the planet is tiny and appears to be geologically inactive. Mercury also has unusually dark surface patches that NASA's Messenger mission identified as graphite, a form of carbon.

That latter feature is what sparked the curiosity of Yanhao Lin, a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and co-author of the study. Mercury's extremely high carbon content "made me realize that something special probably happened within its interior," he said in a statement.

Despite Mercury's oddities, scientists suspect it probably formed the way other terrestrial planets did: from the cooling of a hot magma ocean. In Mercury's case, this ocean was likely rich in carbon and silicate. First, metals coagulated within it, forming a central core, while the remaining magma crystallized into the planet's middle mantle and outer crust.

For years, researchers thought the mantle's temperature and pressure were just high enough for carbon to form graphite, which, being lighter than the mantle, floated to the surface. But a 2019 study suggested that Mercury's mantle may be 80 miles (50 kilometers) deeper than previously thought. That would considerably ramp up the pressure and temperature at the boundary between the core and the mantle, creating conditions where the carbon could crystallize into diamond.

"We believe that diamond could have been formed by two processes," studyo co-author Olivier Namur, an associate professor at KU Leuven, told Live Science's sister site Space.com. "First is the crystallization of the magma ocean, but this process likely contributed to forming only a very thin diamond layer at the core/mantle interface. Secondly, and most importantly, the crystallization of the metal core of Mercury."

To investigate these possibilities, a team of Belgian and Chinese researchers, including Lin, whipped up chemical soups that included iron, silica and carbon. Such mixtures, similar in composition to certain kinds of meteorites, are thought to mimic the infant Mercury's magma ocean. The researchers also swamped these soups with varying amounts of iron sulfide; they figured the magma ocean contained loads of sulfur, as Mercury's present-day surface is also sulfur-rich.

Using a multiple-anvil press, the team subjected the chemical mixtures to crushing pressures of 7 gigapascals — roughly 70,000 times the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at sea level — and temperatures of up to 3,578 degrees Fahrenheit (1,970 degrees Celsius). These extreme conditions simulate those deep within Mercury.

Arthur Wellesley writes:

The XKCD cartoon 'PhD Timeline' ( https://xkcd.com/3081/ ) with its rollover, protests.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Energy labelling and ecodesign requirements will apply to these products from June 2025:

Ecodesign requirements will apply to smartphones, feature phones, cordless phones and slate tablets placed on the EU market from 20 June 2025 onwards. Energy Labelling requirements will apply from the same date for smartphones and slate tablets. These rules do not apply to tablet computers, to products with flexible main display (roll-up), and to smartphones for high security communication.

The regulations focus on measures to extend product lifetime (reparability, upgradability, battery life). The increase in average lifetime, e.g. from 3.0 to 4.1 years for a mid-range smartphone, implies a decrease in annual sales, with the same stock.

[...] The ecodesign requirements will include:
    • resistance to accidental drops or scratches and protection from dust and water
    • sufficiently durable batteries which can withstand at least 800 charge and discharge cycles while retaining at least 80% of their initial capacity
    • rules on disassembly and repair, including obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available within 5-10 working days, and for 7 years after the end of sales of the product model on the EU market
    • availability of operating system upgrades for longer periods (at least 5 years from the date of the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a product model)
    • non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software or firmware needed for the replacement

Smartphones and tablets will have to display information on their energy efficiency, battery longevity, protection from dust and water and resistance to accidental drops. This is also the first time that a product placed on the EU market will be required to display a repairability score.

This energy label will help EU consumers make more informed and sustainable purchasing choices and encourage sustainable consumption.

[...] For further information, see:
    • The new Ecodesign measures explained (European Commission)
    • About the energy label and Ecodesign – Energy savings (European Commission).

An example of a consumer label is shown

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

In its second asteroid encounter, NASA's Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million years ago. The spacecraft has begun returning images that were collected as it flew approximately 600 miles (960 km) from the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.

The asteroid was previously observed to have large brightness variations over a 10-day period, so some of Lucy team members' expectations were confirmed when the first images showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). However, the team was surprised by the odd shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes, which looks like two nested ice cream cones.

"Asteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology," says Hal Levison, principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "As we study the complex structures in detail, they will reveal important information about the building blocks and collisional processes that formed the planets in our Solar System."

From a preliminary analysis of the first available images collected by the spacecraft's L'LORRI imager, the asteroid appears to be larger than originally estimated, about 5 miles (8 km) long and 2 miles (3.5 km) wide at the widest point. In this first set of high-resolution images returned from the spacecraft, the full asteroid is not visible as the asteroid is larger than the imager's field of view. It will take up to a week for the team to downlink the remainder of the encounter data from the spacecraft; this dataset will give a more complete picture of the asteroid's overall shape.

Like Lucy's first asteroid flyby target, Dinkinesh, Donaldjohanson is not a primary science target of the Lucy mission. As planned, the Dinkinesh flyby was a system's test for the mission, while this encounter was a full dress rehearsal, in which the team conducted a series of dense observations to maximize data collection. Data collected by Lucy's other scientific instruments, the L'Ralph color imager and infrared spectrometer and the L'TES thermal infrared spectrometer, will be retrieved and analyzed over the next few weeks.

The Lucy spacecraft will spend most of the remainder of 2025 travelling through the main asteroid belt. Lucy will encounter the mission's first main target, the Jupiter Trojan asteroid Eurybates, in August 2027.

Image sequence of the flyby

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Mathematician, cryptologist, and computer scientist, Daniel J Bernstein has written a detailed blog post about the McEliece cryptosystem. Specifically he covers what Classic McEliece does , how the parameter sets were selected, its small ciphertexts, what NIST says about ISO standardization. what NIST says about deployment, a note about one performance number, a second note about FrodoKEM, and finally what NIST says about security.

Once upon a time, NIST started working on standardizing post-quantum cryptography, and announced that "The goal of this process is to select a number of acceptable candidate cryptosystems for standardization".

By now NIST has quite a few standards for post-quantum signatures. It has already standardized Dilithium (ML-DSA), LMS, SPHINCS+ (SLH-DSA), and XMSS. It said in 2022 that it will also standardize Falcon (FN-DSA) "because its small bandwidth may be necessary in certain applications". It is evaluating more options for post-quantum signatures, such as small-signature large-key options. Evidently NIST will end up with at least six post-quantum signature standards.

For post-quantum encryption, NIST's offerings are much more sparse. NIST has just one standard, namely Kyber (ML-KEM). It said in March 2025 that it also plans to standardize HQC; supposedly the patent on HQC won't be an issue because of an upcoming FRAND license; but an April 2025 posting regarding design flaws in HQC prompted an HQC team announcement that HQC would be modified. Doesn't look like HQC is ready for usage yet.

Wait. What about the increasingly widely deployed McEliece cryptosystem?

Previously:
(2025) NIST Selects HQC as Fifth Algorithm for Post-Quantum Encryption
(2024) Here's the Paper No One Read Before Declaring the Demise of Modern Cryptography
(2023) Signal Adds Quantum-resistant Encryption to its E2EE Messaging Protocol
(2023) NIST Releases Draft Post-Quantum Encryption Document
... and many more.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Kennedy promises exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause autism

Kennedy promises exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause autism:

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children in the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism at an "alarming rate," promising on Wednesday to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause the developmental disorder.

His call comes the day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that found an estimated 1 in 31 U.S. children have autism, a marked increase from 2020.

Autism experts applaud efforts to further understand the condition, but say the number of reported cases began to balloon as the definition of the condition expanded to include mild cases.

"Autism destroys families," Kennedy said. "More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this."

Kennedy described autism as a "preventable disease," although researchers and scientists have identified genetic factors that are associated with it. Autism is not considered a disease, but a complex disorder that affects the brain. Cases range widely in severity, with symptoms that can include delays in language, learning, and social or emotional skills. Some autistic traits can go unnoticed well into adulthood.

Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single cause. Besides genetics, scientists have identified various possible factors, including the age of a child's father, the mother's weight, and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.

[...] The Autism Science Foundation said Kennedy's emphasis on environmental factors contradicted the findings in the CDC's report.

