GoKawiil
Tech News
A Nature study led by Columbia chemist Wei Min found that polystyrene microplastics are not chemically inert when placed in water, instead generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) at their water-contact surface. In lab tests, polystyrene powder stirred into a water-based dye solution broke down nearly 90 percent of the dye over 10 days, an effect that did not occur in non-water solvents like ethanol.
Researchers at Monash University gave 62 psychedelic-naive volunteers 19 milligrams of psilocybin and scanned their brains using MRI and EEG while they rested, meditated, listened to music, and watched cloud videos. Using AI analysis, the team, led by neuroscientist Devon Stoliker, found that brain activity under the drug followed patterns rather than being purely disordered, as previously assumed.
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine identified a small population of cortical inhibitory neurons, called Sst-Chodl cells, that make up about one percent of the cortex's inhibitory neurons. Activating these cells in mice was enough to induce sleep, showing the cortex itself can generate slow-wave sleep rhythms rather than merely responding to signals from deeper brain regions. The team spent years developing a genetic labeling method precise enough to isolate this rare cell type from more abundant, similar neurons.
A new Nature study by Egan, Bisbee and Tucker surveyed US voters and found that 4.9% of white adults overall, and 13.5% of young white men specifically, agreed with statements framing demographic change as an existential threat to their race and endorsing white cultural superiority. The researchers argue this trend deserves as much scrutiny as the widely discussed rightward political shift among Latino voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.