Round up Birth order, resistant fungus, solar missions and much more

a few examples from this week’s news

Is Birth order Destiny? We’ve long been intrigued by the thought that your birth order-whether you’re a sibling or an older child, older brother, younger sister,etc-affects your personality and life chances. Latest twist in the saga is this piece about disease from the Independent: Study suggests first-born children are more likely to develop neurological conditions and second-born are more prone to substance abuse

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/first-and-second-born-disease-risk-b3028407.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawTicCtwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMFU1SjR6Q2hsamtwamFOMUxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzk

Recalcitrant Fungus “A drug-resistant fungus that kills thousands of hospital patients in the U.S. every year survives on human skin by hijacking the body’s immune response, scientists have just discovered.” declares Newsweek. So it’s not just bacteria then?

https://www.newsweek.com/deadly-fungus-kills-thousands-every-year-scientists-found-where-it-hides-12297119?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY

Is all this heat doing in your brain? A few years ago we published a blog speculating that extra carbon dioxide from global warming may be affecting our health (LSS 2 11 20) Well that may or may not be the case: but all that extra heat may well be affecting our brains, as this article from The Conversation makes clear indeed

https://theconversation.com/too-hot-to-think-why-extreme-heat-can-affect-how-well-our-brain-works-289170?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20

Yet more quantum complexity As if quantum physics wasn’t already difficult enough to follow, what with all those bosons, muons hadrons and quarks, Nature Briefing has just made our life a little more difficult with this piece about the Gluon How are we meant to remember all this?

A team of physicists says it has observed strong evidence of a mysterious ‘glueball’, a particle made up of force-carrying gluons. The team says that a particle known as X (2370) is mostly made up of these glueballs — clusters of the gluons that bind quarks to form protons and neutrons and hold them inside the nucleus of an atom. There is no single smoking gun that proves that this particle is made of glueballs, says particle physicist Bruce Yabsley. But the findings are “quite persuasive”, he says. The group presented their results at the International Conference on High Energy Physics in Natal, Brazil, last week.

Nature | 5 min read

Why won’t ET phone us? Normally our Friday purpose is to bring you short snappy pieces before Cocktail Hour. But this Guardian Long Read on why those pesky aliens have never shown up is so very good that we felt it our duty to bring it to you nevertheless

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/aug/11/the-great-silence-why-havent-we-found-any-aliens-yet

India’s day in the Sun If there’s one nation that is making huge leaps-commercial, technological, scientific- it is India. Proof if you want more comes from this admirable solar mission Aditya L1, admirably reported by the BBC

Aditya-L1: Indian solar mission’s new findings throw light on enduring Sun mysteries – BBC News

Quote of the week

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” — Psalm 133:1

#india #space #solar #global warming #antibiotic resistance #birth order #physics #climate #psychology #family #health #medicine

Will Quantum sensing be bigger than Quantum Computing?

At LSS we’re a pretty eclectic kind of blog. So when we think we’ve got into a rut -too much on Antibiotics, Anthropoid Ape Men, or the deeds of Mr Trump- we like to spin the wheel so that you, gentle readers, may be the first to become au fait in yet another exciting area of cutting-edge human endeavour. And today we have chosen Quantum Sensing, that quiet shy sister of the much louder Quantum Computing, which might just turn out to be the Cinderella who scooped the ball. [1]

So what is Quantum sensing? The scientific miracle that crept up on us while everyone was busy arguing about quantum computing. Instead of trying to build impossible machines, quantum sensing takes the strange behaviour of atoms, photons and spins and uses it to measure the world with a delicacy classical physics simply can’t reach.

What’s the step change? A quantum sensor doesn’t rely on bulk electronics or brute force; it relies on superposition, entanglement and other quantum states that are inherently more precise. The result is a new class of instruments that can detect the faintest magnetic fields, the tiniest vibrations, and the most subtle changes in gravity — a kind of scientific eyesight that feels almost unfair in its sharpness.

What makes quantum sensing genuinely new? Classical sensors, like rulers, are always fighting noise: thermal noise, electronic noise, environmental noise. Quantum sensors sidestep those constraints by using states of matter that are the limit — the smallest possible unit of information, the most stable possible oscillation, the purest possible signal.

Hang on-are people actually using this stuff, now, in like, August 2026? Yup: the kit is suddenly appearing in many fields: mapping quantum materials, stabilising next‑generation clocks, imaging nanoscale structures, and even probing biological systems without damaging them. It’s not an incremental upgrade; it’s a shift in what measurement science can do, when the mood takes it. [2] [3]

Why have you showcased it? because it represents science at its most elegant. Quantum sensing isn’t about building bigger machines or consuming more power; it’s about learning to see the world with new eyes. Many of the sensors themselves are tiny jewels of engineering — diamonds with engineered defects, single trapped ions, levitated nanoparticles — each one a reminder that progress sometimes comes from finesse rather than force. In a year dominated by loud technologies, quantum sensing is the quiet triumph: a discipline that turns the universe’s weirdness into clarity, and shows how much beauty there is in simply measuring the world more truthfully.

