First video of immune cells eating live skin cancer in real time

Macrophages (green) engulfing melanoma cells (purple). Keith et al. / Garvan Institute, CC BY-SA Yuki Keith, Garvan Institute and Tri Phan, Garvan Institute

For the past 15 years or so, a class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors have been used to treat melanoma – the most dangerous kind of skin cancer.

For many patients, they produce remarkable results. For others, they do nothing.

We still don’t really know why. But in new research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, we observed immune cells called macrophages attacking melanoma cells in real time – which may offer clues about how we can make those therapies work for all patients, not just some.

Tumours, hot and cold

One of us (Yuki) treated patients with melanoma in Japan as a dermatologist. The other (Tri Phan) runs a lab at the Garvan Institute in Sydney, where his team specialises in observing the cells of the immune system in real time.

When Yuki wanted to understand why immune checkpoint inhibitors were failing for many patients, she joined Tri Phan’s lab to continue her research.

The treatment fails in what oncologists call “cold” tumours, where the cancer’s environment actively prevents a kind of immune cell called a T cell attacking it. One of our lab’s aims is trying to work out how to make the tumours “hot”, allowing T cells to penetrate and destroy the cancer cells.

Our new findings suggest a different kind of immune cell, called macrophages, may hold the key.

Macrophages (green) engulfing melanoma cells (purple). Yuki Keith, CC BY

The housekeepers we’ve been ignoring

In 1908, Russian zoologist Ilya Mechnikov was awarded a Nobel Prize for the discovery of phagocytosis (“cell eating”) in the immune system, which is carried out by cells he called macrophages (from the Greek for “big eaters”).

These cells engulf and clear away the debris caused by tissue damage and cell death. They are often regarded as the body’s silent, no-fuss housekeepers.

However, their role in cancer has often been overlooked. Unlike other immune cells that move through the blood and patrol the whole body, macrophages are “tissue-resident” and stay in one place.

A microscopic view of a melanoma tumour growing in the skin shows CD169 macrophages in green and yellow forming a biological boundary wall around the tumour. Keith et al. / Garvan Institute, CC BY

Earlier studies of the role of macrophages in cancer assumed these housekeepers were all the same. But when we looked closely in the skin, it became clear that there were many different kinds of macrophages living in different layers.

One particular kind of macrophages (recognised by a protein called CD169) lives in a deeper part of the skin, called the hypodermis.

We found that these macrophages arranged themselves around the edges of a melanoma tumour, as if they were trying to wall it off. When we depleted the macrophages, the melanomas grew bigger, suggesting they were constraining the growth of the tumours.

Watching cancer cells being eaten alive

To understand what these CD169-positive macrophages were actually doing, we used an advanced imaging technique called intravital two-photon microscopy. This allows us to watch biological processes unfold in living tissue in real time.

What we saw was surprising: the macrophages were “nibbling” and actively engulfing live melanoma cells. While we had seen macrophages eat dead cells in our lab before, we had never seen them eat a live melanoma cell in a model organism.

What was even more surprising was that this immune attack was happening without the need for T cells, or antibodies made by another kind of immune cell called B cells – the immune players most commonly credited with fighting cancer.

We also confirmed this is not something that just happens in the lab. Our colleagues at the Melanoma Institute Australia analysed samples from human melanoma patients and found similar populations of CD169-expressing macrophages on the edges of the tumour, suggesting they may play a similar protective role there.

Calling in the cavalry – implications for therapies

Macrophages don’t just clear away debris. They can also alert the immune system to danger. After they have digested the debris, they can display it like a biological “red flag” to direct T cells to find and kill the cancer cells.

What makes a macrophage decide whether to silently dispose of debris without alerting the immune system, or wave the red flags to activate the immune system, is still unclear. Because the CD169-expressing macrophages are strategically positioned around the tumours, we suspect they may hold the key.

Macrophages are widespread in most solid tumours – including glioblastoma, breast cancer and many others. This is an army already in place waiting to be mobilised.

Our next step is to understand precisely how these macrophages eat live cancer cells and how they can communicate the danger to T cells, so we can harness this population with new treatments.

Yuki Keith, Postdoctoral Researcher, Immunology, Garvan Institute and Tri Phan, Program Director – Precision Immunology / Laboratory Head, Garvan Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→May 27, 2026

Curious Kids: if our eyes see upside down, how does the brain flip the picture?

Daniel Joyce, University of Southern Queensland

I heard that we see upside down, but our brain flips the image. How does it do that?

–Jasmine, Mount Evelyn, Victoria

Our eyes work thanks to light. Objects we can see are either sources of light themselves – like a candle or a phone screen – or light bounces off them and makes its way to our eyes.

First, light passes through the optical components of the eyes such as the cornea, pupil and lens.

Together, they help focus the light onto the retina that senses light, while also controlling the intensity of light to help us see well while avoiding damage to the eye.

The function of the lens is to correctly focus light that comes from objects at different distances. This process is known as accommodation.

While performing this important task, light passing through the lens becomes inverted. This means that light from the top of the object falls lower on the retina than light from the bottom, which falls higher on the retina.

So, light exiting the lens to land on the retina is indeed flipped upside down. But that doesn’t mean the brain is actually flipping the picture “back”. Here’s why.

The orientation doesn’t actually matter

While the light being interpreted by the brain is “upside down” compared to the real world, the question is: is that actually a problem for us?

From your own experience you can tell the answer is probably no. We seem to navigate and interact with the world just fine.

So, where in the brain is the image flipped or rotated 180 degrees to be the “right way up” again?

You may be surprised to learn that vision scientists reject the idea a flipping or rotation needs to happen at all. This is because of how our brains process visual information.

The object you perceive is “encoded” by the firing of various neurons – brain cells that process information – in various locations in the brain. This pattern of firing is what encodes the information about the object you’re focusing on. That info takes into account the object’s relation to everything else in the scene, your body in the world, and your movements.

As long as the relative encodings of these are all consistent with one another, as well as stable, there’s no need for a flip to happen at all.

We can function with ‘upside down’ goggles!

Several studies have looked at how we adapt to large changes in visual input by asking people to wear goggles that flip the image coming in.

