New research from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) reveals that inputs from the dorsal and ventral hippocampus converge on the same neurons in the nucleus accumbens, where they amplify each other. The study shows how the brain integrates spatial and contextual memory with motivation and reward to drive goal-directed decisions. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, it challenges the idea that these pathways operate separately and offers insight into motivation-related disorders such as depression, addiction, and anxiety.

How do nervous systems produce behaviors? A new MIT study provides a detailed mechanistic mapping of exactly what happens in the brains of C. elegans worms when they “follow their nose” to savor attractive odors or avoid unappealing ones.

Deep underground in a Canadian mine, scientists have cooled a massive refrigerator to nearly 1,000 times colder than outer space, a key milestone in the search for dark matter. The achievement enables Texas A&M-designed detectors at the core of the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment at SNOLAB in Ontario to reach the extreme sensitivity needed to spot interactions from elusive “light dark matter."

Engineers at Princeton have designed and built soft-rigid hybrid robots that move and shift without the need for motors or external pneumatic controls. To do this, the team combined a printable polymer, called a liquid crystal elastomer, with flexible electronics and folding techniques based on the art of origami.

A new study revealed that the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), a large-scale tropical disturbance that travels eastward through the tropics every 30–60 days, significantly influences climate conditions in Hawaiʻi. Their research showed that during active MJO phases, rainfall increases across the islands, especially on windward slopes. In contrast, suppressed MJO phases tend to produce drier conditions.

Conventional knowledge suggests gardeners should avoid including cultivated plants, bred for aesthetics, in pollinator gardens. Plant biologists studied how well these cultivated plants attract pollinators, compared to wildtype plants. Native wildtype plants always attracted insect pollinators, but some cultivated varieties performed just as well, showing they have ecological value in gardens. While other cultivated varieties were less attractive to pollinators, gardens with flowering plants that attract pollinators are better than grass lawns.

UC San Diego engineers have developed a new chip design that could make data centers more energy efficient by improving a critical task in electronics: converting high voltages into lower levels for use in processors.