This article describes the structure-mapping engine (SME) and its relation to psychological theory and research. SME was created in 1986 as a simulation of structure-mapping theory (SMT) and is still in use, both on its own and as part of larger scale simulations such as CogSketch and Companion that capture analogy’s roles in other cognitive processing. Over the 4 decades since artificial intelligence

Fear extinction is foundational to exposure therapy; therefore, the study of strategies to optimize fear extinction is relevant for clinical practice. This article provides a critical review of translational research on pharmacological enhancement of fear extinction, concentrating mostly on d-cycloserine, the agent with the most extensive evidence base across levels of analyses. Despite early promise

Several years ago, the world was stunned when the cute robot HitchBOT was destroyed. Does empathy for robots—sharing experiences and feeling compassion—make sense for humans? How do people empathize with robots, and what are the ethical and practical implications of doing so? How do people react when robots seem to be empathizing with them? In this review, we detail empirical work on empathy for robots

There is great public concern about the potential use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for political persuasion and the resulting impacts on elections and democracy1-6. We inform these concerns using pre-registered experiments to assess the ability of large language models to influence voter attitudes. In the context of the 2024 US presidential election, the 2025 Canadian federal election

Extrusive and cohesive cohesin cooperate to repair double-strand breaks in DNA.

Reorganization could shift mission of the largest U.S. funder of physical sciences.

The structure of the bacterial genotoxin colibactin bound to DNA shows how it might contribute to cancer risk.

New York state is building AI-ready machines for researchers who lack access to federal or corporate supercomputers.

Big Pharma maker won't bring drug to market for crippling disease.

Loss of federal support leads to staff layoffs and fewer committees of outside experts.

Animal studies-and controversial human surgeries-aim to boost fluid clearance to fight neurological disease.

Studies finger specific immune response that helps some people control the virus without drugs.

Risk assessment is needed for China's new conviction standards based on monetary value.

Medical testing and devices must be reimagined to combat ableism, argues a disability scholar.

Quantum mechanics has gone from a theory in test to becoming the foundation of new technologies.

An evolutionary biologist invites readers to travel back in time to meet humanity's distant ancestors.

According to the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory, the transition from a solid to liquid in two dimensions proceeds through an orientationally ordered liquid-like hexatic phase. However, alternative mixed melting scenarios, in which melting proceeds through the hexatic phase with both continuous and discontinuous transitions, have also been observed in some two-dimensional systems

Cohesin folds genomes into chromatin loops, the roles of which are under debate. We found that double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce de novo formation of chromatin loops in human cells, with the loop base positioned at the DSB site. These loops form in the S and G 2 phases of the cell cycle during homologous recombination repair, concomitantly with DNA end resection and radiation-sensitive protein 51

Mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells mediate tissue homeostasis and antimicrobial immunity. However, the cells that express MHC class I-related protein 1 (MR1) and present microbial vitamin B-derived antigens (VitBAg) to MAIT cells remain unknown. We found that MR1 expression varied across tissues and cell types. Macrophages from the lung and peritoneal cavity expressed the highest levels of

The structure and interaction networks of molecules within biomolecular condensates are poorly understood. Using cryo–electron tomography and molecular dynamics simulations, we elucidated the structure of phase-separated chromatin condensates across scales, from individual amino acids to network architecture. We found that internucleosomal DNA linker length controls nucleosome arrangement and histone

The synthesis of human genomes and other gigabase-scale genomes will require new strategies. Here, we realized key steps in our pipeline for building synthetic human chromosomes. We established: (i) the facile transfer of human chromosomes from human cells to mouse embryonic stem cells (assembly cells), where they are haploid, are nonessential, and may be operated on; (ii) the transfer of these human

Accumulating evidence has connected the chemically unstable, DNA-damaging gut bacterial natural product colibactin to colorectal cancer, including the identification of mutational signatures that are thought to arise from colibactin-DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs). However, we currently lack direct information regarding the structure of this lesion. In this work, we combined mass spectrometry and

The plant cell wall regulates development through spatiotemporal modulation of its chemical and mechanical properties. Pectin methylesterification is recognized as a rheological switch controlling wall stiffness. Here, we reveal a bimodal methylesterification pattern in the shoot meristem: Mature walls exhibit high methylesterification, whereas demethylesterified pectins are deposited at new cross

Whether Nanotyrannus lancensis represents a distinct taxon or an immature Tyrannosaurus rex is a decades-long controversy. The N. lancesis holotype is an isolated skull and ceratobranchials, but limb osteohistology of Nanotyrannus -like individuals implies that these individuals were immature Tyrannosaurus , suggesting that the Nanotyrannus holotype is also immature. We demonstrate that ceratobranchial

