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Robotic probe quickly measures key properties of new materials | MIT News

Scientists are striving to discover new semiconductor materials that could boost the efficiency of solar cells and other electronics. But the pace of innovation is bottlenecked by the speed at which researchers can manually measure important material properties.

A fully autonomous robotic system developed by MIT researchers could speed things up.

Their system utilizes a robotic probe to measure an important electrical property known as photoconductance, which is how electrically responsive a material is to the presence of light.

The researchers inject materials-science-domain knowledge from human experts into the machine-learning model that guides the robot’s decision making. This enables the robot to identify the best places to contact a material with the probe to gain the most information about its photoconductance, while a specialized planning procedure finds the fastest way to move between contact points.

During a 24-hour test, the fully autonomous robotic probe took more than 125 unique measurements per hour, with more precision and reliability than other artificial intelligence-based methods.

By dramatically increasing the speed at which scientists can characterize important properties of new semiconductor materials, this method could spur the development of solar panels that produce more electricity.

“I find this paper to be incredibly exciting because it provides a pathway for autonomous, contact-based characterization methods. Not every important property of a material can be measured in a contactless way. If you need to make contact with your sample, you want it to be fast and you want to maximize the amount of information that you gain,” says Tonio Buonassisi, professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of a paper on the autonomous system.

His co-authors include lead author Alexander (Aleks) Siemenn, a graduate student; postdocs Basita Das and Kangyu Ji; and graduate student Fang Sheng. The work appears today in Science Advances.

Making contact

Since 2018, researchers in Buonassisi’s laboratory have been working toward a fully autonomous materials discovery laboratory. They’ve recently focused on discovering new perovskites, which are a class of semiconductor materials used in photovoltaics like solar panels.

In prior work, they developed techniques to rapidly synthesize and print unique combinations of perovskite material. They also designed imaging-based methods to determine some important material properties.

But photoconductance is most accurately characterized by placing a probe onto the material, shining a light, and measuring the electrical response.

“To allow our experimental laboratory to operate as quickly and accurately as possible, we had to come up with a solution that would produce the best measurements while minimizing the time it takes to run the whole procedure,” says Siemenn.

Doing so required the integration of machine learning, robotics, and material science into one autonomous system.

To begin, the robotic system uses its onboard camera to take an image of a slide with perovskite material printed on it.

Then it uses computer vision to cut that image into segments, which are fed into a neural network model that has been specially designed to incorporate domain expertise from chemists and materials scientists.

“These robots can improve the repeatability and precision of our operations, but it is important to still have a human in the loop. If we don’t have a good way to implement the rich knowledge from these chemical experts into our robots, we are not going to be able to discover new materials,” Siemenn adds.

The model uses this domain knowledge to determine the optimal points for the probe to contact based on the shape of the sample and its material composition. These contact points are fed into a path planner that finds the most efficient way for the probe to reach all points.

The adaptability of this machine-learning approach is especially important because the printed samples have unique shapes, from circular drops to jellybean-like structures.

“It is almost like measuring snowflakes — it is difficult to get two that are identical,” Buonassisi says.

Once the path planner finds the shortest path, it sends signals to the robot’s motors, which manipulate the probe and take measurements at each contact point in rapid succession.

Key to the speed of this approach is the self-supervised nature of the neural network model. The model determines optimal contact points directly on a sample image — without the need for labeled training data.

The researchers also accelerated the system by enhancing the path planning procedure. They found that adding a small amount of noise, or randomness, to the algorithm helped it find the shortest path.

“As we progress in this age of autonomous labs, you really do need all three of these expertise — hardware building, software, and an understanding of materials science — coming together into the same team to be able to innovate quickly. And that is part of the secret sauce here,” Buonassisi says.

Rich data, rapid results

Once they had built the system from the ground up, the researchers tested each component. Their results showed that the neural network model found better contact points with less computation time than seven other AI-based methods. In addition, the path planning algorithm consistently found shorter path plans than other methods.

When they put all the pieces together to conduct a 24-hour fully autonomous experiment, the robotic system conducted more than 3,000 unique photoconductance measurements at a rate exceeding 125 per hour.

In addition, the level of detail provided by this precise measurement approach enabled the researchers to identify hotspots with higher photoconductance as well as areas of material degradation.

“Being able to gather such rich data that can be captured at such fast rates, without the need for human guidance, starts to open up doors to be able to discover and develop new high-performance semiconductors, especially for sustainability applications like solar panels,” Siemenn says.

The researchers want to continue building on this robotic system as they strive to create a fully autonomous lab for materials discovery.

This work is supported, in part, by First Solar, Eni through the MIT Energy Initiative, MathWorks, the University of Toronto’s Acceleration Consortium, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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July 4, 2025
Gemma 3n Introduces Novel Techniques for Enhanced Mobile AI Inference

Launched in early preview last May, Gemma 3n is now officially available. It targets mobile-first, on-device AI applications, using new techniques designed to increase efficiency and improve performance, such as per-layer embeddings and transformer nesting.

