Materials resembling magnets exhibit internal spirals that can solely be controlled with circularly polarized lasers.
Andrew Ostrovsky/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Scientists have successfully regulated the behavior of a previously elusive material, akin to magnetism, which may eventually lead to improved hard drives.
When a bar magnet is introduced to a magnetic field, it rotates due to that influence. However, materials characterized by a property called strong axis remain stationary under all known magnetic fields. Recently, Zeng Zhiyang and his team at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Mechanics of Matter in Germany discovered a method to manipulate strong-axis properties using lasers.
A conventional magnetic material is often thought of as a collection of many small bar magnets. Zeng explains that for strong-axis materials, it is more accurate to envision a group of dipoles (two opposing charges separated by a small distance) swirling in a minor spiral. He and his team realized they could control these vortices with laser pulses containing a specific swirl.
The researchers adjusted the laser to emit circularly polarized light. Upon striking a strong-axis material (specifically a compound made of rubidium, iron, molybdenum, and oxygen), it induced rotation in the material’s atoms, altering the dipole’s direction of motion.
Team member Michael Forst from the Max Planck Institute for Structure and Mechanics of Matter remarked that while it has been established that light can effectively control materials—transforming conductors into insulators and vice versa—tailoring light’s properties for material control has presented a significant technical challenge.
“This serves as a strong proof of concept,” notes Theo Rasing at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He adds that this material adds to the growing array of options for constructing more efficient and stable memory devices, such as hard drives that store information in electromagnetic charge patterns.
However, the current experiments necessitate cooling the material to approximately -70°C.°C (-94°F). Additionally, because the team’s laser was relatively large, Forst indicates that more development is required before a practical device can realistically be constructed.
Statin usage is on the rise, with the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Care (Nice) reporting that in October 2024, around 5.3 million people in the UK were using statins or cholesterol-lowering medications in the previous year.
This figure has nearly tripled since 2015/2016, now reflecting almost 10% of the nation’s population. Likewise, statin usage is also increasing worldwide.
Doctors prescribe statins primarily to prevent heart disease, the leading cause of death globally. These medications lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol—the “bad” cholesterol that contributes to artery clogging—by aiding the liver in cholesterol production and blood extraction.
While statins effectively prevent heart attacks and strokes, there are still questions individuals have before commencing treatment.
Consider inquiries like: If my cholesterol is high, should I take statins? Could I improve my condition through diet and exercise first? What side effects might I experience when I start taking statins?
The answers to the first two questions are ultimately the same: the decision rests with you.
How to Determine if Statins are Right for You
The choice to begin statin therapy should be made alongside a healthcare provider, considering not just cholesterol levels, but the overall risk of heart disease.
This involves evaluating other risk factors such as blood pressure, family history, and even geographic location.
As Julie Ward, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, explains, your physician will use all available information to calculate your individual cardiovascular risk score.
“Once we have that cardiovascular risk score, we can initiate a discussion on measures to reduce that risk,” Ward states. “It’s about individuals [doctors] or pharmacists communicating, ‘This is your cardiovascular risk. We recommend starting you on a statin.’
The initial conversation may focus on lifestyle modifications, such as healthier eating habits and smoking cessation. You can assess your risk with an online calculator like this one. A higher 10-year risk score indicates a greater likelihood of needing to discuss statin therapy.
After a few months, you may visit the calculator again to see if your risk has changed, and perhaps determine that your risk is low enough to pursue dietary changes and exercise instead. But what if the recommendation for statins remains strong?
Statins are Safe and Effective
It’s natural to feel apprehensive about starting a potentially lifelong medication.
However, scientific research may provide reassurance; ample evidence highlights the effectiveness of statins in preventing heart disease, says Professor James Shepherd, a Health Data Scientist at the University of Oxford.
“Statins are arguably the most studied medication in medical history,” he points out. “Numerous clinical trials have examined their effects.”
Additionally, researchers have compiled the results of numerous trials to bolster the evidence surrounding statins.
For instance, in 2015, researchers from Cochrane, a distinguished medical review publisher, synthesized data from nearly 39,000 individuals who participated in 296 trials assessing Atorvastatin, the most commonly prescribed statin.
Their comprehensive review revealed that taking atorvastatin for up to 12 weeks reduced LDL cholesterol by 37-52%, depending on the dosage.
What’s the impact of statins on the risk of death from heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues? The answer largely depends on individual circumstances.
A recent review from early 2025 indicated a risk reduction ranging from 20% to 62%, with higher percentages for individuals in high-risk groups. This represents significant savings for medications costing less than £2 (around $2.50) per 28 tablets.
However, it’s essential to understand how to interpret numbers for your own decision-making.
In large-scale trials, efficacy is often expressed in relative terms, indicating the difference compared to those not taking statins.
As Shepherd emphasizes, “For real-world treatment decisions, the absolute risk is what matters most.”
