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1. Observation of Dicke cooperativity in magnetic interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat5162  

   Li, Xinwei; Bamba, Motoaki; Yuan, Ning; Zhang, Qi; Zhao, Yage; Xiang, Maolin; Xu, Kai; Jin, Zuanming; Ren, Wei; Ma, Guohong; et al (August 2018, Science)

   Cooperative quantum magnetism One of the earliest and most intensively studied problems in quantum optics is the interaction of a two-level system (an atom) with a single photon. This simple system provides a rich platform for exploring exotic light-matter interactions and the emergence of more complex phenomena such as superradiance, which is a cooperative effect that emerges when the density of atoms is increased and coupling between them is enhanced. Going beyond the light-matter system, Liet al.observed analogous cooperative effects for coupled magnetic systems. The results suggest that ideas in quantum optics could be carried over and used to control and predict exotic phases in condensed matter systems. Science, this issue p.794 

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2. Boundary condition of grounding lines prior to collapse, Larsen-B Ice Shelf, Antarctica

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256697  

   Rebesco, M; Domack, E; Zgur, F; Lavoie, C; Leventer, A; Brachfeld, S; Willmott, V; Halverson, G; Truffer, M; Scambos, T; et al (September 2014, Science)

   Top-down rather than bottom-up change The Larsen-B Ice Shelf in Antarctica collapsed in 2002 because of a regional increase in surface temperature. This finding, reported by Rebescoet al., will surprise many who supposed that the shelf's disintegration probably occurred because of thinning of the ice shelf and the resulting loss of support by the sea floor beneath it. The authors mapped the sea floor beneath the ice shelf before it fell apart, which revealed that the modern ice sheet grounding line was established around 12,000 years ago and has since remained unchanged. If the ice shelf did not collapse because of thinning from below, then it must have been caused by warming from above. Science, this issue p.1354 

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3. A systematic evaluation of the language-of-viral-escape model using multiple machine learning frameworks

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0598  

   Allman, Brent E; Vieira, Luiz; Diaz, Daniel J; Wilke, Claus O (April 2025, Journal of The Royal Society Interface)

   Predicting the evolutionary patterns of emerging and endemic viruses is key for mitigating their spread. In particular, it is critical to rapidly identify mutations with the potential for immune escape or increased disease burden. Knowing which circulating mutations pose a concern can inform treatment or mitigation strategies such as alternative vaccines or targeted social distancing. In 2021, Hie B, Zhong ED, Berger B, Bryson B. 2021 Learning the language of viral evolution and escape.Science371, 284–288. (doi:10.1126/science.abd7331) proposed that variants of concern can be identified using two quantities extracted from protein language models, grammaticality and semantic change. These quantities are defined by analogy to concepts from natural language processing. Grammaticality is intended to be a measure of whether a variant viral protein is viable, and semantic change is intended to be a measure of potential for immune escape. Here, we systematically test this hypothesis, taking advantage of several high-throughput datasets that have become available, and also comparing this model with several more recently published machine learning models. We find that grammaticality can be a measure of protein viability, though methods that are trained explicitly to predict mutational effects appear to be more effective. By contrast, we do not find compelling evidence that semantic change is a useful tool for identifying immune escape mutations. 

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4. Neuromodulation and differential learning across mosquito species

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.2118  

   Wolff, Gabriella H.; Lahondère, Chloé; Vinauger, Clément; Rylance, Elizabeth; Riffell, Jeffrey A. (January 2023, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   Mosquitoes can change their feeding behaviours based on past experiences, such as shifting from biting animals to biting humans or avoiding defensive hosts (Wolff & Riffell 2018J. Exp. Biol.221, jeb157131. (doi:10.1242/jeb.157131)). Dopamine is a critical neuromodulator for insects, allowing flexibility in their feeding preferences, but its role in the primary olfactory centre, the antennal lobe (AL), remains unclear (Vinaugeret al.2018Curr. Biol.28, 333–344.e8. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.015)). It is also unknown whether mosquitoes can learn some odours and not others, or whether different species learn the same odour cues. We assayed aversive olfactory learning in four mosquito species with different host preferences, and found that they differentially learn odours salient to their preferred host. Mosquitoes that prefer humans learned odours found in mammalian skin, but not a flower odour, and a nectar-feeding species only learned a floral odour. Comparing the brains of these four species revealed significantly different innervation patterns in the AL by dopaminergic neurons. Calcium imaging in theAedes aegyptiAL and three-dimensional image analyses of dopaminergic innervation show that glomeruli tuned to learnable odours have significantly higher dopaminergic innervation. Changes in dopamine expression in the insect AL may be an evolutionary mechanism to adapt olfactory learning circuitry without changing brain structure and confer to mosquitoes an ability to adapt to new hosts. 

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5. Syntrophotalea acetylenivorans sp. nov., a diazotrophic, acetylenotrophic anaerobe isolated from intertidal sediments

   https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.004698  

   Baesman, Shaun M; Sutton, John M; Fierst, Janna L; Akob, Denise M; Oremland, Ronald S (June 2019, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology)

   A Gram-stain-negative, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated SFB93^T, was isolated from the intertidal sediments of South San Francisco Bay, located near Palo Alto, CA, USA. SFB93^Twas capable of acetylenotrophic and diazotrophic growth, grew at 22–37 °C, pH 6.3–8.5 and in the presence of 10–45 g l⁻¹NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that SFB93^Trepresented a member of the genusSyntrophotaleawith highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities toSyntrophotalea acetylenicaDSM 3246^T(96.6 %),Syntrophotalea carbinolicaDSM 2380^T(96.5 %), andSyntrophotalea venetianaDSM 2394^T(96.7 %). Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 3.22 Mbp and a DNA G+C content of 53.4 %. SFB93^Thad low genome-wide average nucleotide identity (81–87.5 %) and <70 % digital DNA–DNA hybridization value with other members of the genusSyntrophotalea. The phylogenetic position of SFB93^Twithin the familySyntrophotaleaceaeand as a novel member of the genusSyntrophotaleawas confirmed via phylogenetic reconstruction based on concatenated alignments of 92 bacterial core genes. On the basis of the results of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, a novel species,Syntrophotalea acetylenivoranssp. nov., is proposed, with SFB93^T(=DSM 106009^T=JCM 33327^T=ATCC TSD-118^T) as the type strain. 

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