Gemma 3n uses Per-Layer Embeddings (PLE) to reduce the RAM required to run a model while maintaining the same number of total parameters. The technique consists of loading only the core transformer weights into accelerated memory, typically VRAM, while the rest of the parameters are kept on the CPU. Specifically, the 5-billion-parameter variant of the model only requires 2 billion parameters to be loaded into the accelerator; for the 8-billion variant, it’s 4 billion.

Another novel technique is MatFormer, short for Matryoshka Transformer), which allows transformers to be nested so that a larger model, e.g. with 4B parameters, contains a smaller version of itself, e.g. with only 2B parameters. This approach enables what Google calls elastic inference and allows developers to choose either the full model or its faster but fully-functional sub-model. MatFormer also support a Mix-n-Match method to let developers create intermediate-sizes versions:

This technique allows you to precisely slice the E4B model’s parameters, primarily by adjusting the feed forward network hidden dimension per layer (from 8192 to 16384) and selectively skipping some layers.

In the future, Gemma 3n will fully support elastic inference, enabling dynamic switching between the full model and the sub-model on the fly, depending on the current task and device load.

Another new feature in Gemma 3n aimed at accelerating inference is KV cache sharing, which is designed to accelerate time-to-first-token, a key metric for streaming response applications. Using this technique, which according to Google is particularly efficient with long contexts:

The keys and values of the middle layer from local and global attention are directly shared with all the top layers, delivering a notable 2x improvement on prefill performance compared to Gemma 3 4B.

Gemma 3n also brings native multimodal capabilities, thanks to its audio and video encoders. On the audio front, it enables on-device automatic speech recognition and speech translation.

The encoder generates a token for every 160ms of audio (about 6 tokens per second), which are then integrated as input to the language model, providing a granular representation of the sound context.

Google says they have observed strong results translating between English and Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. While Gemma 3n audio encoder can process arbitrarily long audios thanks to its streaming architecture, it will initially be limited to clips of up to 30 seconds at launch.

As a final note about Gemma 3n, it is worth highlighting that it supports resolutions of 256×256, 512×512, and 768×768 pixels and can process up to 60 frames per second on a Google Pixel device. In comparison with Gemma 3, it delivers a 13x speedup with quantization (6.5x without) and has a memory footprint that is four times smaller.

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July 4, 2025
Nasal COVID Vax Shows Promise in Phase 1 Clinical Trial

CINCINNATI, July 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists learned that the critical path to infection started with the SARS-CoV-2 virus invading the nasal tissues of its victims, then causing millions of deaths by spreading through the body and robbing the sickest people of their ability to breathe.

While the traditional way to administer protection has been to inject vaccines into the bloodstream, many experts called for developing a nasally delivered vaccine as a potentially more-effective approach. Now, encouraging results are in from the first human clinical trial to be conducted in the United States of a nasal COVID vaccine. Findings from the study led by an expert at Cincinnati Children’s were published July 4, 2025, in Science Advances.

“A single dose of this vaccine (CVXGA) was well tolerated. It generated a wide spectrum of specific immune responses including mucosal and systemic immune responses. Those who received the highest dose of the vaccine showed significantly lower rates of symptomatic COVID-19 infection,” says the study’s lead author, Paul Spearman, MD, a long-time leader in vaccine research and vice chair for clinical and translational research and education at Cincinnati Children’s.

The vaccine is made by the Georgia-based company CyanVac LLC, which also funded the clinical trial. Based on the promising data generated from this phase 1 trial, two larger clinical studies involving more people are underway (NCT05736835 and NCT06742281).

If these trials also prove successful, the CVXGA vaccine could join four other nasal COVID vaccines approved in other countries: two in China, one in Russia, and another in India.

Why is a nasal vaccine needed?

While the total number of deaths from COVID has declined far from the peak pandemic years, the virus has not disappeared. In fact, 663 Americans died of COVID in the 28 days ended June 15, 2025. Those deaths (which in one month exceeded the combined deaths of the three deadliest plane crashes since 2022) accounted for 67% of the 987 total deaths worldwide reported to the World Health Organization.

India (101 deaths) was the only other nation reporting more than 100 COVID deaths in this timeframe, and its population is more than four times larger than the US. The wealthy Western nation Sweden reported 22 deaths.

Since the pandemic began, the virus has mutated several times. This has required adjusting the vaccine and suggests that annual re-vaccination may be needed to prevent another pandemic. A nasal vaccine could prove both more effective medically and more tolerable for young children and adults who may fear needles.

