Superheated gold withstands 'entropy catastrophe': New method challenges established physics
Jul 2025, phys.org
In an experimental debut, the team superheated solid gold far beyond the theoretical limit, unexpectedly overturning four decades of established theory. The team was thrilled to have successfully demonstrated this technique—and as they took a deeper look at the data, they discovered something even more exciting."We were surprised to find a much higher temperature in these superheated solids than we initially expected, which disproves a long-standing theory from the 1980s," White said. "This wasn't our original goal, but that's what science is about—discovering new things you didn't know existed."In their recent study, the team discovered that the gold had been superheated to an astonishing 19,000 kelvins (33,740 degrees Fahrenheit) - more than 14 times its melting point and well beyond the proposed entropy catastrophe limit - all while maintaining its solid crystalline structure."It's important to clarify that we did not violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics," White said with a chuckle. "What we demonstrated is that these catastrophes can be avoided if materials are heated extremely quickly — in our case, within trillionths of a second."The researchers believe that the rapid heating prevented the gold from expanding, enabling it to retain its solid state. The findings suggest that there may not be an upper limit for superheated materials, if heated quickly enough.
via US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory: Thomas G. White et al, Superheating gold beyond the predicted entropy catastrophe threshold, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09253-y
Image credit: Crushed Crushed Tomatoes, found in the wild at local Shop Rite
Very different mammals follow the same rules of behavior: Research hints at an underlying architecture
May 202,5 phys.org
Across behaviors, individuals, and species, one common principle emerged: The longer an animal stays in one behavioral state, the less likely it is to change it in the next moment. "This was unexpected"
via Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior: Pranav Minasandra et al, Behavioral sequences across multiple animal species in the wild share common structural features, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2503962122
How a one‑eyed creature gave rise to our modern eyes
Feb 2026, phys.org
"The results are a surprise. They turn our understanding of the evolution of the eye and the brain upside down"All vertebrates evolved from a distant ancestor that had a single eye located at the top of its head, and the remnants of this so-called median eye have today become the pineal gland in our brains.600 million years ago, a worm that had two eyes, for some reason, lost them, but kept a group of light-sensitive cells in the middle of its head that developed into a small, primitive median eye that could keep track of night and day, and sense what was up and down.A million years later, from parts of the small median eye, new image-forming eyes in pairs developed."Now we finally understand why the eyes of vertebrates differ so radically from the eyes of all other animal groups, such as insects and squid. The film of our eyes—the retina—developed from the brain, whereas the eyes of insects and squid originate in the skin on the sides of the head."A fascinating fact is that remnants of the ancient parietal median eye from our distant ancestor actually remain in our heads today, transformed into the pineal gland. The pineal gland is a light-sensitive organ in the vertebrate brain. It produces the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate the body's circadian rhythm."It's mind-boggling that our pineal gland's ability to regulate our sleep according to light stems from the cyclopean median eye of a distant ancestor 600 million years ago,"
via Lund University: George Kafetzis et al, Evolution of the vertebrate retina by repurposing of a composite ancestral median eye, Current Biology (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.12.028
Post Script: Pineal Organoids
Lab-grown pineal gland organoids produce melatonin, offering a new sleep model
Apr 2026, phys.org
via Yale University: Ferdi Ridvan Kiral et al, Generation of human pineal gland organoids with melatonin production for disease modeling, Cell Stem Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.12.004
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