For example, if a statin reduces the risk of a heart attack by 20%, a patient with a 1% absolute risk (or cardiovascular risk score) sees their risk drop from 1% to 0.8%.
In contrast, those with risk scores above 10% can realize significantly greater benefits.
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Side Effects Vary
While we know statins are effective, what about the negative aspects related to side effects?
“Previous reporting has skewed public perception,” reveals Ward. “Yet, research demonstrates that side effects are minimal, and statins are well-tolerated by most patients.”
This is supported by findings from Shepherd and his team, detailed in a 2021 study that reviewed side effects across 62 trials involving over 120,000 participants, revealing only “a small number” reported issues.
Approximately 15 out of every 10,000 individuals experienced muscle pain and related symptoms, while liver, kidney, and eye abnormalities were even less prevalent.
When patients discontinue statin use, it is often linked to side effects. So, what’s behind this?
A different 2021 study suggests that the perceived side effects may be associated with the act of taking medication rather than their actual occurrence.
In that research, 60 participants received a month’s supply of different medications—some statins, some placebos—without knowing which was which. A year later, researchers noted more symptoms as patients were taking medication compared to nothing at all, with 90% of those experiencing side effects from statins also reporting symptoms while on the placebo.
Adjusting Dosage or Medication
If you encounter side effects, it’s essential to communicate these with your doctor instead of just enduring them.
For instance, atorvastatin can be prescribed in doses ranging from 10 to 80 mg per day. Side effects are often dose-dependent; hence, 80 mg is more likely to induce issues than 10 mg, though a lower long-term dose is usually possible.
“If someone has high cholesterol, they may start at 80 mg,” explains Ward. “If they’re managing well in a few months, we might lower it to 40 mg, and potentially down to 20 or 10 mg later on, transitioning to a maintenance dose.”
Alternatively, switching medications can also be effective. In the UK, five different statins are available, all functioning similarly, though atorvastatin is often regarded as the most effective.
“If someone previously took a higher dose of a different statin, a doctor could prescribe atorvastatin at a lower dosage that could achieve similar cholesterol-lowering effects with fewer side effects,” Shepherd adds.
In rare cases, taking statins may lead to more serious issues affecting the liver and kidneys, which is why regular blood tests are crucial for monitoring.
Individuals with diabetes might be concerned regarding findings suggesting that statins can elevate blood sugar levels.
Nevertheless, the cholesterol-lowering benefits are believed to outweigh the minimal increases in blood glucose.
In conclusion, taking statins is a personal choice. If you have concerns, consider discussing them with a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation or explore resources on cholesterol at Heart UK.
About Our Experts
Julie Ward is a senior heart nurse at the British Heart Foundation.
Professor James Shepherd is a health data scientist at the University of Oxford, focusing on cardiovascular disease prevention. His work has been featured in General UK magazines, BMC Medical Research Methodology, and BMJ Open.
Drugs are rarely famous, and even more rarely superstars, but with his ability to grab headlines, Ozempic is the Taylor Swift of pharmaceuticals. So what exactly is behind that star power? Even as the drug and its derivatives become more widespread, researchers are racing to figure out how they work.
“We are seeing an incredible amount of benefits,” he says. Stephen Dayan at the University of Illinois. “It's early days, but these drugs look like they're going to change not only medicine, but the entire economy.”
Because most drugs treat only one or two symptoms, “cures” that promise to address all ailments are usually met with skepticism and suspicion. Ozempic seems to be bucking that trend. Wegovy, a version of Ozempic approved for weight loss last year. Reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke An increase of almost 20%. The emergence of “Ozempic pregnancy” suggests Fertility benefits. People started noticing its positive effects on depression and anxiety. In May, Results showed that it also reduced the risk of kidney failure Deaths in diabetic patients were also observed during the three-year trial. In July, another version of The drug was found to reduce brain atrophy Cognitive function declines slowly in Alzheimer's patients.
Wegovy and other weight loss drugs are widely promoted in the US
Richard Levin/Alamy
Why this drug is effective against so many conditions remains a mystery, but researchers are beginning to unravel the mechanisms underlying its extraordinary abilities. Understanding everything from its impact on reward circuits in the brain to its impact on inflammation…
Venture capital investment trends in the cybersecurity market suggest that the sector is in decline, at least in recent months. according to According to Crunchbase, the number of cybersecurity deals fell from 181 in the second quarter to 153 in the third quarter. In a more detailed report, Crunchbase suggests third-quarter cybersecurity venture funding is down 30% year-over-year, with investment in the category likely to fall to its lowest level since 2019.
But some cybersecurity startups are somehow escaping the industry’s downturn. opal security. Today, Opal, a vendor that takes an automated approach to identity access management, announced that it has raised $22 million in a Series B round led by Battery Ventures with participation from Greylock and Box Group.