“There is a need for improved COVID vaccines that offer more complete and durable protection,” Spearman says. “A nasal vaccine has the potential to block SARS-CoV-2 at its mucosal entry site and to reduce transmission of the virus to others.”

How effective was the nasal vaccine?

The clinical trial included 72 people who received vaccinations, with ages ranging from 12 to 53. A total of 61 participants completed the entire trial. During the period of the trial from September 2021 to May 2023, various waves of SARS-CoV-2 variant infections emerged in the US.

Participants were divided among four groups. One group received a low dose of the vaccine, which served as a control group. The other three higher dose groups included one group of adults that had never been infected or had not been vaccinated recently; a group of adults that had been recently vaccinated with a previous mRNA vaccine; and a group of teens that also had been vaccinated.

Overall, about 25% of recipients reported having a runny nose after the vaccine; 8% reported nausea. None had a fever.

The researchers found evidence that the vaccine was absorbed in the nasal tissues, and that it generated statistically significant antibody responses, as intended.

CVXGA1 produced a combined 51.9% mucosal antibody response rate across the three higher dose groups, compared to just 21.4% in the lower dose group.

The low-dose group (Group 1, enrolled from September 2021 to February 2022) had the highest overall COVID-19 infection rate: 73.3%. The other three groups had infection rates ranging from 11.1% to 22.2%. None of those found to be infected required hospital care.

The results suggest that the vaccine reduced the risk of infection by at least 67% compared to never being vaccinated before. However, definitive proof of efficacy will require larger trials designed specifically for this purpose.

What’s next?

By design, a phase 1 clinical trial involves low numbers of participants. However, the results were encouraging enough to recommend moving ahead with larger clinical trials.

The largest of the two ongoing trials (NCT06742281) seeks to enroll up to 10,016 participants by mid-2026 with the study completed by mid-2027.

SOURCE Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

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July 4, 2025
One for the bucket hat list: fans flock to Cardiff for Oasis’s first gig in 16 years | Oasis

In the front of Cardiff’s Spillers Records – the oldest record shop in the world – there is a three-by-three vinyl display of records by artists “playing locally soon!”, announced by an orange paper slip inside the plastic sleeve. Despite the mass hoopla outside in the Welsh capital – where the main drag, St Mary’s Street, is a racket of bars blasting Britpop anthems and spontaneous singalongs of Champagne Supernova are breaking out – it is still somehow astonishing to see a copy of Oasis’s 1998 compilation The Masterplan in the top left corner of the shelf.

The band’s reunion may finally be starting on Friday at the city’s Principality Stadium, but after 16 years apart, it still feels so unlikely.

Spillers’ owner, Ashli Todd, has worked at the shop for almost 30 years (and on her first day sold Robbie Williams a copy of Super Furry Animals’ debut album, Fuzzy Logic). “They [Oasis] have never gone anywhere, as far as we’re concerned, in terms of sales,” she says. “Through various phases of their career, they’ve never dwindled. I can’t think of a time where we haven’t had them in the racks. And from an industry perspective, their team do a fantastic job of keeping their records in print.”

Todd says it is “exceptionally exciting to have their tour kicking off here”, adding: “It’s bringing a lot of fans to the city, which is wonderful. I just had a father in his 50s in, who saw them in their heyday, telling me he’s taking along his teenage child, which is beautiful.”

Families are almost as prevalent as the anticipated groups of lads. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

On Friday afternoon in the city centre, there are dozens of stories like these. Families are almost as prevalent as the anticipated groups of lads. In the St David’s Dewi Sant shopping centre, a queue has formed for photographs in front of a specially installed 230-sq-ft (23-sq-metre) mural of Noel and Liam Gallagher made entirely of black and white bucket hats.

Lottie, 11, wearing a Definitely Maybe T-shirt and “Cardiff Live 25” bucket hat, is a big fan. “My dad introduced me to them,” she says “We bond over their songs.”

Her aunt Rebecca chimes in. “I first saw them here 31 years ago, at the Cardiff Astoria, while I was pregnant with him,” she says, pointing at her adult son.

Her partner recalls the ticket price, £7.50, a figure that may smart a little for reunion tour ticketholders stung by Ticketmaster’s controversial dynamic pricing policy. (Daniel and Laura, drinking outside the Traders Tavern, defend the cost of tickets. “A lot of people are making a big thing about it but hotels tonight are also £800, £900,” says Daniel. “I don’t think it’s just a Gallagher thing – it’s this day and age, unfortunately.”)

The Wonder Wall, a mural by the Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn made out of 3,000 black and white bucket hats. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

At an official pre-party at the Blue Bell pub thrown by Pretty Green, the fashion label that Liam Gallagher founded in 2009 (but no longer runs), William is wearing an Oasis Adidas T-shirt. He says has come down from the north-east of England with his dad, Steven, to celebrate his 10th birthday on Friday. For his birthday present, he is hoping they play Acquiesce, the B-side to Some Might Say. “I like the hype of it,” William says. “They both sing on it.”