Can I buy one in my local hardware store? A: Not quite yet. Quantum sensors are still the domain of research labs, national metrology institutes and a few very specialised companies. For now, your local hardware shop will continue to offer the trusty tape measure, the spirit level and the laser rangefinder — all perfectly good tools until quantum sensing makes its way into everyday kit. Think of it as the future arriving in slow, elegant steps rather than on the shelves of B&Q.

However: Most advances in science-and the human condition- ultimately come from advances in measurement. We think this might be one such

[1] Quantum sensor – Wikipedia

[2]Quantum sensors for biomedical applications | Nature Reviews Physics

[3] Quantum Imaging and Sensing – Recent articles and discoveries | Springer Nature Link

#quantum sensor #quantum computer #nanoscale #physics #biology #technology #measurement

Round up for this week: What’s the biggest living thing. how many quantums in an atom, lupus progress-and international relations

Fungal internet Its not whales or trees:Some of the largest living things on our planet are actually vast networks of microscope white fungi growing beneath the ground on which we unthinkingly tread as The Conversation explains;

https://theconversation.com/fungal-highways-are-vast-yet-hidden-underground-new-study-285166?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversa

Don’t expect Putin to go quietly if he loses in Ukraine If you think current developments in the Russian Ukraine war might lead to a status quo ante bellum, think again ,as this prescient article from the Guardian makes clear

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/14/vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-borders-russian-president

Plant a tree in ‘73, plant some more in ‘74 was a Government slogan from our long distant youth But maybe trees won’t save us from climate change as well as we thought they might as this piece from The Guardian explains

Trees may store less planet-heating carbon than hoped, study suggests | Greenhouse gas emissions | The Guardian

A bestiary of bosons Nothing so defeats us as the vast and baffling variety of particles ,waves and other strange things that make up the modern atom .So we welcomed this article from Nature Briefing which tries to make sense of the matter

How many elementary particles are there?

Even if you know your fermions from your bosons, the actual number of fundamental particles — the electrons, quarks and other building blocks of physics — is still uncertain. From the 17 that feature on posters on classroom walls, “where you stop depends on your taste for complexity and mystery”, explains science writer Natalie Wolchover. “Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.”

Quanta | 13 min read

Lupus in remission Just before we pressed the “SEND” button, our researchers insisted that this encouraging story about a new immunological technique which seems to be turning the tide on the debilitating disease of Lupus went in, Good for them. here’s the BBC

‘I’ve never been this good’ – revolutionary immune reset puts lupus in remission – BBC News

Quote of the week

He that hasteth with his feet sinneth.” (Proverbs 19:2)

#lupus #immunology #fungi #Russia #physics #quantum physics #vladimir putin #trees

Do the Twistronics-and change the world

What happens if you take two sheets of graphene and rotate one slightly relative to the other?” It’s a question all of us must have asked ourselves at one point or another (it is?-ed) but never really found time to answer. But two remarkably intelligent men did: Allan MacDonald, a theoretical physicist who posed it; and Pablo Jarillo‑Herrero who answered it by building ultra‑clean, precisely controlled graphene heterostructures –you know: the kind of devices where quantum subtleties become visible. Well, we said they were clever! Their work, and the prize which they won for it are admirably summarised by the erudite Selva Vargas Reátegui for El País [1]

Her excellent article contains much more on the details, so read it. Suffice it to say, the discovery not only revealed all sorts of weird and wonderful properties in graphene. It actually created a whole new field of learning: Twistronics. Because researchers soon learned to twist not just bilayers as in graphene, but trilayers, multilayers, and heterostructures of many 2D materials. The field exploded because twist angle becomes a new starting point for designing quantum matter. While still early, the work hints at possibilities such as: designer superconductors, quantum simulation platforms, ultra‑sensitive sensors and novel electronic devices based on correlated phases. Ok we are a tad shaky on one or two of these ourselves, but if it helps build something to do the ironing, we’re all in.

But the real point for us is conceptual. Changing the geometry alone can utterly change the properties of a material. It feels a bit like the time when some unknown genius in Old Mesopotamia started mixing tin with copper. As small, as unexpected and as potentially world changing. Oh, and another point: economics. The more you spend on basic science and research, the more your chances rise of repeating the trick somewhere else. Leaders of the world, you have nothing to lose but your accountants.