This means the image lands on the retina the “right way up”, so to speak, but upside down from what the brain has learned it should be.

In the 1930s, two scientists in Austria performed the Innsbruck Goggle Experiments. For weeks or even months at a time, participants in these studies wore goggles that altered the way the world around them looked. This included goggles that turn the incoming image upside down.

 

A person blinks while wearing an ‘invertoscope’ – goggles that turn the incoming image upside down. Dmitry Hoh/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

As you can imagine, people wearing these goggles at first found it really difficult to get by in their day-to-day activities. They would stumble and bump into things.

But this was temporary.

Participants reported seeing the world upside-down for the first few days, with difficulties navigating the environment, including trying to step over ceiling lights that appeared to them as on the floor.

Around the fifth day, however, performance seemed to improve. Things that were at first seen upside down now appeared the right way up, and this tended to improve with more time.

In other words, with continued exposure to the upside-down world, the brain adapted to the changed input.

More recent studies are beginning to identify which areas of the brain are involved in being able to adapt to changes in visual input, and what the limits of our ability to adapt might be.

Adaptation may even allow “colour blind” people to see colour better than is predicted from their condition.

Daniel Joyce, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Southern Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→May 12, 2026

The cradle of Earth’s rich ocean life was a massive coral reef system 20 million years ago

Oleksandr Sushko/Unsplash Alexandre Siqueira, Edith Cowan University

New research published today in Science Advances reveals that the largest expansion of coral reefs in the past 100 million years happened about 20 to 10 million years ago, between Australia and Southeast Asia.

This vast reef system likely laid the foundations for the extraordinary diversity of marine life we see today.

Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They support about a quarter of all marine species while covering less than 1% of the oceans. Yet scientists have long grappled with the question of how such immense diversity arose in the first place. Where did it begin, and what made it possible?

Our new study uncovers a turning point deep in Earth’s history – a time when reefs didn’t just grow, but expanded on a scale far beyond anything we see today. This expansion may have created the ecological space needed for modern coral reef life to flourish.

Coral reefs are major biodiversity hotspots. Ahmer Kalam/Unsplash

An enduring mystery

Biodiversity simply refers to the variety of life in a given place. On coral reefs, this diversity is staggering: thousands of species of fish, corals and other organisms coexist in tightly packed ecosystems.

However, despite decades of research, the origins of this richness have remained an enduring mystery.

Our new study reveals that changes in environmental, biological and tectonic conditions about 20 million years ago promoted the dramatic expansion of coral reefs across a region stretching between Australia and Southeast Asia.

Today, this area is known as the Indo-Australian Archipelago. It’s recognised as a global hotspot of marine biodiversity, especially in an area called the Coral Triangle.

The expansion of reefs in this area coincided with the emergence of many familiar reef organisms, including plating corals and iconic fish groups like parrotfishes.

To uncover this, we combined evidence from geological records, fossils and genetic data. Together, these independent lines of evidence allowed us to pinpoint when and where modern reef biodiversity began to take shape, without relying on any single source alone.

Results suggest reef expansion itself played a crucial role in generating biodiversity. As reefs grew larger, they likely created new habitats and ecological opportunities, allowing species to evolve and diversify.

We have now named this ancient network of reefs the Great Indo-Australian Miocene Reef System. The large reefs in this system were mostly built by corals and crustose coralline algae, an essential group of algae for holding together reef structures. These reefs also provided very important habitat for fish groups that we see on coral reefs today, such as surgeonfishes and butterflyfishes.

Remnants of an epic reef

Surprisingly, the region where this expansion occurred is not where the largest reefs are found today. Instead, reefs off northwestern Australia – including Ashmore Reef, Scott Reef, and the Rowley Shoals – may be remnants of what was once one of the largest reef systems to have ever existed.

Previous geological work has shown this ancient west Australian barrier reef rivalled the extent of the present-day Great Barrier Reef. The new findings go further, suggesting individual reefs within this system may have been far larger than any modern reef.

In fact, the roots of modern marine fish and coral biodiversity may lie in this unexpected place off Australia’s west coast. Over millions of years, biodiversity spread and accumulated elsewhere, particularly across the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

However, there are still uncertainties. Reconstructing ecosystems from millions of years ago requires combining incomplete records. Some aspects of reef size and how these ecosystems connected remain difficult to resolve, as the geological record only contains the remnants of entire reef systems.

But the overall pattern is clear. A massive expansion of reefs about 20 million years ago coincided with the rise of modern marine diversity.

The message is also simple. To understand where biodiversity is today, we need to look deep into the past. The richest ecosystems on Earth may owe their origins to places that no longer appear exceptional – hidden chapters of Earth’s history that continue to shape life in our oceans.

Coral reefs support thousands of species in a small area. Francesco Ungaro/Unsplash

Alexandre Siqueira, ARC DECRA and Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, School of Science, Edith Cowan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→May 05, 2026

Application lodged to build microreactor at US university

A rendering of the KRONOS plant at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Image: NANO Nuclear)

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it has received an application from the University of Illinois to construct the first research KRONOS micro modular reactor on the university's campus.

The Construction Permit Application (CPA) was submitted on 31 March by The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, NANO Nuclear Energy Inc's partner for the KRONOS MMR deployment at the University of Illinois (U of I).

"With this submission, NANO Nuclear becomes the first commercially-ready microreactor developer and the third commercially-ready Generation IV advanced reactor developer to submit a CPA, placing NANO Nuclear among a small group of advanced nuclear companies progressing toward commercial deployment," the company said.

It added: "The preparation of a CPA represents the culmination of years of engineering development, thousands of pages of technical documentation, coordinated input across reactor design, safety analysis, environmental review, and regulatory compliance disciplines, and establishment of a viable supply chain. In NANO Nuclear's partnership with the U of I, the CPA submission builds on an extensive body of work developed through continuous engagement with the NRC, including completion of the readiness assessment, a voluntary but highly rigorous process aimed at ensuring a complete and high-quality application. Importantly, this iterative process reflects a high level of alignment with regulatory expectations and provides strong confidence in the application's readiness for acceptance for docketing and formal NRC review."

