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Based on simulations, researchers report that the next big earthquake along the San Andreas fault is unlikely to resemble previous quakes. Researchers at the intersection of algebra, geometry, particle physics and cosmology are making headway in describing the shape of the universe. And common food thickeners based on derivatives of cellulose don't just pass through your digestive tract as previously believed—gut bacteria are able to feed on them.

Additionally, a biological computer sheds light on neural adaptivity; astronomers observed what may be an entirely new category of supernova; and researchers quantified the risk of depression among a large cohort of vitiligo patients.

Brains beat algorithms

A conducted using the world's first commercial biological computer establishes that brain cells learn and reorganize more quickly and effectively than machine learning. The Australian startup Cortical Labs used DishBrain, which interfaces live neural cultures with multi-electrode arrays, to compare biological neurological adaptivity to machine learning. The researchers found a way to distinguish between "rest" and "gameplay" conditions to compare learning efficiency in a Pong simulation.

Moein Khajehnejad at Cortical Labs says, "By converting high-dimensional spiking activity into interpretable, low-dimensional representations, we were able to uncover the internal plasticity and network reconfiguration patterns that accompany learning in biological neural cultures. These were not just statistical differences; they were real, functional reorganizations that paralleled improvements in task performance over time." The researchers believe the study establishes biological computing as an ideal platform for tasks that the brain evolved to perform.

Don't eat anything with a Schwarzschild radius > 30 kilometers

A strange explosion 730 million light-years from Earth observed in July 2023 has resulted in a new supernova model in which a massive star dies in the attempt to eat a companion black hole. Researchers using the Zwicky Transient Facility spotted the supernova using an AI algorithm that scans for unusual explosions in real time, which allowed them to begin immediate follow-up observation with a large number of telescopes.

They believe that the massive star had a companion black hole; as their mutual orbit lost energy, their proximity gradually closed until the star's gravitational stress triggered the supernova. Alexander Gagliano, lead author of the study, said, "Our analysis shows that the blast was sparked by a catastrophic encounter with a black hole companion, and is the strongest evidence to date that such close interactions can actually detonate a star."

They also propose an alternative explanation in which the black hole shredded the star before it could explode; the observed emissions in that case would have been generated by the stellar debris crashing into the gas surrounding the pair.

Depression risk among vitiligo patients

Vitiligo is a distressing autoimmune skin disease characterized by loss of melanocytes and pigmentation, resulting in the appearance of depigmented patches on the skin. The psychosocial impacts of the condition include diminished self-esteem, stigmatization and an increased risk of depression. The risk of vitiligo is higher among Black and Hispanic patients.

A evaluates depression risk across racial and ethnic groups using data from the NIH that included 1,087 patients with vitiligo and 5,435 without vitiligo. Having vitiligo was associated with an overall increased risk of depression; Black patients with vitiligo had more than twice the risk of depression than Black patients without vitiligo. Risk was also elevated among non-Hispanic and Asian patients with the condition. The authors suggest the further integration of dermatology and psychiatric collaborative care models to address the differences.