Steven first saw Oasis in 2000. “I was 17 or 18,” he says. “My dad took me, so it’s come full circle.”

There is a festival atmosphere in the city, the bars overflowing with fans and blaring with Oasis anthems, creating a sonic effect down the high street that sounds like being stuck in an exhaust pipe.

Outside the Principality, Donna, a Big Issue vendor, is holding up the magazine’s dual-cover edition, Liam on one, Noel on the other, and asking buyers who they prefer. It is a trick question: the answer is in fact Donna, AKA the Queen of Cardiff, who is this month’s “My Pitch” profile on the magazine’s back page.

Bars blast out the anthems and spontaneous singalongs of Champagne Supernova fill the streets. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Phil is selling copies of the Socialist Worker newspaper, which is leading on a defence of Kneecap and Bob Vylan. He isn’t getting much interest from Oasis fans. “I don’t think there’s anything rock’n’roll about them,” he says. “Beatles rip-off band from the 90s.” The Gallaghers’ dalliances with New Labour were “runaway great branding” for both sides, Phil says.

Where, say, Bruce Springsteen concerts are a parade of fans proudly wearing vintage merchandise from gigs they saw in the 70s or 80s, most Oasis fans in Cardiff on Friday are kitted out in box-fresh items from the two official stalls the band have set up in the city, showcasing their own products and a bespoke tour collaboration with Adidas.

The vintage shops Hobos and Beyond Retro report a run on old-school Adidas track jackets (though shop staff at both independently say demand is nothing like for Lana Del Rey’s gig here last month, when white blouses and boho skirts sold out). There are warring street stalls selling knockoff bucket hats bearing the band’s song titles. “You look like a supermodel,” one vendor tells a woman umming and ahhing over a blue hat, then sings “would I lie to you?” at her.

Molly, 16, is getting a glittery transfer of Oasis on her cheek from another high street stall. After discovering Don’t Look Back in Anger, “that was it from there”, she says, citing Bonehead’s Bank Holiday as an unlikely favourite song. “I love Liam. He’s so funny. No filter.”

Most Oasis fans in Cardiff on Friday are kitted out in box-fresh items from the two official stalls. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Inside St David’s Dewi Sant, Asad, 24, is one of the staff at the official shopping centre popup, but he’s been drafted out of the shop by security to help manage a queue that snakes around an entire concourse. “It’s been very hectic but surprisingly well behaved,” he says. The shop has been playing non-stop Oasis. “Some songs I didn’t know they were by them,” he says. “I’ve been interacting with people coming from Italy, Miami, Canada – they touch this many people, it’s crazy.” Sadly, he does not have a ticket. “I wish I did.”

In the queue, Trevor, 43, and Michelle, 52, are wearing homemade Oasis T-shirts but waiting to buy some official Adidas jackets. Trevor has an immaculate version of Liam Gallagher’s most famous haircut: long sideburns, a bit spiked on the top. “I’m contractually obliged to have this haircut,” he says. “I’m Liam in a tribute band.”

It turns out that Hemel Hempstead’s own Oh-aces have their own turbulent history. “The first lineup failed,” says Michelle. “Me and Noel fell out,” says Trevor. “It’s been this lineup since January.”

It is when he puts on his stage gear and glasses and has a couple of beers that he starts to feel like Liam. Tonight, he says, “I’ll definitely be looking for some tips, but not judging.”

Fans have come from as far away as Tokyo to attend the first gig of the reunion tour. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

Outside the stadium there is another merchandise booth, where Marina, 36, and Shun, 29, are waiting holding a Japanese flag. They have flown 16 hours from Tokyo to see Oasis for the first time. It is personal for them, too. Marina translates for Shun: “He has a brother and it was not a good relationship, similar to Oasis. But they are in a band: Shun plays drums and his brother plays guitar, and they have a good relationship now. The music helps.”

At least a few fans seem to have travelled from even further away. Back in Spillers, a group of three friends are wearing T-shirts that say: “We live in desert looking for Oasis – 2025.7.5 – From Shanghai to Cardiff – 8,100km”. The trio travelled to the UK last month for their first Glastonbury and to finally see Oasis live after 20 years of being fans.

Teresa, 37, has loved the band since she was 13. “When I feel sad, their songs make it better,” she says. “The songs mean a lot – their spirit gives me the hope to meet difficult things and it can become the energy for me. I think the concert will become very important for me in my future life.”

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July 4, 2025
Study uncovers the molecular evolutionary strategies of the OxPhos system

Mitochondria are the body’s “energy factories,” and their proper function is essential for life. Inside mitochondria, a set of complexes called the oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) system acts like a biochemical assembly line, transforming oxygen and nutrients into usable energy.