Premio Fronteras para los descubridores del ‘ángulo mágico’ que genera supermateriales | Ciencia | EL PAÍS English speakers: you need to hit the translation button

#Twistronics #graphene #quantum physics #geometry #bronze age #materials science

Hello we’re back-and we have Nobel Prizes!

First of all, apologies for our forced and utterly unwanted absence. But Domestic Renovations, and the sorts of people who carry them out, can be as tiresome and time-consuming as any other human relationship which the Gentleman Scholar must negotiate -domestic staff mistresses and lovers, cleaners, mechanics, and countless others. All require patient listening, multiple cups of tea and hefty pay offs, if only to still their incessant demands for even a moment. But here we are back again where it counts-with you, gentle readers. And we are glad to say that we return with one of our favourite sequences of the year. It’s Nobel Prize season again. [1]

For us, the Nobel prizes are the very essence of what this blog is all about. That careful learning and scholarship are not only what lifts our lives above the miserable condition of wild apes (well, some of us): they constitute the only only possible escape route from our current plights, many of which are serious and grave. And this time we think we can prove it. with the help of three of the very winners themselves-how’s that for endorsement, ladies and gentlemen? That’s the prize which will receive our first detailed attention, in the next blog: but let’s start with a roll call of the stupendously intelligent people who have stood out this year as the cream of humanity

Physics: John Clarke Michel H Devoret John M Martins Amazing work “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit” Yup, we kind of lost too it after the fourth word in the citation, but we’ll try to understand it better in time for a later blog

Chemistry Susuma Kitagawa Richard Robson Omar M Yaghi Want to capture Carbon dioxide, water in the desert, store toxic gases and many other things? These discoveries will let you do all of them. If this isn’t right on the raison d’etre of this blog, we don’t know what is. Again, come back later for more

Physiology and/or Medicine Anything in these fields must be close to an LSS reader’s heart. So the work of Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi on the tricky world of the immune system requires our most emphatic hats-off

Literature and Peace Intelligence can be of the Emotional kind as well as the academic, as many of us discover with agonising slowness and pain. So although these subjects lie outside the remit of our blog we are proud to give honourable mentions to László Krasznahorkai and Maria Corina Machado respectively (is she a relative of Antonio Machado the famous Spanish poet, we wonder?-ed)

But finally our first next blog on this subject, as t’were, will be devoted to the patient Economics work of Joel Mokyr, Phillipe Aghion and Peter Howitt. Because finally they have shown at Nobel level, what we have believed for so long. It’s science and learning that drives the economy. Which is where we go next time.

[1] https://www.nobelprize.org/all-nobel-prizes-2025/

#nobel prizes #economics #physics #chemistry #medicine #physiology #economics

Exclusive: We reveal the only definite finding from quantum physics(and you can be certain of it)

Always believe someone who tells you that they don’t know what’s going on. Especially when that someone is one of the best trained and most intelligent people in the world. That’s why this story from Nature Briefing caught our attention as the week-ender for this session of blogs: What Does quantum Physics Mean anyway?

First sketched out a century ago, the equations at the heart of quantum mechanics underpin technologies from computer chips to medical-imaging machines. But no one seems to agree on how best to describe the physical reality that lies behind the maths. A Nature survey of more than 1,100 researchers — the largest ever on the subject — has revealed just how widely researchers vary in their interpretations of the most fundamental features of quantum experiments, and their confidence in their answers. [1]

The survey asked questions like “is there a real quantum world behind – or does all this work we’ve done only represent what’s inside our heads? What are the most favoured explanations for quantum theory? What is a wavefunction anyway? Is there a boundary between classical objects and quantum objects (i.e ,between the table you’re sitting at and the atoms it’s made from) And the answers that came back-and remember who gave them-read more like the responses to political opinion polls or market surveys about the best brands of instant custard.

From all of which we concluded the following.

1 If the brightest and the best think like this about something they have studied for decades, it suggests the rest of us might do well to be a little less opinionated on many things

2 Above all this includes certain journalists who think they know it all on things like climate change, vaccines and global warming

3 Watch the last episode of Jacob Bronowski‘s TV spectacular The Ascent of Man on You Tube. or one of the other streamers. It’s still good after 52 years [2]

4 There is still much out there to discover-as we tried to hint with our little blogs on Euler’s number and π(LSS 14 3 22; 16 4 24)

5 All knowledge exists within certain limits, and is probable. Of this last point, you may be certain

[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02342-y?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=a8d315930b-nature-briefing-daily-20250730&utm_medium=email&utm_term=

[2]https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20p9h4

#quantum physics #uncertainty principle #knowledge #reason #science #nature