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A basic but inscrutable brain system may distinguish between reality and imagination. New research has found that there may be a “dial” in the fusiform that may influence whether we interpret something sensory as real or imagined. The research, published in the journal Neuron, also gives new understanding of conditions like schizophrenia, where perception and thought are not properly distinguished, leading the researchers to conclude that this threshold system is crucial to normal cognition and sensory decision-making.

Brain Distinguishes Reality from Imagination Using Signal Threshold in Visual Processing Region

As per a report in Live Science, researchers from University College London used functional MRI to examine brain activity in 26 volunteers as they viewed or imagined diagonal lines on a noisy screen. Half the time, the lines were real; the rest of the time, participants were asked to imagine lines, either matching or differing from the visual cues. When imagined visuals aligned with expected inputs, participants were more likely to report having “seen” something, even when nothing was displayed, indicating the brain’s susceptibility to being tricked by strong internal signals.

The scans showed that both real and imagined stimuli activated the fusiform gyrus, but only when activity exceeded a specific intensity did the brain classify the input as “real”. This finding suggests that a threshold in this brain region helps determine reality perception. Notably, the anterior insula—a region linked to decision-making—also activated in tandem, potentially acting as a “reader” of the fusiform’s signal strength.

Lead author Nadine Dijkstra noted that while imagination does stimulate the same region, the signal is usually too weak to convince the brain of external input. This technology is basic enough that it could aid us in understanding more about hallucinations and other mental health issues that alter the way we see.

Experts say the study paves the way for further research with more complex visual and real-world multimodal integration. The group seeks to investigate how people perceive faces, animals, and things. They’re also curious if applying brain stimulation can be a route to enhancing imagined perception. Thomas Pace, a neuroscientist who wasn’t involved with the research, said that the findings were a big step towards figuring out how reality monitoring works and how it could not work in cases like schizophrenia.

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Gold Defies Physics: Remains Solid at 14x Its Melting Point in Superheating Experiment

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August 2, 2025

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Gold Defies Physics: Remains Solid at 14x Its Melting Point in Superheating Experiment

In a groundbreaking experiment, gold has defied the expectations that it was still solid even after being heated above the standard temperature. With the help of rapid laser bursts, the scientists could superheat gold beyond the entropy catastrophe, which is a theoretical boundary at which solids need to melt due to extreme heat. To the surprise, the gold was in the structure temporarily, and then it led to the rethinking of how matter behaves when provided with intense conditions. Such a rare phenomenon is known as superheating, where the heating happens so fast that atoms don’t get enough time to reorganise themselves into a liquid.

Gold Withstands the Entropy Catastrophe: What Is Superheating?

As per Science Alert, the atomic structure of gold resisted melting and absorbed the heat quickly, even faster than the response of its atoms. Scientists performed this study at 19,000 Kelvin, and gold remained solid for 2 picoseconds, which is enough to challenge the theory of physics.

Conventionally, the physicist believed that solids could not survive heat more than three times their melting point. This experiment, although pushed gold to 14 times the threshold, with the help of advanced techniques, which involved X-ray reflections to track the heat absorption accurately. The findings suggest that the materials can resist melting beyond the previously known boundaries; however, only for brief moments, which are difficult to even imagine.

Could Other Solids Resist Melting Like Gold? What This Means for Future Research

The results found by the scientists don’t change the law of thermodynamics. However, they suggest that such laws cannot be completely applied in ultra-fast reactions, and atoms cannot move or rearrange in this much time. Most importantly, gold had no place to go, and this let it remain solid even after heating to unexpected temperatures.

This unlocks the new possibilities fr understanding the extreme situations, from the impact of asteroids to the nuclear reactors. Scientists now wonder if other solids could also show the same tolerance, and rule out the current model of melting points, which need to be known altogether. Science must revisit the question asked by one scientist that how hot can you make something before melting?

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

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August 2, 2025

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

A group of physicists at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Physics has proposed a model of the behaviour of dark matter (DM) in the presence of dark energy (DE) that is compatible with current astronomical observations. A model of inelastic DM can be realised from light-weight particles, which are collectively interacting through the massive vector mediator, and the model is an alternative explanation for DM relics in the universe. Importantly, this framework may have the potential to circumvent the experimental hurdles for the detection of DM that have thus far kept it in the dark. The findings are published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, and its authors believe it has the potential to “revolutionise” how particle physics analyses are conducted in the future.

Light Mediator ZQ Offers New Clues to Elusive Dark Matter and Its Cosmic Origins

As per the users’ report, they have developed the following new model: a heavy, stable DM from a light, unstable one. This can be expressed as a heavy stable DM due to a heavy unstable one, which may give rise to the “thermal freeze-out” in the universe. It doesn’t just interact with visible matter but with dark matter as well, and that’s how you get the new observational windows.

To explain why the dark matter has not been observed until now, the model further involves a decay of the unstable dark matter χ2 to some species not disturbing the CBR, and thus also not presenting a visible/observable decay signal. The picture is consistent with current astrophysical and experimental constraints, avoiding simpler `vanilla’ DM scenarios.

ZQ-induced vector mediators are light portals connecting the two sectors and may mediate the direct interactions between the dark sector and the SM particles. The black line indicates the region in the parameter space where dark matter can be hiding unobserved — this is to be addressed in future experiments.

The study suggests the search for dark matter should pivot from the “discovery frontier”, in which exquisitely sensitive instruments scan for signals, to the “intensity frontier”, which seeks ever-finer measurements to tease out anomalies. Future experiments will seek to dig more deeply into these unexplained corners of particle physics with a new online tool.

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way’s Core

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23 hours ago

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August 2, 2025

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way's Core

Astronomers have found a vast, never-before-noticed reservoir of stellar material, hundreds of light-years across, lurking in a cold, dark, starless swath of our galaxy. It’s dubbed the Midpoint Cloud and was identified using the Green Bank Telescope; it appears to channel dense clouds of material into the heart of our galaxy. It harbours active regions filled with dense dust lanes and star formation possibilities. These lanes could be bringing twisted matter into the galaxy’s central bar, shaping how stars form in this extreme environment and offering a rare snapshot of the first stages of a galaxy’s evolution.

Newly Found Midpoint Cloud May Be Key to Star Formation in the Milky Way’s Core

As per the study, researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory confirmed the size and shape of the GMC based on mass, density, and movement. The gassy chaos in the cloud mirrors the caustic turmoil at the galactic centre, yielding measurements from a faint object that says something about an energetic event 200 light-years distant. That could be a link from the field-like tranquillity of our own Milky Way’s disk to the mayhem of its core.

Perhaps analogously to gas channels, a thick dust lane in the Midpoint cloud could supply the central stellar bar fragment with fresh gas, again supporting an interpretation that star formation is inhibited in this region by the strong gravitational potential. But regions like the Midpoint could collect such thick gas, spurring the birth of new stars.

The team classified Knot E as a compact gas clump whose material has been eroded by both star radiation and a maser, or microwave emission, within a cloud. A shell-like feature suggests earlier supernova explosions, like those the deaths of massive stars in the region might have initiated.

The Midpoint cloud Larry Morgan, of the Green Bank Observatory, discovered is a valuable clue in our knowledge of how galaxies evolve and form stars near their centers. The finding could give scientists a way to learn how matter flows inward across the cosmos, one hidden cloud at a time.

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