Now, the study, led by the GENOXPHOS group at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and the Biomedical Research Networking Centre in the area of Frailty and Healthy Ageing (CIBERFES), and directed by Dr. José Antonio Enríquez, has revealed how this system evolved over millions of years-from the first vertebrates to modern humans. “Understanding this evolution helps explain why some genetic mutations cause rare but serious diseases that affect the OxPhos system,” say José Luis Cabrera the leading author of the study.

Published in Cell Genomics, the study describes the molecular evolutionary strategies of the OxPhos system, the main site of metabolic and energy integration in the cell. It also shows how this information can be used to identify mutations that cause disease.

Working in collaboration with Fátima Sánchez-Cabo, head of the CNIC Computational Systems Biomedicine group, the researchers analyzed the interaction between the two types of DNA that encode OxPhos proteins: nuclear DNA (inherited from both parents) and mitochondrial DNA (inherited only from the mother).

The OxPhos system, explains José Antonio Enríquez-head of the CNIC Functional Genetics of the Oxidative Phosphorylation System (GENOXPHOS) group-comprises five large protein complexes: four that transport electrons and one, called ATP synthase, that produces ATP, the cell’s molecular “fuel.”

These complexes can work individually or in combination, depending on the cell’s energy needs. Together, they are made up of 103 proteins encoded by two different genomes: nuclear and mitochondrial. While nuclear DNA changes slowly over time and gains variation through genetic mixing during reproduction, mitochondrial DNA evolves much more rapidly but is passed only through the maternal line.”

Dr. José Antonio Enríquez, GENOXPHOS Lab, CNIC

Dr. Cabrera adds that the proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA form the core of the respiratory complexes, “so proper function depends on precise compatibility between the nuclear and mitochondrial components.”

The study also introduces an innovative new tool: ConScore, a predictive index that assesses the clinical relevance of mutations in the 103 OxPhos proteins. “ConScore is based on the evolutionary divergence of these proteins across vertebrates-including primates and other mammals-and complements human population genetic data,” says Enríquez.

The authors affirm that ConScore provides a new framework for interpreting potentially pathogenic mutations, opening the door to improved diagnosis and treatment of mitochondrial diseases.

Ultimately, the researchers conclude, this study not only advances our understanding of how human cells evolved, but also brings us closer to new solutions for patients with rare genetic diseases.

Source:

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (F.S.P.)

Journal reference:

Cabrera-Alarcón, J. L., et al. (2025). Structural diversity and evolutionary constraints of oxidative phosphorylation. Cell Genomics. doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100945.

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July 4, 2025
Tim Minchin · “SONGS THE WORLD WILL NEVER HEAR” 2025 TOUR Merch now available online!

“SONGS THE WORLD WILL NEVER HEAR” 2025 TOUR MERCH’
Celebrating 20 years of FKN Hardcore Rock N Roll Nerding

If you’ve caught one (or more) of Tim’s UK 2025 shows* and wish to keep celebrating 20 years of FKN Hardcore Rock N Roll Nerding — but missed the merch stand — you’ll be glad to know the full range is now available online here.

They ship worldwide.**

*The UK 2025 tour is ongoing. There are a few tickets left for some of the remaining shows.

**Aussies: it will also be available at venues when Tim tours in Australia later this year.

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July 4, 2025
Preorder the new Nothing Phone 3 at Amazon and get double the storage and $100 off

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

Amazon Prime Day kicks off next week on Tuesday, July 8, but one of the best early mobile offers I’ve seen is already here. That’s right — you don’t need to be a Prime member to snag these savings, and this smartphone is already under $1,000.

The new Nothing Phone 3 just launched (seriously, our expert is still in London post-launch party), and Amazon already has a tempting preorder offer.

Also: The best Prime Day tech deals

If you preorder the Nothing Phone 3 on Amazon, you can scoop up the 512GB model for $799. That’s a $100 discount on the 16 + 512GB model, and a chance to swipe up double the storage for the same price as the 12+ 256GB model, which is also available for preorder for $799. You save $100, get twice the storage, and get the new Nothing Phone 3 when it ships on July 15.

Expert Prakhar Khanna says that Nothing’s new flagship phone is the brand’s most expensive and risky product yet. “At $799, the Nothing Phone 3 no longer undercuts its midrange competitors. Instead, the handset takes on the likes of the iPhone Pro, Pixel Pro, and Galaxy S phones of the world with a striking design, functional AI features, and fine software tuning,” he says.

Also: I tried the controversial Android phone that’s got the internet buzzing – and left impressed

Khanna got a first-look at the new device at Nothing’s launch party in London this week, and he says it’s “poised to make a splash” in a competitive mobile market.

The display on the Nothing Phone 3.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

At 218 grams, Khanna says the new Phone 3 isn’t the heaviest flagship phone. It features flat sides with curved corners and a glass design that he says feels ergonomic to hold. It also supports IP68 dust and water resistance.