"The NRC is reviewing the application to determine whether it is complete," the regulator said. "If accepted, the agency will begin a detailed technical evaluation of the reactor's safety and security and publish a notice of opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing on the application before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board."

It noted that if the construction permit is granted, the university would need to submit a separate operating licence application and receive NRC approval before the reactor could begin operation.

NANO Nuclear acquired the Micro Modular Reactor Energy System technology through its USD85 million acquisition of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation's nuclear technology, which was completed in January last year. At that time, NANO Nuclear renamed the technology as the KRONOS MMR. The MMR is a 45 MW thermal, 15 MW electrical high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, using TRISO fuel in prismatic graphite blocks and has a sealed transportable core.

NANO Nuclear signed a strategic collaboration agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in April 2025 to construct the first research KRONOS micro modular reactor on the university's campus. The agreement formally established the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a partner in the licensing, siting, public engagement, and research operation of the KRONOS MMR, while also identifying the university campus as the permanent site for the reactor as a research and demonstration installation.

The university plans to re-power partially its coal-fired Abbott power station with the KRONOS MMR, providing a zero-carbon demonstration of district heat and power to campus buildings as part of its green campus initiative. The project team aims to demonstrate how microreactor systems integrate with existing fossil fuel infrastructure to accelerate the decarbonisation of existing power-generation facilities."Through every step of the process thus far, we at The Grainger College of Engineering have worked diligently alongside our partners at NANO Nuclear Energy to ensure our goals in constructing the first KRONOS MMR on the university's campus can become a reality," said Caleb Brooks, Professor and Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Scholar of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering. "By submitting the Construction Permit Application to the NRC, we are taking the next step in signifying that the work will be done correctly and precisely. And we continue to look forward to the possibilities of what can become the most advanced nuclear research platform on any US campus." Application lodged to build microreactor at US university

Read More........→May 01, 2026

Nest‑building chimpanzees seem to anticipate future weather

Fabiana Rizzi / Unsplash Hassan Al Razi, The University of Western Australia

Every evening, as they move from place to place through the forest, chimpanzees stop to build a nest – most often in a tree – to sleep in. Using a selection of branches, leaves and twigs, they create comfortable and safe spaces to get some shuteye.

Like human beds, these are places to rest – but they also help chimps stay warm or cool and protect themselves against the weather. As you might expect, how and where chimpanzees build their nests depends on things like temperature, humidity, wind and rainfall.

But how do they make these choices? Previous research has shown the construction is related to the conditions at the time when the creatures are building the nest.

In new research, published today in Current Biology, my colleagues and I show that chimps are a little bit cleverer than you might expect: they seem to build their nests in ways that anticipate what the overnight weather will be.

A year in Rwanda

We conducted a field study on eastern chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, a cool and humid mountain forest. Over a 12-month period, we collected detailed data on the structure of nests, the characteristics of their chosen sites, and the kinds of trees the chimps chose.

We also measured how well different kinds of nests insulate against cold and heat. At the same time, we made detailed records of weather conditions when the nests were being built and throughout the night.

This let us test whether chimpanzees respond primarily to immediate environmental conditions, or whether their nesting decisions are better explained by the conditions they experience later during the night.

Chimpanzees are always adjusting their behaviour

Our results show chimpanzees consistently adjust their nesting behaviour in relation to environmental conditions. They preferred to build nests in places that were warmer, more humid and less exposed to wind than surrounding areas.

Nest structure and insulation varied systematically with environmental conditions. In cooler and wetter conditions, nests were thicker and deeper – indicating the chimpanzees put more effort into insulation when conditions are tougher.

We also found that factors such as the width and depth of the nest influenced its insulating ability.

The chimpanzees tended to build more insulating nests when weather was colder and when it was more humid, both during nest-building and overnight.

In cooler and wetter conditions, the chimps also built their nests higher, in taller trees with denser leaf cover. This makes sense: it would be a more stable microclimate with more shelter from rain.

Are chimps thinking ahead?

Importantly, nesting decisions aligned more closely with overnight environmental conditions than with those at the time of construction. When we took overnight weather into account, we found we could explain the variation in nesting behaviour much better than if we used only the current conditions.

One possible explanation is that chimpanzees use environmental cues, such as shifts in temperature, humidity or atmospheric pressure, that are linked to upcoming weather.

These cues may allow them to adjust nest-building behaviour in advance. Does this mean they predict or forecast future weather? Not quite.

But it does show their behaviour is consistent with reacting to environmental signals that are associated with later conditions. Either way, the chimps display a remarkable sensitivity to their environment – and a grasp of how to live in it.

Hassan Al Razi, PhD Student, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→May 01, 2026

Mozambique ‘sky island’ expeditions found 4 new species of chameleon – already at risk from forest loss

Male sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia goodallae) from Mount Ribáuè, Mozambique. Krystal Tolley, CC BY Krystal Tolley, University of Johannesburg

Tropical rainforests are known for their unique biodiversity, with species found nowhere else on Earth. But nearly 30% of tropical rainforest has been destroyed or has become seriously degraded since 1990. Many of these forests have not been fully explored for their biodiversity. This means that the world may be losing species before they are even discovered by modern science.

In Africa, forest loss is rapid; about 25% of the continent’s tropical forest has been lost since 1990, against a backdrop of incomplete knowledge of where the biodiversity is located.

Greatly lagging in this respect are the “sky islands” of northern Mozambique: isolated granite mountains that rise sharply out of the savanna plains. They were left standing when softer rock around them gradually eroded, and can be as high as 3,000 metres elevation. Because they rise so steeply, the sky islands attract clouds and rainfall, feeding moisture to the tropical rainforests on their slopes within an otherwise arid terrain. Isolation has allowed unique species to evolve on each mountain, such as geckos, rodents, fishes, crabs, frogs, butterflies and bats.

Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

Small patch of remaining pristine rainforest at Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

From 2014 to 2018, a research team led by fellow herpetologist Werner Conradie and myself explored these sky island forests to catalogue the species of reptiles found there. We found that each sky island forest is home to a previously unknown species of chameleon within the genus Nadzikambia (forest-dwelling “sylvan chameleons”).

