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Category: mapping

Summary: New research highlights a functional hierarchy in the brain’s processing of space and time. In posterior areas, like the occipital cortex, space and time are tightly linked and processed by the same neurons.

In anterior regions, such as the frontal cortex, space and time are processed independently, with distinct neural populations forming “time maps” for specific durations. Intermediate regions, like the parietal cortex, display mixed processing mechanisms, bridging spatial and temporal integration.

This study offers fresh insights into how the brain integrates two fundamental dimensions of human experience and reveals the unique coding strategies across cortical regions.

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Scientists have developed ‘entanglement microscopy,’ a technique that maps quantum entanglement at a microscopic level.

By studying the deep connections between particles, researchers can now visualize the hidden structures of quantum matter, offering new perspectives on particle interaction that could revolutionize technology and our understanding of the universe.

Quantum entanglement is a fascinating phenomenon where particles remain mysteriously linked, even when separated by vast distances. Understanding how this connection works, especially in complex quantum systems, has been a long-standing challenge in physics.

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Quantum entanglement—a phenomenon where particles are mysteriously linked no matter how far apart they are—presents a long-standing challenge in the physical world, particularly in understanding its behavior within complex quantum systems.

A research team from the Department of Physics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and their collaborators have recently developed a novel algorithm in quantum physics known as ‘entanglement microscopy’ that enables visualization and mapping of this extraordinary phenomenon at a microscopic scale.

By zooming in on the intricate interactions of entangled particles, one can uncover the hidden structures of quantum matter, revealing insights that could transform technology and deepen the understanding of the universe.

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Summary: A new study has identified three psychological profiles that influence brain health, cognitive decline, and dementia risk in aging adults. Profiles with high protective traits, like purpose and openness, show better cognition and brain integrity, while those with low protective traits or high negative traits face accelerated brain atrophy and mental health issues.

Researchers emphasize comprehensive psychological assessments to tailor interventions, like therapies that enhance life purpose or reduce distress symptoms. These findings pave the way for personalized strategies to prevent cognitive decline and support brain health in adulthood and aging.

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Summary: A comprehensive study mapped neuronal IL-1R1 (nIL-1R1) expression in the mouse brain, highlighting its role in sensory processing, mood, and memory regulation. Researchers found that neurons expressing IL-1R1 integrate immune and neural signals, revealing connections between inflammation and brain disorders like depression and anxiety.

The study pinpointed key regions, such as the somatosensory cortex and hippocampus, where IL-1 signaling influences synapse organization and neural circuit modulation. Notably, neuronal IL-1R1 modifies synaptic pathways without triggering inflammation, suggesting distinct functions in the central nervous system.

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Emily Simpson has loved space since she was a 10-year-old kid celebrating her birthday at a planetarium. Now a recent Florida Tech graduate, she leaves with not only a dual degree in planetary science and astronomy and astrophysics but with published research, too. She mapped our solar system’s “alternate fate” had it housed an extra planet between Mars and Jupiter instead of the existing asteroid belt.

Simpson’s paper, “How might a planet between Mars and Jupiter influence the inner solar system? Effects on , obliquity, and eccentricity,” was published in Icarus, a journal devoted to the publication of research around solar system studies. It was co-authored by her advisor, assistant professor of Howard Chen.

They developed a 3D model that simulates how the solar system’s orbital architecture may have evolved differently with the formation of a planet that is at least twice the size of Earth’s mass—a super-Earth—instead of an asteroid belt.

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Physicists turn to supercomputers to help build a 3D picture of the structures of protons and neutrons.

A team of scientists has made exciting advances in mapping the internal components of hadrons. They employed complex quantum chromodynamics and supercomputer simulations to explore how quarks and gluons interact within protons, aiming to unravel mysteries like the proton’s spin and internal energy distribution.

Unveiling the Parton Landscape.

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Galaxies are not islands in the cosmos. While globally the universe expands—driven by the mysterious “dark energy”—locally, galaxies cluster through gravitational interactions, forming the cosmic web held together by dark matter’s gravity. For cosmologists, galaxies are test particles to study gravity, dark matter and dark energy.

For the first time, MPA researchers and alumni have now used a novel method that fully exploits all information in galaxy maps and applied it to simulated but realistic datasets. Their study demonstrates that this new method will provide a much more stringent test of the cosmological standard model, and has the potential to shed new light on gravity and the dark universe.

From tiny fluctuations in the primordial universe, the vast cosmic web emerged: galaxies and form at the peaks of (over)dense regions, connected by cosmic filaments with empty voids in between. Today, millions of galaxies sit across the cosmic web. Large galaxy surveys map those galaxies to trace the underlying spatial matter distribution and track their growth or temporal evolution.

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Super-resolution (SR) technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of images. SR reconstruction aims to generate high-resolution images from low-resolution ones. Traditional methods often result in blurred or distorted images. Advanced techniques such as sparse representation and deep learning-based methods have shown promising results but still face limitations in terms of noise robustness and computational complexity.

In a recent study published in Sensors, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed innovative solutions that integrate chaotic mapping into SR image process, significantly enhancing the image quality across various fields.

Researchers innovatively introduced circle chaotic mapping into the dictionary sequence solving process of the K-singular value decomposition (K-SVD) dictionary update . This integration facilitated balanced traversal and simplified the search for global optimal solutions, thereby enhancing the noise robustness of the SR reconstruction.

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NASA and SpaceX have rescheduled the launch of the IMAP spacecraft to September 2025 to allow more time for preparing its flight systems.

The mission will explore the heliosphere to understand the Sun’s protective bubble and its effects on space weather and life. Accompanying IMAP are two rideshare missions: the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAAs Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1, which will study Earth’s outer atmosphere and monitor solar activity, respectively. All three spacecraft will operate from Lagrange point 1 to efficiently monitor space conditions.

IMAP launch delay and mission overview.

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