China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter caught a rare glimpse of 3I/ATLAS as it swept past Mars, revealing the hazy coma and tail of a comet born beyond our solar system. The interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS just flew past Mars, and China’s Tianwen-1 mission managed to snap some pics with its high-resolution camera. According to the China [...]In a groundbreaking advance in neuroscience, researchers have unveiled a comprehensive single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas that illuminates the sexually dimorphic molecular responses to sub-chronic variable stress within the mouse hippocampus. This pioneering study, led by Liang et al., harnesses the power of cutting-edge single-nucleus RNA sequencing technologies to dissect the intricate cellular and molecular landscapes underlying stress responses, offering unprecedented insight into the neurobiological basis of sex differences in stress adaptability and vulnerability.
The hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory formation, emotional regulation, and cognitive processing, has long been implicated in the pathophysiology of stress-related psychiatric disorders. However, the molecular substrate accounting for sex-specific disparities in stress sensitivity and resilience has remained elusive. The current research fills this gap by providing a high-resolution snapshot of gene expression changes at the single-nucleus level, enabling dissection of cell-type specific transcriptional signatures modulated by sub-chronic variable stress paradigms in male and female mice.
The investigation employed a sub-chronic variable stress model designed to mimic real-world fluctuating stress exposures that are neither acute nor chronic, thereby reflecting a more physiologically relevant stress induction. This paradigm is instrumental in evoking complex behavioral and molecular responses that differ substantially between the sexes. By isolating nuclei from hippocampal tissue and applying state-of-the-art transcriptomic profiling, the researchers cataloged thousands of genes whose expression fluctuated in a sexually dimorphic manner.
At the core of these findings is the revelation that hippocampal cell populations, including excitatory neurons, inhibitory interneurons, astrocytes, and microglia, exhibit distinctive sex-dependent molecular trajectories when subjected to sub-chronic variable stress. Particularly striking were variations in stress-responsive gene modules tied to synaptic plasticity, neuroinflammatory pathways, and metabolic processes. These alterations underscore the molecular heterogeneity underpinning sex-based divergence in stress processing circuits.
The authors report that male hippocampal neurons predominantly engaged transcriptional programs involved in synaptic remodeling and excitability alterations, potentially reflecting an adaptive mechanism to maintain cognitive performance under stress. Contrastingly, female neurons showed a marked upregulation of immune signaling pathways and genes involved in neuroprotection, suggestive of a distinct protective strategy.
Astrocytes and microglia, glial cell types classically associated with support and immune surveillance, also displayed sexually dimorphic patterns. Female glial populations exhibited heightened activation of inflammatory mediators, coalescing with behavioral phenotypes indicative of anxiety and depressive-like states observed in females exposed to stress. These findings align with emerging knowledge of glia as pivotal modulators of neuropsychiatric disease pathogenesis potentially shaped by sex-specific factors.
Crucially, this granular atlas extends beyond cataloguing differential gene expression by integrating network analyses that map transcription factor activity and gene regulatory circuitry. This approach elucidates the upstream modulators orchestrating the sexually dimorphic stress responses, revealing candidate molecular targets such as estrogen receptor signaling components and stress-related transcription factors that could be harnessed therapeutically.
The study’s methodology represents a formidable technical achievement. By leveraging single-nucleus RNA sequencing instead of single-cell RNA sequencing, the researchers circumvented concerns related to dissociation-induced gene expression artifacts and preserved fragile neuronal subtypes, ensuring greater fidelity in the data. The depth and breadth of sequencing data permitted rigorous statistical comparisons and the identification of subtle yet biologically meaningful transcriptional differences.
Beyond its technical sophistication, this work engages with a pressing clinical imperative—understanding why psychiatric disorders with stress etiologies, such as depression and anxiety, often exhibit a striking sex bias in prevalence and manifestation. The molecular insights gleaned provide a scaffold upon which sex-specific therapeutic interventions might be designed, moving towards precision psychiatry that acknowledges biological sex as a fundamental axis of disease heterogeneity.
Moreover, the open-access single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas generated by this team constitutes a valuable resource for the neuroscience community. It is poised to catalyze further research into sex differences across other brain regions and in response to diverse environmental challenges, ultimately enriching our comprehension of brain plasticity and resilience at a molecular level.