Unfortunately, these chameleons are already at risk of extinction due to the heavy slash-and-burn clearing of the forests, the only place they can call home.

We’ve described these new species, choosing four names to highlight pioneering women scientists whose work inspired us to strive towards new discoveries, but also to call attention to the losses of their forest habitat.

Hunting for chameleons

Over the course of several years, we explored four of Mozambique’s sky islands – Mount Namuli, Mount Inago, Mount Chiperone and Mount Ribáuè – with the aim of cataloguing all reptiles but also in the hopes of finding new species of chameleons. This was because a species of sylvan chameleon had been discovered on one of these mountains during the 1960s, but they were not known from any other mountains.

However, chameleons can be very difficult to find, given their ability to remain camouflaged against the background coupled with their slow movements. They are more easily spotted at night while they are sleeping, as they stand out against the vegetation when illuminated by a strong beam of light. Sylvan chameleons are even more difficult to spot than others, as they usually perch high in the thick forest canopy – tens of metres up.

The search meant dealing with some tough conditions: a long, arduous trek up the hot, arid slopes to reach the forest high up the mountain. Establishing a remote base camp was essential. All food, clothes and gear had to be packed into the camp, and we didn’t know how long it would take to find any animals.

At each of these mountains, we surveyed every night for chameleons – no trails to follow, no GPS signal to guide us, no cellphone signal to call for help.

Sometimes we were lucky and found chameleons on the first or second night. At other mountains we were not so lucky, with fruitless searches making it necessary to return another year.

Eventually these mountains revealed their secrets and we discovered four new species of sylvan chameleon, one on each of the four mountains.

Slash-and-burn clearing of rainforest at Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

We don’t know how big their populations are, but we assume they are in decline. Most of their habitat has been destroyed by forest clearing to make way for agriculture, with increasingly rapid losses in the last decade. We estimate that in some cases, 80%-90% of their habitat has been destroyed.

When parts of an ecosystem are lost, the whole becomes unstable and is eventually lost.

Choosing names for the new species

To highlight their predicament, we have described and named these chameleons and have forecast that three of these species are at high risk of extinction.

In particular, we highlight Nadzikambia goodallae from Mount Ribáuè. This species has been named in honour of the distinguished scientist Jane Goodall, whose own study species, the chimpanzee, is under similar pressures from loss of its rainforest habitat.

Female sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia goodallae) from Mount Ribáuè. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

We also honour the renowned discoverer of the structure of DNA, Rosalind Franklin, by naming the species from Mount Namuli as Nadzikambia franklinae. The use of DNA data from these chameleons was essential to confirm them as new species.

Nadzikambia franklinae from Mount Namuli. Werner Conradie, CC BY

We have dubbed the species from Mount Inago as Nadzikambia evanescens, meaning “vanishing” in Latin, acknowledging the state of the forest destruction.

Male sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia evanescens) from Mount Inago. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

The final species, Nadzikambia nubila, is named for the cloudy aspect of Mount Chiperone. This species has a lower risk of extinction given that the local community view the forest as sacred, and say it should be protected.

Female sylvan chameleon (Nadzikambia nubila) from Mount Chiperone. Krystal Tolley, CC BY

This latter case is significant, as it demonstrates that wholesale destruction of these forests is not an essential trade-off for local people to thrive. If encouraged and supported, community support and buy-in can be a solution to protect biodiversity in these sensitive ecosystems.

Krystal Tolley, Principal Scientist, University of Johannesburg

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→April 27, 2026

New AI Glasses for Dementia ‘Sees’ Objects With Labels Projected on Lenses to ‘Significantly’ Improve Lives

Carole Grieg testing the CrossSense AI glasses – SWNS

New AI glasses for people with dementia are able to project visual prompts onto the lenses to help folks live more independently—and they could be available in the UK in 2027.

The latest news comes after the glasses wowed both test patients in their homes and a panel of outside judges.

They can guide people living with early-stage dementia through daily activities by identifying common objects and providing audio commentary or answer questions while projecting visual prompts onto the lenses.

By asking gentle questions, the glasses’ AI companion, called ‘Wispy’, understands and learns a person’s unique way of doing things, with the AI adapting to each user’s needs as their dementia progresses.

Wispy will even talk through what to do when a person cannot remember a particular step in a process.

In test trials, three out of four patients reported a significant improvement to their quality of life, thanks to the glasses and Wispy’s tips developed from UK company CrossSense.

Warning appears on the lenses of the CrossSense AI glasses (GNN screenshot of SWNS/CrossSense video)

Spending over a decade creating and tweaking prototypes of the app and gadget, a team of AI engineers trained the glasses with dozens of everyday activities including getting dressed, managing household chores safely, making a cup of tea and interacting with loved ones.

The specs, which work with people’s prescription lens inserts and hearing aids, also capture the environment of the person living with dementia and the AI interprets that information to help the user to do the things that define independence.

“This includes feeling confident in their own home, taking good care of themselves, planning the day ahead, completing planned activities and hosting friends and family,” said the creators.

Screenshot of Wispy AI in the midst of interacting with user of theCrossSense AI glasses, discussing care of a houseplant (Still from SWNS video)

With a release date set for early 2027 in the UK, the inventors hope the specs, which weigh less than 3 ounces (75g), will be used by local authorities, care providers, and NHS hospital memory clinics.

Last week, the London-based team behind the technology, CrossSense, won the Longitude Prize on Dementia with its million dollar prize funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK.

The panel of international expert judges agreed that the winning solution was a genuine breakthrough technology with revolutionary potential for people living with dementia and their families.

CrossSense says the gadget includes a built-in battery that lasts for one hour, but also a portable power bank that can keep the glasses running all day long.

70-year-old Carole Grieg from London (pictured above), who founded a dementia support group called ForgetMeNots, tried the new glasses and is convinced they could help her fellow dementia patients maintain their independence.

“I thought it was an amazing concept, with the potential to provide real, reliable support for people like me, helping to compensate for the cognitive skills we gradually lose as dementia progresses.”

“For many of us, our world slowly becomes smaller as the condition progresses. Innovations like this offer real hope, and I know that as my own circumstances change, I will certainly be relying on them.”