There are widespread fears that conversational artificial intelligence (AI) could soon exert unprecedented influence over human beliefs. In this work, in three large-scale experiments ( N = 76,977 participants), we deployed 19 large language models (LLMs)—including some post-trained explicitly for persuasion—to evaluate their persuasiveness on 707 political issues. We then checked the factual accuracy

Electrically driven dielectric elastomer artificial muscles represent a transformative advancement in the field of soft robotics. However, their output performance has encountered a bottleneck owing to the insufficient electromechanical sensitivity of dielectric elastomers. We present a hetero-cross-linking–induced phase separation strategy to design semiseparated biphasic bicontinuous dielectric elastomers

Quantum technologies have made impressive progress over the past decade. In some areas, such as quantum sensing and key distribution, these technologies are moving from the laboratory to enable real-world applications. However, for areas such as quantum computing, entanglement-enhanced sensing, and a global quantum internet, we are in an equivalent of the early transistor age, and hardware breakthroughs

High-yielding forage grasslands frequently comprise low species diversity and receive high inputs of nitrogen fertilizer. To investigate multispecies mixtures as an alternative strategy, the 26-site international ‘LegacyNet’ experiment systematically varied the diversity of sown grasslands using up to six high-yielding forage species (grasses, legumes, and herbs), managed under moderate nitrogen inputs

Commercializing perovskite photovoltaics requires overcoming three critical barriers: the use of toxic solvents in manufacturing, variations in perovskite film quality across large areas, and limited operational reliability. Here, we address these challenges by developing a green solvent–based (γ-valerolactone/2-methyl tetrahydrofuran/dimethylsulfoxide) ink and a solvent-confinement edge-protection

Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is essential for genome stability, and defective repair underlies diseases such as cancer. Homologous recombination uses an intact homologous sequence to faithfully restore damaged DNA, yet how broken DNA ends find homologous sites in a genome containing billions of bases remains unclear. Here, we introduce sister-pore-C, a high-resolution method to

We describe a compositionally guided structural evolution within a stoichiometrically conserved framework, BaSbQ 3 (Q = Te 1− x S x ), where each value of x gives rise to a distinct phase. The fundamental building blocks, A 1 (BaSbSTe 2 ) and B n (Ba n Sb n S n −1 Te 2 n +1 ), were composed of modular double rocksalt slabs stacked with functional polytelluride zigzag chains, with each

Psychological theories are often expressed verbally using natural language, which may lead to varying interpretations of the phenomenon under study. This potential confusion can be mitigated by formalizing verbal theories using mathematical language, which can help in defining, analyzing, and interpreting one's hypotheses in quantitative terms. Differential equations (DEs) are a class of models in

This study investigates the dynamics of semantic associations by exploring the interplay between continuity and direction in a geometric semantic space. While acknowledging the role of continuity in guiding associations, our work introduces Direction as a crucial factor influencing transitions. Conceptually, we define the stream of associations as movement along a sequence of objects, with attention

People often rationalize their choices, reassessing selected options as more positive after choosing them. This article proposes that this type of rationalization does not arise from the act or self-perception of choosing (as previously thought), but rather from accepting the outcome, characterized by the degree to which it feels resolved and settled. It builds on a dissonance-reduction account of

One of the most common method of eliciting false memories in the laboratory is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995), where participants study a set of items that are all similar to a nonpresented critical lure. A common finding is that false recognition to critical lures is much higher than to other nonpresented items and in some cases is even comparable to

The social identity approach provides an innovative theoretical framework to understand the systemic nature and determinants of weight stigma and discrimination. Integrating existing evidence, we discuss the need for social identity-informed interventions to support the health of people with higher weight and increase advocacy for equity among higher weight and advantaged groups. We outline how interventions

We use cultural evolutionary models to examine how individual experiences and culturally inherited information jointly shape risk-taking behavior under environmental uncertainty. We find that learning processes not only generate considerable variation in risk beliefs and behaviors, but also that conservative learning strategies-emphasizing the preservation of generational knowledge-excel in high-risk

This article introduces the linguistic active inference theory, which proposes that inner speech augments the brain's predictive processes by transforming prior expectations and sensorimotor predictions to help reduce prediction error and uncertainty. By leveraging language's unique properties-its efficiency in representing sensorimotor information, its ability to extend across time and space, and

Neutrinos are the most abundant fundamental matter particles in the Universe and play a crucial part in particle physics and cosmology. Neutrino oscillation, discovered about 25 years ago, shows that the three known species mix with each other. Anomalous results from reactor and radioactive-source experiments1 suggest a possible fourth neutrino state, the sterile neutrino, which does not interact through