The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) inaugurated today its Scientific Computing Center (C3), a new state-of-the-art supercomputing facility designed to support R&D&I projects with high demands in computation, storage and data processing. This supercomputer, ranked 81st worldwide according to the IO500 ranking, reinforces the University’s commitment to scientific and technological excellence and will be available to the UC3M research community, other research centers, and interested companies. The C3 will represent a major advance in socially impactful research in fields such as aeronautics, biology, and health sciences, among others.

A University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) study, published in Nature Communications, uncovers how enteroviruses—including those causing polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and the common cold—hijack host cell machinery to replicate. Researchers determined the structure of a cloverleaf-shaped RNA element in the viral genome bound to the viral protein 3CD, which recruits host factors to form the viral replication complex. 3CD also acts as a switch between genome copying and protein synthesis. This highly conserved mechanism across all seven enteroviruses in the study presents a stable target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that could disrupt this essential interaction and prevent replication.

 

Mutations in the ASPM gene are the most common cause of primary hereditary microcephaly in humans, a condition characterized by a severely reduced brain size. While ASPM has been studied in rodents and ferrets, these models only partially recapitulate the human condition due to significant differences in brain structure and complexity, particularly the lack of a folded cerebral cortex (gyrification). To better model human brain development, this study investigated the consequences of ASPM knockout in a non-human primate, the cynomolgus monkey.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have shown remarkable efficacy, especially in BRCA-mutant patients, and are approved as maintenance therapy to prevent recurrence after initial response to chemotherapy.

Harvard engineers, as part of Project CETI, have built an open-source bio-logger that adheres to sperm whales and records high-fidelity, multi-channel audio plus rich behavioral and environmental data. The data are tailored for machine learning analysis so that researchers can better understand whale communication.

A team at Penn State has now developed a high-speed platform capable of producing synthetic versions of brochosomes at a rate exceeding 100,000 per second, a technological achievement that could lead to next-generation camouflage, sensors and other advancements for humans. 

A new study finds that dominant baboons, compared to lower-ranked individuals, experience shorter and more fragmented sleep at night because their greater social influence and proximity to others increase night-time disturbances.

A synthetic key enzyme enables the conversion of CO₂ into formic acid

Scientists at Aarhus University have developed nanomotors inspired by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes and placed them inside artificial cells. The nanomotors drive the formation of internal protein networks resembling a cytoskeleton, giving artificial cells a life-like function previously seen only in living cells and marking a step toward self-organizing synthetic systems.