Professor Fiona Carragher, chief research officer at Alzheimer’s Society admires the way the technology can develop its ‘intuitive personal support’.

“By anticipating people’s needs as their condition progresses, easing daily living challenges, and providing reassurance to families, this revolutionary tech will allow people with dementia to maintain their independence for longer, within the familiar environment of home.” New AI Glasses for Dementia ‘Sees’ Objects With Labels Projected on Lenses to ‘Significantly’ Improve Lives

Read More........→April 23, 2026

Birds and monkeys in the Amazon share information via ‘internet of the forest’: new research

Ettore Camerlenghi, Deakin University and Ari Martínez, University of California, Santa Cruz

You might go for a walk in the forest to disconnect from work and calm your nerves after a busy week. The chirping and calls of birds in the canopy above might be exactly what allows you to relax.

But what sounds soothing to humans may signal danger to other animals – and trigger fear across the forest.

In our research, published today in Current Biology, we show that when some animals spot a predator they issue a warning cry that is picked up by others and spread through the rainforest canopy. For a time, different species are linked into a shared information network, and parts of the forest briefly fall silent.

Birds and monkeys

During an expedition to a remote area of the Peruvian Amazon, working with a falconer, we used trained raptors to trigger warning calls from birds and primates. We recorded the calls then played them back into the forest and monitored how the community responded.

We already knew that birds sometimes repeat the warnings of others – occasionally even those of different species, or of primates. What we wanted to know was how widespread this behaviour is across the animal community.

Researchers released birds of prey in the Amazon rainforest to study how the alarm calls of other animals travel through the ‘internet of the forest’.

We discovered that alarm calls produced by small bird species – those weighing less than 100 grams – were most often passed on. Other small birds living in the canopy were the most likely to relay the call, but other animals joined in too.

Larger species, including capuchin and spider monkeys, sometimes responded as well. Two canopy species in particular – the black-fronted and the white-fronted nunbirds – stood out as especially likely to repeat and propagate the warnings of their neighbours throughout the forest.

Sounds and silence

Alarm calls from species living in the forest understorey were far less likely to spread and be propagated by other birds or primates.

However, even when these alarm calls were not repeated, they changed the forest’s soundscape. Small canopy birds almost completely stopped singing after hearing a predator alert. At the same time, animals in lower forest layers often continued to make sounds despite the perceived threat.

Together, these findings suggest that the Amazonian canopy is not only the rainforest’s most mysterious layer – largely unexplored and home to much of its biodiversity – but also functions as an information highway, like a fibre-optic network through which animals rapidly share signals of danger.

A new layer of the ‘internet of the forest’

In the past decade, the idea of an “internet of the forest” has become popular through the concept of the “wood wide web”, where plants exchange resources and information via root systems and fungal networks. Our work points to another communication system, one operating high above the ground.

Suspended above our heads is a vast ecosystem where animals constantly listen to one another, forming an eavesdropping network that spreads critical information within seconds.

The vocal activity of birds is usually associated with finding mates and defending territories. However, we now know that sometimes this activity, or lack of it, may represent pulses of a soundscape of fear.

Next time you walk through a rainforest, look up and listen to the birds. A sudden silence may mean a raptor is gliding somewhere above the canopy.

Ettore Camerlenghi, Associate Research Fellow, Avian Behaviour, Deakin University and Ari Martínez, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→April 21, 2026

INST scientists find natural protein that can reshape future of electronic materials

(Photo: PIB)

New Delhi, (IANS) A team of scientists from Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have discovered semiconductor property of a known self-assembling bacterial shell protein could pave the way for safe, environmentally friendly electronics -- from mobile phones and smart watches to medical instruments and environmental sensors.

Traditional semiconductor materials, such as silicon, are valuable technological tools; however, they also have limitations. They are rigid, require high-energy processing, and contribute to the growing problem of electronic waste. Thus, there is increasing demand for sustainable, soft, and biocompatible electronics (wearables, implantable, green sensors).

The INST scientists experimented with self-assembling bacterial shell proteins to explore whether the proteins that naturally form stable, large flat 2D sheets with built-in electron density patterns and aromatic residues could be intrinsically photoactive.

They found that when the proteins form flat, sheet-like films, they absorb UV light and generate an electrical current without any added dyes, metals, or external power and act as light-driven, scaffold-free semiconductors, much like the materials used in electronic circuits and sensors.

Further, the team discovered that these proteins naturally arrange themselves into thin, sheet-like structures. When UV light shines on them, tiny electrical charges begin to move across the protein surface.

“This happens because the proteins contain tyrosine, a natural amino acid that can release electrons when excited by light. As these electrons and protons move, the protein sheet produces an electrical signal -- similar to how a miniature solar cell would operate. This light-driven effect relies on the protein’s internal order and does not require any synthetic additives or high-temperature manufacturing,” said the team led by Dr. Sharmistha Sinha, together with student researchers Silky Bedi and S. M. Rose.

“The discovery opens up exciting possibilities for real-world applications. Because the material is flexible and body-friendly, it could be used to create wearable health monitors, skin-safe UV-detection patches, and implantable medical sensors that work safely inside the human body,” the team said.

In the paper, published in the journal Chemical Science of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the team could also be used in temporary or disposable environmental sensors, such as pollution detectors or sunlight trackers, that naturally break down after use without harming the environment.Families, patients, and consumers may one day benefit from soft, comfortable, and environmentally responsible devices that integrate smoothly into daily life. INST scientists find natural protein that can reshape future of electronic materials | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→April 17, 2026

First Quantum Battery Prototype Marks Big Step for Technology Expected to Change the World

The prototype quantum battery – credit, CSIRO

Australian researchers have developed and tested the world’s first quantum battery.

Their prototype is far from anything that will be a perspective power source in an EV or storage facility, but the experiment revealed some important directions for future research.

A theoretical concept since 2013, the prototype was charged wirelessly with a laser, one of the special properties that quantum mechanics in battery technology promises if it can be properly understood and harnessed.

Lead researcher Dr. James Quach of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency which led the study on the device, said it’s the first quantum battery ever made that performs a full charge-discharge cycle.