"This report is the most convincing evidence yet that changes in factors like access to services and de-stigmatization of (autism spectrum disorders) are leading to the increases in prevalence," said Autism Science Foundation Chief Science Officer Dr. Alycia Halladay.

NIH autism study will pull from private medical records

NIH autism study will pull from private medical records:

The National Institutes of Health will begin collecting Americans' private health records as part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial plan to discover a cause and a cure for autism. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told a panel of experts about the plan this week.

The NIH plans to gather information from a wide range of private sources, including pharmacy chains, hospitals and wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches.

"The idea of the platform is that the existing data resources are often fragmented and difficult to obtain. The NIH itself will often pay multiple times for the same data resource," Bhattacharya told the panel, according to The Guardian. "Even data resources that are within the federal government are difficult to obtain."

[...] Sara Geoghegan, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the decision to gather private medical data in this way was a shocking departure from the norm and questioned how NIH planned to protect the information it gained.

"I am almost mind blown here," Geoghegan said.

upstart writes:

One hundred years after its discovery, the colossal squid has been filmed alive in its environment for the first time:

PALO ALTO, California–An international team of scientists and crew on board Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor (too) was the first to film the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in its natural environment. The 30-centimeter juvenile squid (nearly one foot long) was captured on video at a depth of 600 meters (1968 feet) by the Institute's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian. The sighting occurred on March 9 on an expedition near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. This year is the 100-year anniversary of the identification and formal naming of the colossal squid, a member of the glass squid family (Cranchiidae).

Additionally, on January 25 a team on the previous Falkor (too) expedition filmed the first confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis) in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. G. glacialis is another glass squid species that has never been seen alive in its natural environment before.

The 35-day expedition that captured the footage of the colossal squid was an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life – a collaboration between Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, and GoSouth, a joint project between the University of Plymouth (UK), GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Germany), and the British Antarctic Survey."It's exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist," said Dr. Kat Bolstad of the Auckland University of Technology, one of the independent scientific experts the team consulted to verify the footage. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish."

Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to seven meters (23 feet) in length and can weigh as much as 500 kilograms (1100 lbs), making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. Little is known about the colossal squid's life cycle, but eventually, they lose the see-through appearance of the juveniles. Dying adults have previously been filmed by fishermen, but have never been seen alive at depth.

canopic jug writes:

SparkFun Electronics, known for open source designs and software libraries, has an article covering the history of time keeping, from the earliest archeological evidence like sundials and water clocks, through mechanical clocks, to the latest standards like Cesium-133 atomic clocks.

Atomic clocks function by measuring the precise frequency of microwaves needed to induce a particular energy state transition in atoms. The most common type of atomic clock today uses cesium atoms, specifically the transition between two energy states in the cesium-133 atom.

Cesium-133 is perfect for this application for a few reasons. It has one free electron in it's outermost energy level, which means it can be excited by a very specific and very regular frequency. It can also be vaporized at low temperatures, which is needed for the interior of the clock to work properly.

When cesium-133 atoms are exposed to microwaves of a very precise and consistent frequency, they undergo a predictable change in energy levels. The state of the atoms is detected inside the clock, and whether or not they are excited tells the clock if the microwave frequency is correct.

In simpler terms, atomic clocks do not actually count seconds, they create them. In the case of cesium atomic clocks, this frequency is exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles per second - a resonant frequency of cesium-133. This precise measurement is so reliable that in 1967, the International System of Units (SI) redefined the second based on this property of cesium-133.

Previously:
(2024) RIP: Inventor of NTP Protocol, That Keeps Time on Billions of Devices, Dies at Age 85
(2022) The New Yorker on NTP Software Maintenance
(2015) OpenNTPD 5.7p1 Released
(2014) What Time Is It? Time for Multiple NTP Vulnerabilities!

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Study provides explanation for one bacterium's link to mental health:

It's become increasingly clear that the gut microbiome can affect human health, including mental health. Which bacterial species influence the development of disease and how they do so, however, is only just starting to be unraveled.

For instance, some studies have found compelling links between one species of gut bacteria, Morganella morganii, and major depressive disorder. But until now no one could tell whether this bacterium somehow helps drive the disorder, the disorder alters the microbiome, or something else is at play.