The phone features a 6.67-inch LTPS AMOLED display, which goes from 30Hz to 120Hz instead of going all the way down to 1Hz like LTPO panels. Khanna says the latter is more battery efficient, but that the Phone 3’s 5,150mAh battery should last a whole day.

Also: I’m a phone expert, and you won’t want to miss these July 4th phone deals

Unlike other flagships, the Nothing Phone 3 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, which doesn’t have the new Oryon CPU cores. The Nothing flagship features three 50MP cameras on the back and a 50MP selfie camera on the front. The Nothing Phone 3 also supports TrueLens Engine 4, which is said to process photos 125% faster than the previous Phone 2. It also helps improve HDR performance, real-time scene segmentation, lower noise, and smoother motion.

It runs Android 15-based Nothing OS and is promised to get Android 16 later this year. Khanna says it’s also housing some handy AI features, like Essential Space, which holds everything that you record with the Essential Key, plus new features like Flip to Record, which records and transcribes audio recordings when you put the phone face down.

Intrigued by Nothing’s latest release? Preorder the Nothing Phone 3 for a double storage upgrade and $100 savings at Amazon while you can.

Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.

How I rated this deal

This $100 savings offer translates to 11% savings, which isn’t typically a great deal. However, this phone releases July 15 and is brand new to the market, so it’s a first-time discount on a freshly launched product. Plus, when you factor in that the phone is already under $1,000 and the larger, 512GB model is selling for $799, it’s a pretty good bargain. While the 256GB model isn’t on sale, you can take advantage of a double the storage offer by grabbing the 512GB model for the same $799 price, boosting your storage and essentially saving you $100. Due to these factors, I’ve bumped up this first-time offer to a 4/5 Editor’s deal rating.

While many sales events feature deals for a specific length of time, deals are on a limited-time basis, making them subject to expire anytime. ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best offers to help you maximize your savings so you can feel as confident in your purchases as we feel in our recommendations. Our ZDNET team of experts constantly monitors the deals we feature to keep our stories up-to-date. If you missed out on this deal, don’t worry — we’re always sourcing new savings opportunities at ZDNET.com.

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We aim to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on product reviewers, and 10,000 square feet of lab space to ensure we bring you the best of tech.

In 2025, we refined our approach to deals, developing a measurable system for sharing savings with readers like you. Our editor’s deal rating badges are affixed to most of our deal content, making it easy to interpret our expertise to help you make the best purchase decision.

At the core of this approach is a percentage-off-based system to classify savings offered on top-tech products, combined with a sliding-scale system based on our team members’ expertise and several factors like frequency, brand or product recognition, and more. The result? Hand-crafted deals chosen specifically for ZDNET readers like you, fully backed by our experts.

Also: How we rate deals at ZDNET in 2025

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July 4, 2025
Copilot chatbot on Windows 11 and 10 can now search local files • Mezha.Media

Microsoft has begun rolling out a long-awaited feature to Copilot for Windows 11 and Windows 10, allowing the AI assistant to search for files stored locally or synced via OneDrive. Previously, this feature was only available to Windows Insiders, but is now available to all Copilot users, reports Windows Latest.

Copilot’s File Search feature uses Windows Search indexing to find documents by name, type, or date. Microsoft Office formats (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), PDF, text files, and more are supported. However, developer-specific extensions, such as .dart, are not currently supported.

By default, Copilot only has access to the Documents and Downloads folders, but the search scope can be customized in Windows permissions settings. To activate the feature, users need to enable it in Copilot settings. Microsoft deliberately did not enable it by default for privacy reasons.

Microsoft says the feature will be rolling out gradually over several weeks and does not require a Copilot Pro subscription. The company sees local file search as a natural extension of Copilot’s desktop integration, helping users quickly find and interact with documents without leaving the chat interface.

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July 4, 2025
Is RNA Hiding a Secret Code? The Mysterious World of Epitranscriptomics

Introduction – The Unfinished Story of RNA

In a recent lecture on RNA Biology by Dr. Fazal Adnan, the Head of the Department at Atta Ur Rahman School of Applied Biosciences in Islamabad, presented an intriguing illustration (see Figure 1), that truly ignited curiosity among all of us students. This captivating image not only piqued scientific curiosity but also inspired a deeper conversation about human molecular biology and its evolution. It made me reflect on both the incredible advancements we have made in the past and appreciate the journey of discovery that has brought us to where we are today.

It is a widely accepted practice to express gratitude to our ancestors for their contributions in advancing civilization and transforming our way of life. But what if I tell you that our bodies have a similar practice. Just like we honor those who came before us, our cells remember past infections through integrating invader sequences in our genome, helping our cells recognize and combat similar threats in the future. Isn’t that incredible? It’s a fascinating dance of human evolution alongside the evolution of microbes. So, who’s the smarter one in this partnership? Well, this is about the untold story of RNA biology that has revolutionized our understanding of molecular defense. Let’s dive into it.