Dr. Quach explained that in society today, the larger the battery, the longer the charge time.

“That’s why your mobile phone takes about 30 minutes to charge and your electric car takes overnight to charge,” he said, adding that in contrast, “quantum batteries have this really peculiar property where the larger they are, the less time they take to charge.”

Less time really is an almost worthless descriptor in this case, because the prototype created by CSIRO was fully charged within a few quadrillionths of a second.

The problem is that the discharge rate was a few nanoseconds, which despite being 6 orders of magnitude longer, could be of no use to anyone now. Quach provided some interesting relative comparisons to help mere mortals conceptualize why this could be a world-changing innovation if improved.

If it takes 30 minutes to fully charge a mobile phone, and it too had a discharge rate equal to 6 orders of magnitude, that means it wouldn’t need to be recharged even after a decade of use.

“What we need to do next is… to increase the storage time,” Quach said, touching on this point. “You want your battery to hold charge longer than a few nanoseconds if you want to be able to talk to someone on a mobile phone.”

Additionally, the prototype doesn’t hold enough voltage to power anything substantial.

While this might all sound rather pointless, another, non-involved expert in the development of quantum batteries, University of Queensland Professor Andrew White, told the Guardian that the experiment was a huge success in getting the technology off the drawing board and into the real world for the first time.People would be far more likely to adopt EVs if they could be fully-charged in few seconds, even if their range was severely reduced. First Quantum Battery Prototype Marks Big Step for Technology Expected to Change the World

Read More........→April 16, 2026

High-salt diet linked to faster memory decline in men: Study

(Representational photo; source: IANS)

Sydney, (IANS) A diet high in salt may accelerate memory decline in men, Australian research reveals, highlighting the importance of dietary choices in supporting brain health.

The study found that higher sodium intake may impair episodic memory, which enables people to recall personal experiences and past events, such as where you parked your car or your first day of school, said a statement from Australia's Edith Cowan University (ECU) released Wednesday.

Measuring baseline sodium intake and cognitive decline of 1,208 participants over 72 months, researchers found that men with higher sodium intake experienced faster episodic memory decline, while no link was seen in women.

While sodium serves several physiological functions and is inextricably linked to the maintenance of the body, high sodium consumption has consistently been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and high blood pressure, according to the study published in Neurobiology of Ageing.

Lead researcher Samantha Gardener from ECU said that while the molecular mechanisms behind the process were not yet understood, it was thought that high sodium intake could contribute to inflammation in the brain, damage to blood vessels, and reduced blood flow to the brain.

Meanwhile, a recent Israeli study suggested that while memories themselves may fade, the explanations people give for why they remember events remain detailed and stable over time.

Researchers analysed the self-reported explanations of 421 participants using linguistic tools to track changes in content and detail. They found that while the ability to recall specific events declined over time, the depth and content of participants' justifications remained steady.

The frequency of these explanations and the types of words used were consistent, indicating they may serve as reliable markers of memory accuracy.

Subtle shifts in wording over time, however, suggest that a person's confidence in their memory may decrease as the event recedes into the past.The study, published in Communications Psychology, indicates that even when memories feel "fuzzy," the reasons people give for recalling them remain a relatively dependable way to assess their truthfulness. Still, legal and clinical professionals should note that confidence may waver, even if the justification itself remains strong. High-salt diet linked to faster memory decline in men: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→April 16, 2026

Johns Hopkins Team Develops Therapeutic, Nasally-Delivered DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis

Artist’s illustration of tuberculosis bacteria (TB) – credit, US CDC

A research team at Johns Hopkins Medicine is developing a nose-delivered inoculation against tuberculosis, the world’s leading cause of death from infectious disease.

The approach fuses two tuberculosis genes with the goal of directing the immune system to fight drug-tolerant bacterial survivors that can endure antibiotic treatment to spread another day.

The paper on the vaccine was published last week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, where JH Medicine researchers were joined by colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

TB is estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be spread asymptomatically by around 2 billion people. In 2024 , WHO reported that TB was the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease.

In recent years, WHO has called for therapeutic vaccines that can be used alongside drug therapies to shorten TB treatment regimens and improve outcomes, particularly because long multidrug courses are difficult to complete, and drug-resistant TB strains continue to emerge. The vaccine described in the new Johns Hopkins study shows promise for meeting that need.

The new Johns Hopkins vaccine, says study lead author Styliani Karanika, MD, fuses two genes: relMtb and Mip3α, and is given through the nose to take advantage of 3 beneficial biological activities.

“Administered together with first-line TB drug therapy, our intranasal DNA fusion vaccine helped infected mice clear the disease bacteria faster, reduced lung inflammation, and prevented relapse after treatment ended,” says Karanika, a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research.

“The vaccine also helped the powerful TB drug combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid work better, suggesting it could be used with treatments against drug-resistant TB to help the body fight the disease, even hard-to-treat cases.”

Dr. Karanika explained that TB bacteria possess a gene—relMtb—that produces a protein called RelMtb—which together help the microbes survive hostile conditions such as antibiotic exposure, low oxygen, and nutrient limitation by entering a drug-tolerant persistent state.

Fusing relMtb with another gene called Mip3α produces a signal that attracts immature human dendritic cells. These cells pick up TB proteins and ‘present’ them to T cells, the immune cells that help coordinate a targeted attack on the TB bacteria.

“Finally, intranasal delivery focuses vaccination on the respiratory mucosa in the lungs where TB infection occurs, helping generate long-lasting localized T-cell immunity in the airways and lungs, along with systemic immune responses,” says Karanika.

By combining these strategies, the investigators aimed to strengthen immune activity directly in the respiratory tract, where transmission most commonly occurs.

In the mouse studies, this approach both improved the quantity and organization of dendritic and T-cells in the lungs, and generated immune responses both locally and systemically. The improved response included to two types of T-cells, CD4 (also known as helper T-cells) and CD8 (also known as killer T-cells).

One study strongpoint was that it included tests on primates: in this case, rhesus macaques. The researchers found that their nose-delivered DNA vaccine prompted measurable TB‑focused immune responses in blood and in the airways similar to what led to lower bacterial counts in the lungs of the mice they studied.