The implications of these findings also extend to the realm of pharmacology, where sex-specific gene expression patterns may inform drug development and dosing regimens. Given the differential engagement of neuroimmune pathways in females, immunomodulatory agents could emerge as promising candidates for mitigating stress-induced neuropathology in women.
In sum, this tour de force study offers a transformative perspective on the molecular architecture of sex-dependent responses to stress, advancing our grasp of the biological underpinnings that differentiate male and female brain function under adverse conditions. As the field embraces increasingly granular analytical frameworks like single-nucleus transcriptomics, the promise of nuanced, sex-informed neuropsychiatric therapies draws closer to fruition.
The intersection of cutting-edge omics technologies with nuanced behavioral models as exemplified in this research heralds a new era in neurobiology. It underscores the imperative of integrating sex as a fundamental biological variable in neuroscience research—a paradigm shift that will ultimately enhance therapeutic precision and efficacy for a wide spectrum of stress-related mental health disorders.
Looking ahead, longitudinal studies tracking dynamic transcriptional changes over varied stress exposure timelines, coupled with functional validations of key gene candidates, will be essential to translate these foundational findings into clinical advances. Additionally, cross-species comparisons may help bridge the gap between murine models and human neurobiology, reinforcing the translational potential of this seminal work.
In conclusion, Liang and colleagues have charted a compelling course towards elucidating the sexually dimorphic molecular landscapes that shape hippocampal responses to stress. Their innovative single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas not only embodies a technical tour de force but also catalyzes a paradigm shift in understanding how sex shapes brain vulnerability and resilience, holding profound implications for neuroscience and mental health alike.
Subject of Research: Sexually dimorphic molecular responses to sub-chronic variable stress in the mouse hippocampus characterized by single-nucleus transcriptomic analysis.
Article Title: Single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of sexually dimorphic molecular responses to sub-chronic variable stress in the mouse hippocampus.
Article References:
Liang, L., Yuan, Yp., Chang, Cl. et al. Single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of sexually dimorphic molecular responses to sub-chronic variable stress in the mouse hippocampus. Transl Psychiatry (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04202-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
O “forasteiro” 3I/ATLAS terá sido criado há 10 mil milhões de anos ou mais, segundo os dados reunidos com a ajuda do telescópio James Webb. A descoberta pode levar a perceber se as condições que permitiram o surgimento da vida na Terra existem noutros locais do Universo.
The post 3I/ATLAS: Cometa interestelar mais antigo alguma vez estudado pode ter nascido antes do Sol appeared first on Tek Notícias.
A process called ‘hot bottom burning’ helped scientists determine the age of 3I/ATLAS.
The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS carries a chemical fingerprint unlike anything in our Solar System, and it may have formed 10 to 12 billion years ago, before our Sun even existed, according to two papers published in the journal Nature.
The post Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed Up To 12 Billion Years Ago, New Observations Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Newly published research made possible by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed surprising insights into the mysterious interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
The findings, which stem from observations of the space visitor as it was leaving our Solar System months ago, reveal new clues to the ancient object’s origins, thanks to detailed new measurements of its chemistry.
Following its trip around the Sun late last year, 3I/ATLAS had been significantly warmed, causing a large amount of its icy exterior to be converted into a cloudy coma. This not only made the comet more visible but also provided Webb an ideal opportunity to collect spectrographic data that could offer important information about its chemical composition.
The Webb data, which was detailed in a recent study, indicates chemical ratios of carbon and deuterium emanating from the object that are very unlike those of comets found within our solar system.
The compelling new findings, according to NASA officials, “surprised researchers.” Here’s why.
Fundamentally, the recent Webb observations provided astronomers with one of their best opportunities to observe information about the comet’s possible origins throughout the duration of its visit to our Solar System last year.
Martin Cordiner, an astro-chemist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, called the observations “a unique opportunity to study an ancient object from the distant galaxy, probably pre-dating our Sun and solar system.”
Cordiner, who was also the lead author of the recent Nature study, said that the data he and his co-authors were able to obtain helped to provide “direct insight into that distant time and place” from which 3I/ATLAS originates, while also providing new insights into “how unusual our own solar system may be.”
