The Pauli exclusion principle is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics and is essential for the structure and stability of matter. Now an international collaboration of physicists has carried out one of the most stringent experimental tests to date of this foundational rule of quantum physics and has found no evidence of its violation. Using the VIP-2 experiment, the team has set the strongest limits so far for possible violations involving electrons in atomic systems, significantly constraining a range of speculative theories beyond the Standard Model, including those that suggest electrons have internal structure, and so-called ‘Quon models.’ Their experiment, which was partially supported by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, was reported in Scientific Reports in November 2025.

An analysis of national U.S. health and diet data found a strong link between ultra-processed food consumption and cardiovascular disease. Adults whose diets were highest in ultra-processed foods—like sodas, packaged snacks, and processed meats—had a 47% higher risk of heart attack or stroke than those who ate the least, even after adjusting for other factors. The findings underscore ultra-processed foods as a major, preventable driver of heart disease and a pressing public health concern.

Researchers have developed a fully real-valued, end-to-end optical neural network chip that overcomes the physical limitation of non-negative light intensity to enable efficient, on-chip image generation.