Harvard Medical School researchers have now pinpointed a biologic mechanism that strengthens the evidence that M. morganii influences brain health and provides a plausible explanation for how it does so.

The findings, published Jan. 16 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, implicate an inflammation-stimulating molecule and offer a new target that could be useful for diagnosing or treating certain cases of the disorder. They also provide a roadmap for probing how other members of the gut microbiome influence human health and behavior.

"There is a story out there linking the gut microbiome with depression, and this study takes it one step further, toward a real understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the link," said senior author Jon Clardy, the Christopher T. Walsh, PhD Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS.

The study reveals that an environmental contaminant known as diethanolamine, or DEA, sometimes takes the place of a sugar alcohol in a molecule that M. morganii makes in the gut.

This abnormal molecule then activates an immune response that the normal molecule does not, stimulating the release of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, particularly interleukin-6 (IL-6), the team found.

[...] DEA is used in industrial, agricultural, and consumer products.

"We knew that micropollutants can be incorporated into fatty molecules in the body, but we didn't know how this occurs or what happens next," Clardy said. "DEA's metabolism into an immune signal was completely unexpected."

The team proposes that DEA could be added to the growing list of biomarkers used to detect some cases of major depressive disorder.

The study also strengthens arguments that major depressive disorder, or a subset of cases, could be considered an autoinflammatory or autoimmune disease and be successfully treated with immune modulator drugs, Clardy said.

Journal Reference: DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c15158

Original Submission

aliks writes:

The story itself is interesting as quantum messaging over existing networks dramatically reduces costs, but I wanted to compare how different sources report the story.

The story caught my eye on phys.org where you get a short but reasonable summary with pictures. Maybe phys.org used AI to generate this summary?

scienmag.com has a longer summary with more detail and commentary on why the story is significant.

The original story is reported in Nature, with more detail and dense technical language.

First off we have phys.org: Quantum messages travel 254 km using existing infrastructure for the first time

Quantum messages sent across a 254-km telecom network in Germany represent the first known report of coherent quantum communications using existing commercial telecommunication infrastructure.

The demonstration, reported in Nature this week, suggests that quantum communications can be achieved in real-world conditions.

Quantum networks have the potential to enable secure communications, such as a quantum internet; quantum key distribution is one example of a theoretically secure communication technique.

Exploiting the coherence of light waves (their potential to interact predictably) can extend the range of quantum communications, but scalability has been limited by the need for specialized equipment, such as cryogenic coolers.

An approach that enables the distribution of quantum information through optical fiber cables, without the need for cryogenic cooling, is described by Mirko Pittaluga and colleagues.

Their system uses a coherence-based twin-field quantum key distribution, which facilitates the distribution of secure information over long distances.

The quantum communications network was deployed over three telecommunication data centers in Germany (Frankfurt, Kehl and Kirchfeld), connected by 254 km of commercial optical fiber—a new record distance for real-world and practical quantum key distribution, according to the authors.

This demonstration indicates that advanced quantum communications protocols that exploit the coherence of light can be made to work over existing telecom infrastructure."

A team of researchers has developed a new way to control light interactions using a specially engineered structure called a 3D photonic-crystal cavity that could enable transformative advancements in quantum computing, quantum communication and other quantum-based technologies.

"Imagine standing in a room surrounded by mirrors," said Fuyang Tay, an alumnus of Rice's Applied Physics Graduate Program and first author of the study. "If you shine a flashlight inside, the light will bounce back and forth, reflecting endlessly. This is similar to how an optical cavity works — a tailored structure that traps light between reflective surfaces, allowing it to bounce around in specific patterns."

These patterns with discrete frequencies are called cavity modes, and they can be used to enhance light-matter interactions, making them potentially useful in quantum information processing, developing high-precision lasers and sensors and building better photonic circuits and fiber-optic networks. Optical cavities can be difficult to build, so the most widely used ones have simpler, unidimensional structures.

[...] "It is well known that electrons strongly interact with each other, but photons do not," said Junichiro Kono, the Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Engineering, professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and nanoengineering and the study's corresponding author. "This cavity confines light, which strongly enhances the electromagnetic fields and leads to strong coupling between light and matter, creating quantum superposition states — so-called polaritons."