Understandably, the Webb telescope is in high demand, and Cordiner and his team had to interrupt the space observatory’s planned schedule to turn its powerful eye toward 3I/ATLAS as it made its exit.
Cordiner and the research team joined astronomers from many sub-disciplines in taking the opportunity to get a look at 3I/ATLAS on its journey through the solar system, which relied primarily on Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument.
As previously reported by The Debrief, the telescope’s NIRSpec instrument revealed “exceptionally high” levels of deuterium—also known as “heavy hydrogen”—amounting to nearly 30 times the amount normally seen in comets within our solar system.
One thing this probably indicates is that early in its lifetime, 3I/ATLAS was likely exposed to large amounts of radiation, which gave rise to the deuterium-rich ice in its composition. However, after drifting through space for eons without coming into proximity to a star like our Sun, there were no opportunities for this “heavy water” to be converted back into the typical kind of H20 water common on our planet.
Another primary finding Cordiner and the team made is that NIRSpec data revealed only small amounts of carbon-13, as opposed to its lighter counterpart, carbon-12. Since carbon-13 enrichment is known to occur within stellar systems over time, the team interprets this as evidence for the extreme age of 3I/ATLAS, which could have origins going as far back as an astonishing 12 billion years ago.
This would place the interstellar object’s birth within the period astronomers identify as “cosmic noon,” during which our universe was undergoing its peak period in star formation. Additionally, separate observations involving the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope help to affirm the recent Webb findings, along with complementary insights into the ancient comet’s carbon content, as well as nitrogen present in the form of cyanide, revealed from recent spectrographic analysis.
“For us as scientists, finding these rare isotopes is fascinating, but the bigger picture here is looking at the possibilities of prebiotic chemistry elsewhere in the galaxy,” said Stefanie Milam, one of the recent study’s co-authors, and also a researcher at NASA Goddard, in a recent statement.
Fundamentally, what the latest data on 3I/ATLAS conveys is more than just a rare look at a cosmic voyager who briefly entered our Solar System—it is a potential glimpse at how the very building blocks of life could have made their way into our planetary neighborhood long ago, eventually arriving here on Earth.
“So far, we know of only one place in the vast cosmos where chemical ingredients led to life – our solar system, our Earth,” Milam recently said.
“Analysis of these interstellar objects is a major step towards learning how common, or uncommon, the conditions for the evolution of life are in the universe,” Milam added.
The team’s recent study, “Isotopic evidence for a cold and distant origin of 3I/ATLAS,” appeared in the journal Nature on June 22, 2026.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
The most recent interstellar visitor was crisscrossing our galaxy for some 10 to 12 billion years before it came near the Sun.
The post Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Has Cold, Ancient Origins appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Using the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array, a 42-element radio interferometer at Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Hat Creek, California, astronomers probed 3I/ATLAS for artificial radio transmissions but found only human-made interference.
The post Astronomers Scan Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS for Alien Radio Signals appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Astronomers from around the world were fascinated last year when 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our Solar System, was discovered.
The SETI Institute was one of the many organizations that examined the unusual interstellar object, conducting a comprehensive search for any signs that it might be producing technological signals.
Using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California, SETI researchers scanned a broad range of radio frequencies in search of potential evidence of extraterrestrial technology associated with 3I/ATLAS. The data that came back was clear: no signs of artificial signals. As most astronomers expected, 3I/ATLAS is most likely a natural comet.
Observations of interstellar objects have become more common in recent years, due to advances in telescopic technologies available to astronomers. Discovered last July, 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor to enter our Solar System, preceded by 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017, and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
These rare discoveries help astronomers understand the materials in our cosmic backyard. By analyzing the composition of these objects, scientists can gain a deeper understanding of how planetary systems develop and evolve throughout the galaxy.
The majority of recent astronomical observations indicate that 3I/ATLAS is a natural object, albeit one that exhibited some unusual qualities. However, the possibility remains that we may one day find a technological artifact from an intelligent civilization; it is equally possible that at some point, aliens may also discover a spacecraft of Earthly origin.
“Eventually, our own Voyager spacecraft will be extraterrestrial artifacts in other stellar systems,” Sheik told The Debrief. “Given that, it is important that we understand the natural distribution of interstellar objects so that we will be able to identify any anomalies that could one day be signs of an artificial interstellar object.”