A recent article published in Nature raised a critical question: Why is RNA structure so difficult to predict? While many bioinformatics platforms have successfully tackled protein analysis, they fall short in RNA prediction. This discrepancy highlights a significant challenge in our field, and we must delve into this question, as understanding RNA structure is key to advancing our knowledge in molecular biology and therapeutics.

For many years, RNA has served as an intermediary component within the framework of the central dogma of molecular biology. Then the discovery of ribozymes, the identification of RNA as a catalyst, and the understanding of the RNA world hypothesis have significantly heightened scholarly interest in the study of RNA.

The true importance of RNA began to shine through in 1974, when groundbreaking research unveiled its remarkable ability to self-modify. This unique trait allows RNA to carry out crucial functions that help safeguard the integrity of the cell and its entire cellular system. This process of regulation through inducing chemically modified tags annotates the sequence to functionalize and generate a desired product. The Accumulation of sequences from past generations has aided in the evolution of the genome to increase its fitness. This fascinating interplay reveals just how adaptable and vital RNA is to life itself.

This has led to the emergence of Epitrancriptomics, which encompasses post-transcriptional modifications that do not affect the base sequence. These modifications have significant implications for the final structure, stability, and translation efficiency of RNA molecules. These chemical modifications control gene expression beyond the DNA sequence.

Cracking The RNA Code: What Is Epitranscriptomics?

The genetic code can be likened to a language that narrates the experiences and resilience of human beings throughout their lives (see Figure 2). This code, composed of the four nucleotides adenine (A), uracil (U), guanine (G), and cytosine (C), conveys essential biological information. Furthermore, RNA modifications function as grammatical rules that enhance and clarify the meanings conveyed by the genetic sequence. To date, over 170 distinct types of RNA modifications have been identified across various forms of RNA, underscoring the intricate nature of genetic regulation. These modifications are not just static; they’re dynamic and reversible, tightly orchestrated by specialized enzymes. You can think of them as the storytellers in this biological tale: where “writers“(METTL3, METTL14) introduce transformative edits, “erasers“ (FTO, ALKBH5) refine them, and “readers” (YTHDF1, YTHDF2, IGF2BP1) interpret their significance. Embracing this complexity opens up a deeper understanding of the full spectrum of genetic expression.

Epitranscriptomics is an intriguing RNA editing mechanism that sets itself apart from epigenetics. While epigenetics focuses on how chemical modifications influence gene expression, epitranscriptomics delves into the realm of RNA itself. It’s a fascinating layer of gene regulation that actively transforms the RNA message, shaping its destiny in unique ways. Imagine the power of writing directly on RNA, altering its fate and function; this is the dynamic world of epitranscriptomics!

Many different chemical changes can happen to RNA, but N6-methyladenosine stands out as a very important molecular switch. This modification plays a critical role, allowing the cell to adapt to its dynamic needs.

On the other hand, alterations like acetylation and pseudouridylation improve RNA’s regulatory capabilities even more. They increase the stability of the molecule, enhance its ability to fold, and maintain the integrity of its intricate two- and three-dimensional structures. Because of its crucial function in post-transcriptional control, this vast panorama of alterations highlights the immense complexity and distinctiveness of RNA. A relevant question is raised: might these RNA alterations play a significant role in clarifying the mechanisms behind aging, disease, and evolutionary processes? A pertinent inquiry arises: could these RNA modifications serve as key factors in elucidating the mechanisms underlying disease, aging, and evolutionary processes?

The Groundbreaking Discoveries That Changed RNA Biology

The epitranscriptomics and its application in research and development have opened new avenues and have answered some of the important questions on evolution and the role of molecular agents in it. The most significant application is the development of technology to map all the chemical modifications on the transcriptome, which can tell a lot about human health and disease and the adaptive trails a cell undergoes. For example, if we want to study cancer, we can check for RNA alterations, to seek specific modifications specific to that pathogenesis could help to develop novel targets for drug development and understanding how a cell undergoes dysfunction.

One of the most significant and potent examples is the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, where chemical alterations have been made to mRNA coding for the protein of interest, increasing the vaccine efficacy while minimizing the unwanted immune reactions. This is the way that understanding chemical modifications for safety profiles of many potent vaccines and therapeutic drugs accelerates the research advancement and provides a novel platform to tackle critical health concerns.

The Living and the Dead Li’s Elements

Historically, the epitranscriptomic encompasses the chemical changes such as methylation, acetylation, and pseudouridinylation, but now it has added some new modes of changes. Xiong et al reported that this region also includes RNA control by retrotransposition, which is assisted by the m6A alteration. These retrotransposons provide prospective targets for RNA modification.