[...] If the interaction binding photons and electrons into polaritons is extremely intense — to the point where the exchange of energy between light and matter happens so fast it resists dissipation — a new regime comes into effect known as ultrastrong coupling.

"Ultrastrong coupling describes an unusual mode of interaction between light and matter where the two become deeply hybridized," said Tay, who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University.

[...] "This matter-mediated photon-photon coupling can lead to new protocols and algorithms in quantum computation and quantum communications," Kono said.

[...] By providing a new approach to engineering light-matter interactions and ultrastrong photon-photon couplings, the research findings pave the way for the development of hyperefficient quantum processors, high-speed data transmission and next-generation sensors.

Journal Reference: Tay, F., Mojibpour, A., Sanders, S. et al. Multimode ultrastrong coupling in three-dimensional photonic-crystal cavities. Nat Commun 16, 3603 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58835-x

Read more: Rice scientists uncover quantum surprise: Matter mediates ultrastrong coupling between light particles

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Those are large numbers for an SD card:

Adata has unveiled what it claims is the industry's first SD Express 8.0 compliant card, boasting read and write speeds of 1.6 GB/s and 1.2 GB/s, respectively. These numbers are up to twelve times faster than existing UHS-1 solutions, four times the speed of UHS-II, and even beat out several entry-level NVMe SSDs. The Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card will debut with a single 512GB storage option, but we're likely to see higher-capacity offerings spring up as the technology and market matures.

The SD Express technology was introduced back in 2018, with the SD 7.0 standard. However, we're only seeing these superfast cards become a reality now, in 2025, largely due to the Nintendo Switch 2. SD Express cards function a lot like the SSDs in your PC/PS5/Xbox, utilizing PCIe lanes and the NVMe protocol. Even entry-level SD Express cards are rated for a theoretical maximum bus speed of 985 MB/s (PCIe 3.1 x1). This number gets progressively higher, with PCIe 4.0 x2-based cards capable of hitting 4 GB/s under the SD 8.0 standard.

Adata's Premier Extreme lineup is being expanded with an SD Express 8.0 option, featuring a PCIe 3.0 x2 interface, advertised with read and write speeds of 1.6 GB/s and 1.2 GB/s. Despite the impressive claims, keep in mind that the card's U3 and V30 ratings only guarantee a minimum sustained write speed of just 30 MB/s. With its 512GB capacity, the Adata Premier Extreme SD Express offers built-in LPDC ECC technology and support for multi-device simultaneous access.

SD Express cards have their own speed rating indicated by an 'E' and a number. For example, E150 on an SD Express card means you're guaranteed a sustained write speed of 150 MB/s. The majority of SD Express cards currently available in the market have not been specified with these ratings, falling back to the traditional U3/V30 speed class.

Sadly, these cards won't find much use outside the Switch 2 and professional video gear, as almost all smartphone manufacturers have abandoned the concept of expandable storage. Implementing SD Express in phones would mean adding a unique connector and sacrificing a few PCIe lanes off the SoC. So, we'll probably be stuck with internal non-upgradeable UFS and NVMe (iPhones) storage for the time being.

Similarly, MicroSD Express cards are not cheap, costing up to 25 cents per GB, compared to retail SSDs, which can be had for 5-6 cents per GB. Given that both are based on the same NAND flash storage technology, the cost of SD Express based memory cards is likely to decrease over time. Adata has not specified a price or a release window for this memory card, but we expect to hear more at Computex next month.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Harvard University is pushing back via a lawsuit against micromanagement and censorship attempts emanating from the White House.

What is the rationale for the IRS revisiting Harvard's exemption status? A theory is needed, because section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code says that an organization "shall"—not "may"—be exempt from taxation if it meets criteria listed in the statute. One of those criteria is for an institution to be organized exclusively for "educational purposes."

— The Conservative Case for Leaving Harvard Alone.   The Atlantic.

The university's sudden decision to stand up, according to insiders, wasn't the plan a week earlier—and came about because the White House sent a list of demands so detailed, so humiliating, and so crudely anti-intellectual that Harvard was left with no option but to reject it. (There is growing suspicion here that Trump's demands were deliberately crafted to be rejected, setting the stage for more Trumpian melodrama and hysteria.)

