Researchers have developed a new algorithm that combines two processes for personalizing robotic prosthetic devices to both optimize the movement of the prosthetic limb and – for the first time – also help a human user’s body engage in a more natural walking pattern. The new approach can be used to help restore and maintain various aspects of user movement, with the goal of addressing health challenges associated with an amputation.

Different artists create different art, a new study has confirmed. Adults and children were asked to recreate a famous Jackson Pollock painting, and researchers analyzed the characteristics. They found artists of different ages created paintings with distinct characteristics, and that children’s paintings shared more similarities with artworks by some of the most famous expressionists of the last century than adults’. They also found that characteristics typical of children’s and expressionists’ paintings may make art more pleasant to look at, which could be due to humans’ million-year-long exposure to similar shapes and patterns in nature.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly transforming scientific research, with researchers across multiple areas of physics leading the development and application of these tools. To meet the needs of this fast-growing research community, the American Physical Society is launching PRX Intelligence, a highly selective open access journal that will welcome manuscripts on AI and machine learning methods and their application to advance scientific understanding. The journal will accept submissions starting February 2026.

A new meta-analysis led by researchers in Japan investigates whether lithium (LIT) supplementation can slow cognitive decline in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Building on preclinical evidence of LIT’s neuroprotective effects, the study systematically evaluates data from six randomized controlled trials to clarify its clinical potential. The findings aim to shed light on whether LIT, long used in psychiatry, could play a future role in MCI or AD prevention or treatment.