The SETI research team studied 3I/ATLAS for over seven hours using the ATA, searching radio frequencies from 1 to 9 gigahertz. This range is especially important because it can detect narrowband radio signals, which are rarely produced by natural space phenomena and are often considered possible signs of technological activity.
Researchers found 74 million narrowband signals, but after filtering out human interference and motion-matched sources, only about 200 remained. These were later confirmed to come entirely from Earth-based technology or satellites.
“To be clear, we did not detect any radio signals from 3I/ATLAS. We ruled out the presence of signals down to power levels comparable with everyday appliances: for example, we definitely would have picked up a cell tower or a radio station equivalent had it been on the surface of 3I/ATLAS,” Sheik said.
In other words, no technosignatures were detected. The SETI observation ruled out signals stronger than approximately 10 to 110 watts across the observed frequencies (comparable to the power consumption of a household appliance).
For a time, there was a considerable amount of speculation over whether 3I/ATLAS could represent something more than just a natural object. Among the proponents of such ideas, theoretical physicist Avi Loeb emerged as one of the most visible supporters of the possibility that the interstellar object displayed anomalous qualities that could point to technological origins.
Last July, shortly after the object’s discovery, Loeb predicted on his Medium page that 3I/ATLAS may be one of two things: a comet possessing a smaller core with a radius less than 400 meters, or “an object that favored a radial orbit into the inner solar system,” meaning that it may also be a larger object compared to its predecessors. Indeed, further observations of the object eventually suggested that 3I/ATLAS appears to be significantly larger than ‘Oumuamua or Borisov was.
Loeb also suggested in a podcast interview that 3I/ATLAS might not be following a random trajectory, but rather that its current motion could be understood as “directed” toward the inner solar system.
“That obviously opens the door for it being technological, because who would target the inner solar system?” said Loeb during an interview.
In an email to The Debrief, Loeb shared his thoughts on the recent SETI findings.
“Radio communication is an old technology, which was recently accompanied by optical laser communication in NASA’s Artemis II mission to the Moon,” Loeb said. “Lasers might replace radio communication in our future space missions, and there is no guarantee that they would operate at the frequencies scanned in this study.”
“To save power, a technological transmitter might beam its signal in the direction of the receiver (rather than Earth) and might only transmit sporadically,” Loeb added.
Last September, Loeb also looked at another fairly remote possibility: that the famous “Wow!” signal might be somehow related to 3I/ATLAS.
“Interestingly, the anomalous ‘Wow! Signal’ detected on August 15, 1977, came from a direction which is separated by only 9 degrees from the arrival direction of 3I/ATLAS into the inner Solar System, but a similar signal was never detected again,” Loeb told The Debrief.
For Sheik and the team, while 3I/ATLAS did not display any obvious signatures that could be associated with technosignatures, it still provided a significant learning opportunity.
“The results from 3I/ATLAS show how realistic it is to detect a signal with the technology we have today,” said co-author Valeria Garcia Lopez. “That is why it is important to keep searching for technosignatures, even from objects we might not expect to have signals.”
Additionally, this project highlighted the ATA’s ability to respond quickly to new discoveries. Observations began less than 24 hours after the discovery of 3I/ATLAS was announced, showcasing the telescope’s flexibility and preparedness.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.
Deep underground, on the border between Switzerland and France, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is starting back up again after a 4 year hiatus. Today, July 5th, the LHC had its first full energy collisions since 2018. Whenever the LHC is running is exciting enough on its own, but this new run of data taking will also feature several upgrades to the LHC itself as well as the several different experiments that make use of its collisions. The physics world will be watching to see if the data from this new run confirms any of the interesting anomalies seen in previous datasets or reveals any other unexpected discoveries.
During the multi-year shutdown the LHC itself has been upgraded. Noticably the energy of the colliding beams has been increased, from 13 TeV to 13.6 TeV. Besides breaking its own record for the highest energy collisions every produced, this 5% increase to the LHC’s energy will give a boost to searches looking for very rare high energy phenomena. The rate of collisions the LHC produces is also expected to be roughly 50% higher previous maximum achieved in previous runs. At the end of this three year run it is expected that the experiments will have collected twice as much data as the previous two runs combined.