A study by Dominissini et al distinguishes between “living” (retrotranspositionally competent) and “dead” (retrotranspositionally incompetent) L1 components where data indicates that m6A enhances the activity of functional “living” L1 sequences while simultaneously serving a significant role for “dead” L1 sequences. These “dead” L1 sequences can influence the host organism by inhibiting genes that typically suppress the transposition of “living” L1s. Moreover, these alterations exhibit non-random characteristics and are preserved, signifying that their involvement in retrotransposition represents a strategic framework designed to promote genomic stability and foster functional diversity.

VIP pass to tiny RNA molecules

Small RNAs, known for their existence in plants and traditional therapeutic practices, face considerable obstacles when they travel through the human digestive system. These small compounds are naturally delicate and have difficulty passing through the membranes, which causes their degradation through the body’s surveillance system, before they can induce their potential effects. Despite facing numerous challenges, the remarkable potential of these biomolecules to transform various aspects is truly promising and should not be overlooked.

Guo et al performed research on Ban Zhi Liana, a herb in traditional Chinese medicine where the isolated crude extract contains the specifically modified small RNAs. These are natural, particularly the two fascinating types: 2′-O-methylation (2′-O-Me) and N6-methyladenosine (m6A). Furthermore, the investigation has also found an additional modification known as 5-methylcytidine (m5C); however, this particular modification did not demonstrate the same exceptional advantages as the others. These findings offer a promising perspective on the potential of natural compounds to advance health and therapeutic applications.

The Next Frontier: Can We Hack RNA Modifications for Medicine?

In the above mentioned context, the field of epitranscriptomics is rapidly evolving, providing great opportunities for revealing previously unknown facts within scientific inquiry. Looking ahead, we may anticipate the development of novel instruments and assays, which will pave the way for further in-depth study in RNA biology, covering topics such as aging and cancer, allowing the detection of changes at the individual cell level. Such breakthroughs will allow us to monitor organ health with great accuracy. The advancement of knowledge and technologies to map all chemical changes in a transcriptome will enable the screening of lethal and healthy tags, and techniques to restore them. Here, CRISPR-based tools are transforming the utilization of chemical tags from diagnostics to therapeutics, allowing researchers to add or remove critical modifications with precision. This advancement is laying the groundwork for next-generation theragnostics, in which physicians may one day be able to address diseases by directly targeting RNA and making diagnostics more sensitive and precise.

We are just beginning to unlock the mysteries of RNA and its critical role in understanding how our bodies function. In the not-so-distant future, we will gain insights into how our bodies heal, all thanks to the fascinating world of RNA biology. It’s an exciting time to be part of this journey.

References

Bhat, S. S., Bielewicz, D., Jarmolowski, A., & Szweykowska-Kulinska, Z. (2018). N6-methyladenosine (m6A): Revisiting the Old with Focus on New, an Arabidopsis thaliana Centered Review. Genes, 9(12), 596. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9120596

Cerneckis, J., Ming, G.-L., Song, H., He, C., & Shi, Y. (2024). The rise of epitranscriptomics: Recent developments and future directions. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 45(1), 24–38. https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/fulltext/S0165-6147(23)00254-7

Dominissini, D., Moshitch-Moshkovitz, S., Schwartz, S., Salmon-Divon, M., Ungar, L., Osenberg, S., Cesarkas, K., Jacob-Hirsch, J., Amariglio, N., & Kupiec, M. (2012). Topology of the human and mouse m6A RNA methylomes revealed by m6A-seq. Nature, 485(7397), 201–206. https://idp.nature.com/authorize/casa?redirect_uri=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11112&casa_token=998Qh-5Va2cAAAAA:InO38ZnffREIuw_ScTtRKxGpwzFdbabgd0mQRmMDeDoJIkshEt5L39MG4Lc2K_sXGYe8FtxUM293sYqm0g

Guo, S., Li, Z., Li, X., Liang, Z., Zhao, D., Sun, N., Liu, J., Wang, X., Mei, S., & Qiao, X. (2025). 2′-O-methylation and N6-methyladenosine enhance the oral delivery of small RNAs in mice. Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids. https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/nucleic-acids/fulltext/S2162-2531(25)00128-3

Kwon, D. (2025). RNA function follows form-why is it so hard to predict? Nature, 639(8056), 1106–1108. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40128371/

Xiong, F., Wang, R., Lee, J.-H., Li, S., Chen, S.-F., Liao, Z., Hasani, L. A., Nguyen, P. T., Zhu, X., & Krakowiak, J. (2021). RNA m6A modification orchestrates a LINE-1–host interaction that facilitates retrotransposition and contributes to long gene vulnerability. Cell Research, 31(8), 861–885. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-021-00515-8

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