Raising Opal’s maximum funding to $32 million, the new tranche will go toward doubling Opal’s 30-person team by the end of 2024, expanding its enterprise customer support organization, and ramping up product development, the founder and CEO said. Umaima Khan told TechCrunch in an email interview. He added that product enhancements include a new visualization suite and AI-powered tools designed to remediate identity and access risks.
Khan founded Opal in 2020. Prior to that, he studied cryptography at MIT, worked in defense research and at startups such as Amplitude and Collective Health.
Khan said that during his work in the private and public sectors, where he was responsible for building internal authentication and authorization services, particularly the policy layer, he began to notice common issues around visibility and lack of understanding of user access behavior. I did.
“I’ve seen firsthand how common problems like lack of proper infrastructure and over-access can cause completely avoidable cascading failures,” Khan told TechCrunch in an email interview. . “The reality is that most best-in-class security engineering teams understand this and are building these systems in-house to the best of their ability. However, scaling and maintaining these systems is a significant effort even for large enterprises and impractical for smaller organizations. ”
To address the perceived need for a more scalable access and identity orchestration platform, Khan created a suite that provides enterprises with a unified view and control of employee access to internal tools, apps, platforms, and environments. Founded Opal. Opal allows customers with thousands of employees to create policy workflows to automate access policies and set up approval flows for access requests that cannot be automated.
Opal is not alone in the access management market. In addition to incumbents (such as Okta), vendors such as Veza, SailPoint, Cyber-Ark, and Saviynt also compete. Some have raised large amounts of venture capital. But Khan said that unlike some of its competitors, Opal is building on more analytics and his AI capabilities aimed at preventing identity-based threats, and ultimately more of companies will be attracted to his Opal solution.
“Because we are a data platform, along with log data from specific end systems, we have a detailed ground truth understanding of system policies, users, groups and how policies are used, approved, denied, created and We have both metadata about the changes,” Khan said. “This gives us a unique and rich dataset to provide a baseline on various forms of risk associated with access and to identify potentially anomalous actors and systems… I’ve been thinking a lot about how to build possible datasets. [access management] It is a readable and writeable layer that prioritizes enterprise readiness from an infrastructure and feature perspective. ”
Customers seem to agree. Opal’s annual recurring revenue has quadrupled since the company’s Series A in June 2022 across a customer base of approximately 40 brands, including Databricks, Scale AI, and Figma. However, Khan declined to say whether Opal was profitable.
“Our technology addresses the challenge of scaling access management with limited information in complex enterprise environments, which is a major pain point for technical decision makers across the industry,” said Khan. states. “Large organizations have fragmented data and systems. These organizations increasingly need easy-to-use, scalable data and workflow processes for identity access management. Our platform meets that need. It’s a great fit and gives CISOs and CSOs the tools they need to view and control their systems.”
Asked if he was concerned about challenges in cybersecurity VC funding and the broader startup ecosystem, Khan said requiring companies to more quickly disclose cybersecurity incidents and other related policy announcements. Opal pointed to new rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a tailwind for Opal.
“Continued challenging market trends are forcing businesses to be as efficient as possible. Our platform improves the efficiency of security, compliance, and IT teams,” said Khan. . “We’ve also seen a similar shift in the sophistication and scale of cyber breaches as more companies undergo digital transformation in the wake of the pandemic. Our platform is a layer of defense against these breaches, and this bucket is very sticky…This latest round of funding allows us to navigate ongoing market challenges while meaningfully investing in our team and product development.”
It’s not often that a respected professor embarks on an investigation into a scientific discovery by a 15-year-old, but in 1938 Robert Bloom made an exception. The British-born paleontologist was keenly aware that South Africa in the 1930s was gaining a reputation for extremely primitive-looking hominin fossils. So when he heard that elementary school student Gerd Terblanche had discovered a fragment of a human skull in a cave there, he immediately tracked him down. Bloom’s visit to the boy’s school was successful. The boy later recalled that he was walking around with children. “Probably the world’s four most precious teeth are in his pants pocket.”.
Within a few months, Bloom completed his analysis of the fossil. He determined that they were different from anything previously discovered; He gave ancient humans a new name. paranthropus.
However, although he was convinced that the remains were valuable, paranthropus He never became famous. Perhaps it was because it was a misfit. It resembled one of our small-brained ancestors, but existed on Earth long after other ape-like hominids were replaced by large-brained hominins. Even among paleoanthropologists, paranthropus They are depicted as a “forgotten” human race.
It probably won’t last very long. Spurred by the discovery of more fossils, researchers are finally starting to re-evaluate this addition to the evolutionary tree – and their research suggests it was one of the strangest. ing. paranthropus They may have been skilled tool makers, but they also may have grazed like cows and communicated with low calls like elephants. The question now is whether this research will bring us any closer to understanding how the last apemen survived in a world dominated by…
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