These responses persisted for at least 6 months, suggesting durability for the vaccine’s action.

“These nonhuman primate data are encouraging because they show that the Mip3α/relMtb vaccine can generate durable, antigen-stimulated immune responses in an animal model whose immune system more closely resembles that of humans,” said Dr. Karanika. “That gives us an important translational bridge between the mouse efficacy studies and the additional preclinical work needed before human trials.”

Readers may recoil from the notion of primate testing, but Old World Monkeys are very susceptible to TB, and in fact spread it between themselves just as we do. Research has shown that TB has been spread among humans as far back as 70,000 years, and followed our migration out of Africa and across Asia.The authors say their findings support a broader strategy of targeting surviving TB bacteria with immunotherapy, rather than relying solely on antibiotics to eliminate actively replicating bacteria. Because DNA vaccines are relatively stable and can be manufactured efficiently, they may offer practical advantages if this approach ultimately proves effective in humans. Johns Hopkins Team Develops Therapeutic, Nasally-Delivered DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis

Read More........→April 15, 2026

AI-powered digital stethoscopes show promise in bridging screening gaps

(Photo: Eko Health, US) IANS

New Delhi, As tuberculosis (TB) continues as the deadliest infectious cause of deaths globally, a new study has shown that artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital stethoscopes can help fill critical screening gaps, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

In a commentary published in the journal Med (Cell Press), global experts contended that stethoscopes combined with digital technology and AI can be a better option against the challenges faced in screening programmes, such as under-detection, high cost, and inequitable access.

“AI-enabled digital stethoscopes have demonstrated promising accuracy and feasibility for detecting lung and cardiovascular abnormalities, with promising results in early TB studies. Training and validation in diverse, high-burden settings are essential to explore the potential of this tool further,” said corresponding author Madhukar Pai from McGill University, Canada, along with researchers from the UAE, Germany, and Switzerland.

Despite advancements in screening and diagnostic tools, an estimated 2.7 million people with TB were missed by current screening programmes, as per data from the World Health Organization (WHO). Routine symptom screening is also likely to miss people with asymptomatic or subclinical TB.

While the WHO recently recommended several AI-powered computer-aided detection (CAD) software, as well as ultra-portable radiography hardware, higher operating costs and upfront hardware act as a deterrent.

This particularly appeared difficult in primary care settings and or among pregnant women due to radiation concerns.

At the same time, AI showed significant potential for screening, including applications beyond CAD of TB from radiographs, said the researchers.

“One application of AI for disease screening is to interpret acoustic (sound) biomarkers of disease, with potential to identify sounds that appear nonspecific or are inaudible to the human ear,” they added, while highlighting the potential of AI in detecting and interpreting cough biomarkers and lung auscultation to analyse breath sounds.

Studies from high-TB burden countries, including India, Peru, South Africa, Uganda, and Vietnam, highlighted that AI-enabled auscultation could hold promise as a TB screening and triage tool.

"AI digital stethoscopes may become useful alternatives to imaging-based approaches for TB screening, with the potential to democratise access to care for populations underserved by radiography," the researchers said."Importantly, AI digital stethoscopes offer a scalable, low-cost, and person-centered tool that could bring us closer to reaching TB case finding goals," they added. AI-powered digital stethoscopes show promise in bridging screening gaps | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→April 12, 2026

Spectacular New Species Found in Cambodia’s Limestone Caves–Asia's 'Little Laboratories'

A new species of pit viper found living in the caves – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

A breathtaking expedition high among limestone escarpments and deep in the cave systems they contain has revealed several new reptile species, including a dazzling pit viper you have to see to believe.

Exploring over 60 caves across 10 hills in the Battambang province, western Cambodia, the survey uncovered a treasure trove of extraordinary creatures besides, many found nowhere else on Earth.

The survey was led by Fauna & Flora International in collaboration with Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and field experts. The team identified 6 new geckos, 2 micro-snails, and 2 millipedes in addition to the viper.

They also confirmed the presence of many threatened species in the landscape surrounding the caves—such as the Sunda pangolin, Indochinese silvered langur, long-tailed macaque, and green peafowl, further highlighting the critical need to protect this habitat.

Karst covers 20% of the Earth’s landscape. This soluble bedrock made of limestone has created some of the most spectacular rocky landscapes on Earth—including the upturned egg cartons shapes along the great South China Karst, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Tsingy de Bemaraha in Madagascar, The Burren in western Ireland, the world’s largest wellspring in Vrelo Bune, Bosnia, the Cenotes of the Yucatan, in Mexico, and Mammoth Cave in the US.

The susceptibility of karst to erode from rainfall has seen it carved into a million beautiful and dramatic shapes that often play host to microclimates where threatened animals can thrive.

Landscapes along the Li River amid the South China Karst – credit, Sam Beasley via Unsplash

Dr. Lee Grismer, a professor of biology at La Sierra University in the US, was part of the expeditionary team, and spoke to F&F about the importance and uniqueness of the landscape.

“Each one of these isolated karst areas act as their own little laboratory where nature is performing the same experiment over and over and over independently. The results are species that exist nowhere else—not just nowhere else in the world, or that country—but in no other cave.”

The Shiva Gecko – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

Indeed, caves from easily in karst landscapes, and many of the world’s longest and largest—and least-explored—cave systems are found in East and Southeast Asia.

This is certainly the case in Battambang, where the survey team had first to ascend the steep forested slopes of the karst outcrops before scrambling and squeezing through crevices and crawlspaces to reach the cave systems.

Inside, they documented a rich array of life, both endemic to the caves and others—like a big reticulated python—who were just visiting. While the chatter of the Endangered silvered langur troupe, faded behind them, the team began encountering animal after animal that had never been described by science.

A spectacular new species of pit viper (from the Trimeresurus genus) was collected during the survey and is currently being described. Recognized by their triangular heads, these highly venomous snakes track down their warm-blooded prey using the heat-sensitive pits behind their nostrils.

