Some Interesting Science and Technology Tidbits

TL;DR

We restart our newsletter after a break with a round up of interesting science and technology news from around the web.

Interesting Links from Around the Web

• https://spectrum.ieee.org/hot-chips: Heat dissipation on chips is an ever increasing problem with a variety of emerging solutions at both the software and hardware levels.

• https://spectrum.ieee.org/supercolliders: Interesting discussion of plans for next generation colliders for particle physics.

• https://spectrum.ieee.org/sf6-gas-replacement: Circuit breakers based on supercritical carbon dioxide could help reduce the use of fluorinated gases which contribute to global warming.

• https://spectrum.ieee.org/2d-semiconductors-molybdenum-disulfide: Chinese researchers have built a 6,000 transistor chip using molybdenum disulfide, a two dimensional material. See the published paper in Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08759-9.

• https://www.nextplatform.com/2025/04/17/stacking-up-googles-ironwood-tpu-pod-to-other-ai-supercomputers/: Google’s comparisons of El Capitan to the Ironwood TPU pod are misleading.

• https://www.quantamagazine.org/touch-our-most-complex-sense-is-a-landscape-of-cellular-sensors-20250416/: A fascinating article about the science of touch sensors.

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01264-z: Dimethyl sulfide has been detected on a distant planet, triggering claims and rebuttals about whether the signal is indicative of life.

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08700-0: Stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s have been tested in a small Phase I/II trial at Kyoto university in Japan. 7 Parkinson’s patients were implanted with iPS cells. No serious adverse events were reported in any patients. 4 of 6 patients (excluding 1 patient who was not evaluated) showed improvement in motor function during “off-time” periods. The treatment is not a panacea though, with early signs that it may be more effective in younger patients.

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08733-5: Memristors are starting to find a niche in industry with the adoption of memristive memories.

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08726-4: A fascinating proof of concept of an injectable optoelectronic pacemaker.

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08850-1: Improved liver organoids that recapitulate zones in the liver. Potentially a very interesting development for treatment of liver diseases.

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Deep Into the Forest is a newsletter by Deep Forest Sciences, Inc. Get in touch with us at partnerships@deepforestsci.com.

Credits

Author: Bharath Ramsundar, Ph.D.

Editor: Sandya Subramanian, Ph.D.