Imagine a cosmos speeding up its expansion, miniature human brains powering computers, and toxic metals forging the path of our ancestors' intelligence – that's the thrilling science scoop from this week's highlights! But here's where it gets controversial: are we on the verge of revolutionizing computing with living tissue, or is this just sci-fi come to life? Stick around to dive into discoveries that challenge what we know about the universe, our brains, and even ancient history.
This week, scientists unveiled four massive stone structures from the Late Bronze Age (https://phys.org/news/2025-10-discovery-stone-megastructures-view-prehistoric.html), which were probably built to corral wild animal herds on a grand scale. Meanwhile, physicists have shattered a fundamental rule of thermodynamics by showing it doesn't hold for tiny, quantum-connected particles (https://phys.org/news/2025-10-quantum-mechanics-trumps-law-thermodynamics.html). And get this – two Ph.D. students from Australia cracked a code to fix blurry images from the James Webb Space Telescope's Aperture Masking Interferometer (https://phys.org/news/2025-10-software-solution-image-blurring-james.html), turning fuzzy pictures into crystal-clear views.
On top of that, experts are connecting minuscule human brain organoids to create a living computer network; evolutionary biologists (https://phys.org/tags/evolutionary+biologists/) suggest that exposure to lead in the environment might have driven changes in early human brain development; and physicists have unveiled a new model (https://phys.org/tags/predictive+model/) that accounts for the universe's accelerating growth without invoking dark matter (https://phys.org/tags/dark+matter/).
Living Tissue as a Computing Powerhouse
Back in 1984, author William Gibson revolutionized science fiction with 'Neuromancer,' a tale of hackers navigating a vast digital realm in a society rife with inequality ruled by rich elites. He didn't just invent the word 'cyberspace' – he also introduced the idea of biochips made from living cells, hinting at a computing method that could outshine traditional tech.
Fast-forward to 2025, where inequality still runs rampant under the thumb of powerful oligarchs, and researchers at the Swiss startup FinalSpark have made that fiction a bit more real. They've grown small clusters of human brain cells from stem cells (https://phys.org/tags/stem+cells/) into organoids and hooked them up as basic computers (https://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-wetware-scientists-human-mini-brains.html). By attaching electrodes, they can detect electrical signals within these networks, and sending a mild jolt triggers either a burst of activity or silence – think of it as the living equivalent of binary code, with 1s and 0s.
Sure, this tech is still in its infancy, but the possibilities are exciting. Neural cells, for instance, are about a million times more energy-efficient than artificial ones, which is huge when you consider how power-intensive tasks like training advanced AI systems can be. This could pave the way for greener, smarter computing down the line. And this is the part most people miss: what if our brains' natural processes could solve problems traditional computers struggle with, like pattern recognition or creative thinking?
A Poisonous Twist in Human Evolution
Through a blend of fossil chemistry, experiments with brain organoids, and genetic studies across species, a global team of researchers posits that environmental lead exposure played a role in shaping the brains of Homo sapiens (https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-exposure-evolution-human-brain.html). While many assume lead poisoning is a recent issue from factories, it's actually been around for ages – ancient people might have ingested it by eating plants from contaminated soil, posing health risks that could have influenced their survival and evolution.
In their experiments, they tested how lead affects a key gene involved in brain development, comparing versions from modern humans and Neanderthals. The Neanderthal gene variant caused issues in brain regions like the cortex and thalamus when exposed to lead, but the human one didn't. By analyzing teeth with laser techniques, they spotted 'lead bands' in Neanderthal fossils, indicating past exposure episodes. As Renaud Joannes-Boyau from Southern Cross University puts it, 'Our findings reveal that lead wasn't limited to the Industrial Revolution – it was woven into our evolutionary story. This toxic element might have molded social behaviors and mental skills over thousands of years.'
But here's where it gets controversial: could this mean our intelligence is partly a byproduct of toxic environments? Imagine if evolutionary pressures from pollutants drove cognitive leaps – is that a silver lining in a dangerous cloud, or just a reminder of humanity's resilience?
Cracking the Code of Cosmic Expansion
The universe's accelerating expansion has puzzled astronomers for years. Why is it speeding up? If we could ditch dark matter from the equation, things might simplify. Frustrated with adding a vague 'dark energy' term to equations like Friedmann's to match observations, scientists from Bremen and Romania tried a fresh angle (https://phys.org/news/2025-10-expansion-universe.html).
They turned to the Finsler model of gravity, which builds on Einstein's general relativity and better handles gas dynamics. Plugging this into the Friedmann equations, they modeled the universe's acceleration without any dark matter. Is this a clever workaround, or a breakthrough that erases dark matter forever? And could this mean physics is finally 'solved'? We bring you the facts – you be the judge.
What do you think – will wetware computers like brain organoids transform technology as we know it, or is lead's role in evolution just an interesting footnote? Does ditching dark matter simplify the universe too much, or is it the key to understanding cosmic acceleration? Share your opinions, agreements, or disagreements in the comments below – let's spark a conversation!
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Reference: Saturday Citations: Yet another solution for universal expansion; computing with brain organoids (2025, October 18) retrieved 18 October 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-10-saturday-citations-solution-universal-expansion.html
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