— Harvard Stands Up.   The Nation.

The Harvard Crimson has started to cover this lawsuit:

"The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions," Harvard's lawyers wrote in the Monday filing.

The 51-page complaint, filed in a United States district court, asks for the court to halt and declare unlawful the $2.2 billion freeze, as well as any freezes made in connection with "unconstitutional conditions" in the Trump administration's April 3 and April 11 letters outlining demands to Harvard.

— Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over $2.2 Billion Funding Freeze.   The Harvard Crimson.

upstart writes:

Out-of-balance bacteria is linked to multiple sclerosis − the ratio can predict severity of disease:

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that results when the immune system mistakenly attacks the brain and spinal cord. It affects nearly one million people in the U.S. and over 2.8 million worldwide. While genetics play a role in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, environmental factors such as diet, infectious disease and gut health are major contributors.

The environment plays a key role in determining who develops multiple sclerosis, and this is evident from twin studies. Among identical twins who share 100% of their genes, one twin has a roughly 25% chance of developing MS if the other twin has the disease. For fraternal twins who share 50% of their genes, this rate drops to around 2%.

Scientists have long suspected that gut bacteria may influence a person's risk of developing multiple sclerosis. But studies so far have had inconsistent findings.

To address these inconsistencies, my colleagues and I used what researchers call a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside approach: starting with samples from patients with multiple sclerosis, conducting lab experiments on these samples, then confirming our findings in patients.

In our newly published research, we found that the ratio of two bacteria in the gut can predict multiple sclerosis severity in patients, highlighting the importance of the microbiome and gut health in this disease.

First, we analyzed the chemical and bacterial gut composition of patients with multiple sclerosis, confirming that they had gut inflammation and different types of gut bacteria compared with people without multiple sclerosis.

Specifically, we showed that a group of bacteria called Blautia was more common in multiple sclerosis patients, while Prevotella, a bacterial species consistently linked to a healthy gut, was found in lower amounts.

In a separate experiment in mice, we observed that the balance between two gut bacteria, Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia, was critical in distinguishing mice with or without multiple sclerosis-like disease. Mice with multiple sclerosis-like symptoms had increased levels of Akkermansia and decreased levels of Bifidobacterium in their stool or gut lining.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/04/4chan-may-be-dead-but-its-toxic-legacy-lives-on/

My earliest memory of 4chan was sitting up late at night, typing its URL into my browser, and scrolling through a thread of LOLcat memes, which were brand-new at the time.

Back then a photoshop of a cat saying "I can has cheezburger" or an image of an owl saying "ORLY?" was, without question, the funniest thing my 14-year-old brain had ever laid eyes on.
[...]
It's strange to look back at 4chan, apparently wiped off the Internet entirely last week by hackers from a rival message board, and think about how many different websites it was over its more than two decades online.
[...]
It is likely that there will never be a site like 4chan again—which is, likely, a very good thing. But it had also essentially already succeeded at its core project: chewing up the world and spitting it back out in its own image. Everything—from X to Facebook to YouTube—now sort of feels like 4chan.
[...]
"The novelty of a website devoted to shock and gore, and the rebelliousness inherent in it, dies when your opinions become the official policy of the world's five or so richest people and the government of the United States," the Onion CEO and former extremism reporter Ben Collins tells WIRED. "Like any ostensibly nihilist cultural phenomenon, it inherently dies if that phenomenon itself becomes The Man."
[...]
4chan was more complicated than it looked from the outside. The site was organized into dozens of smaller sections, everything from comics to cooking to video games to, of course, pornography. Holderness says she learned to make bread during the pandemic thanks to 4chan's cooking board. (Full disclosure: I introduced Holderness to 4chan way back in 2012.)
[...]
Holderness calls 4chan the Internet's "Wild West" and says its demise this month felt appropriate in a way. The chaos that defined 4chan, both the good and the very, very bad, has largely been paved over by corporate platforms and their algorithms now.
[...]
"The snippets that we have of what 4chan was—it's all skewed," Holderness says. "There is no record. There's no record that can ever encapsulate what 4chan was."

Original Submission