4 populations of the striped Kamping Poi bent-toed gecko were found and identified as a new species: Cyrtodactylus kampingpoiensis. Despite being described as just one species, it is thought that, due to the geographic isolation of the karst formations, these 4 populations are on separate evolutionary trajectories, and further genetic analyses may reveal whether they are in fact 4 different species instead of 1.

Another new species of gecko was named after the Hindu god of destruction: Shiva.

In a statement, Fauna & Flora International said it is working with local partners to help conserve Cambodia’s karst landscapes, epitomized through the recent release of guidelines for sustainable development and management of cave ecosystems.

The Fauna & Flora International expeditionary team – credit, supplied by Fauna & Flora ©

The guidelines integrate international best practices with Cambodian context, providing practical measures to safeguard bat colonies, preserve rare and endemic cave biodiversity, promote sustainable guano harvesting and ensure responsible tourism development.

“Cambodia’s karst areas are a treasure trove of scientific secrets waiting to be uncovered,” said Sothearen Thi, Karst Biodiversity Coordinator at Fauna & Flora in the statement.“But, without sustainable management, we may never find out what these areas truly hold. Karst landscapes are facing many human-driven challenges, and biologically significant species could go extinct before they have even been discovered. We are working with the Cambodian government and local partners to increase protection of the landscapes, with sustainable management being the number one priority.” Spectacular New Species Found in Cambodia’s Limestone Caves–Asia's 'Little Laboratories'

Read More........→April 11, 2026

Quantum computers are coming to break our codes faster than anyone expected

Craig Costello, Queensland University of Technology

Online data is generally pretty secure. Assuming everyone is careful with passwords and other protections, you can think of it as being locked in a vault so strong that even all the world’s supercomputers, working together for 10,000 years, could not crack it.

But last month, Google and others released results suggesting a new kind of computer – a quantum computer – might be able to open the vault with significantly less resources than previously thought.

The changes are coming on two fronts. On one, tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to build ever-larger quantum computers: IBM hopes to achieve a genuine advantage over classical computers in some special cases this year, and an even more powerful “fault-tolerant” system by 2029.

On the other front, theorists are refining quantum algorithms: recent work shows the resources needed to break today’s cryptography may be far lower than earlier estimates.

The net result? The day quantum computers can break widely used cryptography – portentously dubbed “Q Day” – may be approaching faster than expected.

The quantum hardware race

Quantum computers are built from quantum bits, or qubits, which use the counterintuitive properties of very tiny objects to carry out computations in a different and sometimes far more efficient way from traditional computers.

So far the technology is in its infancy, with the major goal to increase the number of qubits that can be connected to work as a single computer. Bigger quantum computers should be much better at some things than their traditional counterparts – they will have a “quantum advantage”.

Late last year, IBM unveiled a 120-qubit chip which it hopes will demonstrate a quantum advantage for some tasks.

Google also recently announced it planned to speed up its move to adopt encryption techniques that should be safe against quantum computers, known as post-quantum cryptography.

Alongside these tech giants, newer approaches are also flourishing. PsiQuantum is using light-based qubits and traditional chip-manufacturing technology. Experimental platforms such as neutral-atom systems have demonstrated control over thousands of qubits in laboratory settings.

In response, standards bodies and national agencies are setting increasingly concrete timelines for moving away from common encryption systems that are vulnerable to quantum attack.

In the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has proposed a transition away from quantum-vulnerable cryptography, with migration largely completed by 2035. In Australia, the Australian Signals Directorate has issued similar guidance, urging organisations to begin planning immediately and transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2030.

Algorithms make the lock-picking faster

Hardware is only half the story. Equally important are advances in quantum algorithms – ways to use quantum computers to attack encryption.

Much interest in quantum computer development was spurred by Peter Shor’s 1994 discovery of an algorithm that showed how quantum computers could efficiently find the prime factors of very large numbers. This mathematical trick is precisely what you need to break the common RSA encryption method.

For decades, it was believed a quantum computer would need millions of physical qubits to pose a threat to real-world encryption. This is far bigger than current systems, so the threat felt comfortably distant.

That picture is now changing.

In March 2026, Google’s Quantum AI team released a detailed study showing that far fewer resources may be needed to attack a different kind of encryption which uses mathematical objects called elliptic curves. This is what systems including Bitcoin and Ethereum use – and the study shows how a quantum computer with fewer than half a million physical qubits may be able to crack it in minutes.

That’s still a long way beyond current quantum computers, but around ten times less than earlier estimates.

At the same time, a March 2026 preprint from a Caltech–Berkeley–Oratomic collaboration explores what might be possible using neutral-atom quantum computers. The researchers estimate that Shor’s algorithm could be implemented with as few as 10,000–20,000 atomic qubits. In one design they propose, a system with around 26,000 qubits could crack Bitcoin’s encryption in a few days, while tougher problems like the RSA method with a 2048-bit key would need more time and resources.

In plain terms: the codebreakers are becoming more efficient. Advances in algorithms and design are steadily lowering the bar for quantum attacks, even before large-scale hardware exists.

What now?

So what does this mean in practice?

First, there is no immediate catastrophe – today’s cryptography won’t be broken overnight. But the direction of travel is clear. Each improvement in hardware or algorithms reduces the gap between current capabilities and useful quantum cracking machines.

Second, viable defences already exist. NIST has standardised several post-quantum cryptographic algorithms which are believed to be resistant to quantum attacks.

Technology companies have begun deploying these in hybrid modes: Google Chrome and Cloudflare, for example, already support post-quantum protections in some protocols and services.

Systems that rely heavily on elliptic-curve cryptography – including cryptocurrencies and many secure communication protocols – will need particular attention. Google’s recent work explicitly highlights the need to migrate blockchain systems to post-quantum schemes.

Finally, this is a two-front race. It is not enough to track progress in quantum hardware alone. Advances in algorithms and error correction can be just as important, and recent results show these improvements can significantly reduce the estimated cost of attacks.

Every new headline about reduced qubit counts or faster quantum algorithms should be understood for what it is: another step toward a future where today’s cryptographic assumptions no longer hold.

The only reliable defence is to move – deliberately but decisively – toward quantum-safe cryptography.

Craig Costello, Professor, School of Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→April 10, 2026