The experiments have also been busy upgrading their detectors to take full advantage of this new round of collisions.
The ALICE experiment had the most substantial upgrade. It features a new silicon inner tracker, an upgraded time projection chamber, a new forward muon detector, a new triggering system and an improved data processing system. These upgrades will help in its study of exotic phase of matter called the quark gluon plasma, a hot dense soup of nuclear material present in the early universe.
ATLAS and CMS, the two ‘general purpose’ experiments at the LHC, had a few upgrades as well. ATLAS replaced their ‘small wheel’ detector used to measure the momentum of muons. CMS replaced the inner most part its inner tracker, and installed a new GEM detector to measure muons close to the beamline. Both experiments also upgraded their software and data collection systems (triggers) in order to be more sensitive to the signatures of potential exotic particles that may have been missed in previous runs.
The LHCb experiment, which specializes in studying the properties of the bottom quark, also had major upgrades during the shutdown. LHCb installed a new Vertex Locator closer to the beam line and upgraded their tracking and particle identification system. It also fully revamped its trigger system to run entirely on GPU’s. These upgrades should allow them to collect 5 times the amount of data over the next two runs as they did over the first two.
Run 3 will also feature a new smaller scale experiment, FASER, which will study neutrinos produced in the LHC and search for long-lived new particles.
One of the main goals in particle physics now is direct experimental evidence of a phenomena unexplained by the Standard Model. While very successful in many respects, the Standard Model leaves several mysteries unexplained such as the nature of dark matter, the imbalance of matter over anti-matter, and the origin of neutrino’s mass. All of these are questions many hope that the LHC can help answer.
Much of the excitement for Run-3 of the LHC will be on whether the additional data can confirm some of the deviations from the Standard Model which have been seen in previous runs.
One very hot topic in particle physics right now are a series of ‘flavor anomalies‘ seen by the LHCb experiment in previous LHC runs. These anomalies are deviations from the Standard Model predictions of how often certain rare decays of the b quarks should occur. With their dataset so far, LHCb has not yet had enough data to pass the high statistical threshold required in particle physics to claim a discovery. But if these anomalies are real, Run-3 should provide enough data to claim a discovery.
There are also a decent number ‘excesses’, potential signals of new particles being produced in LHC collisions, that have been seen by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations. The statistical significance of these excesses are all still quite low, and many such excesses have gone away with more data. But if one or more of these excesses was confirmed in the Run-3 dataset it would be a massive discovery.
While all of these anomalies are gamble, this new dataset will also certainly be used to measure various known entities with better precision, improving our understanding of nature no matter what. Our understanding of the Higgs boson, the top quark, rare decays of the bottom quark, rare standard model processes, the dynamics of the quark gluon plasma and many other areas will no doubt improve from this additional data.
In addition to these ‘known’ anomalies and measurements, whenever an experiment starts up again there is also the possibility of something entirely unexpected showing up. Perhaps one of the upgrades performed will allow the detection of something entirely new, unseen in previous runs. Perhaps FASER will see signals of long-lived particles missed by the other experiments. Or perhaps the data from the main experiments will be analyzed in a new way, revealing evidence of a new particle which had been missed up until now.
No matter what happens, the world of particle physics is a more exciting place when the LHC is running. So lets all cheers to that!
Read More:
CERN Run-3 Press Event / Livestream Recording “Join us for the first collisions for physics at 13.6 TeV!“
Symmetry Magazine “What’s new for LHC Run 3?”
CERN Courier “New data strengthens RK flavour anomaly“
Using the spectral data from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected methane on 3I/ATLAS.
The post Webb Detects Methane on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Entre proezas acrobáticas e demonstrações de força em preparação para o trabalho em fábricas, o robot Atlas da Boston Dynamics também tem tempo para dar uns toques na bola e para aprender a ser um craque no futebol.
The post Robot Atlas prepara-se para o Mundial e mostra como treina para ser um craque no futebol appeared first on Tek Notícias.
Physicists with the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have observed the Bc*+ meson, an excited version of the Bc+ meson -- both consist of a charm quark and a bottom antiquark.
The post CERN Physicists Observe New Exotic Particle appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
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