Scientists discover dangerous water oscillations between Lake Varna and Black Sea - Phys.org

Original story from Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, Netherlands). The intestines use the rhythm of a signal to decide which cells to make, improving our understanding of healthy tissue maintenance and disease disruption.

video: The video illustrates the emergence of localized oscillations in a complex network. The color and size of each node indicate its dynamical activity, revealing a small group of nodes that undergo sustained oscillations while the rest of the network remains comparatively inactive. In complex systems, collective dynamics do not always unfold uniformly across the entire system. Activity can sometimes become concentrated in specific regions or groups of interacting units. In the cerebral cortex, for example, a small population of neurons may spontaneously develop rhythmic activity while surrounding regions remain comparatively quiet. In Medellín, Colombia, dengue outbreaks can similarly recur as localized hotspots while neighboring areas remain relatively unaffected. Such localized oscillations can arise across diverse complex systems, from neural and ecological networks to chemical and epidemiological systems.

A study published in Nature Communications has revealed an unusual form of quantum oscillation in a three-dimensional topological insulator. The findings show that electrons in zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe5) can behave in unexpected ways when exposed to temperatures close to absolute zero and extremely powerful magnetic fields. The research was led by scientists from the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Washington, and other U. S. institutions. The team combined electrical transport experiments performed in magnetic fields as strong as 60 tesla and at temperatures near 0.7 kelvin (-272.45 °C) with detailed theoretical calculations.

After nearly 40 years since the discovery of cuprates, copper-based compounds promising lossless electricity transmission, the mechanisms behind their superconductivity remain elusive. Researchers at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), led by Professor Fabio Boschini, have now published findings in Nature Physics revealing a competition between superconductivity and the pseudogap, a mysterious quantum state. “The pseudogap is one of the greatest mysteries in condensed-matter physics,” says Professor Boschini, a specialist in ultrafast spectroscopy of quantum condensed matter at INRS, adding that understanding its interaction with superconductivity is essential to explaining high-temperature superconductivity. The INRS team used a pulse of light to temporarily suppress superconductivity, observing how the material responded in real time and uncovering previously hidden electronic states.