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March 28, 20255 min readPhysicists Catch a Quantum Butterfly Spreading Its WingsIn a first, physicists have directly seen Hofstadters butterflya long-sought-after fractal in the quantum realmBy Gayoung Lee edited by Lee BillingsA team of scientists from Princeton University has measured the energies of electrons in a new class of quantum materials and has found them to follow a fractal pattern known as Hofstadters butterfly, which has long been predicted, but the new study marks the first time it has been directly observed experimentally in a real material. Yazdani GroupAlmost 50 years ago, computer scientist Douglas Hofstadter predicted that a butterfly would spread its wings in the quantum world. Under the right conditions, tiny electrons in a quantum system could produce an energy spectrum composed of fractals, intricate self-repeating structures that would form a very striking pattern somewhat resembling a butterfly, he wrote in a seminal 1976 paper.Many physicists have attempted to create Hofstadters butterfly in different formats, with varying degrees of success; the first such spectra emerged about 25 years ago. The difficulty in observing the effect was, in part, because Hofstadters initial prediction posited that it would require colossal magnetic fields beyond the reach of any laboratory. Most experimental efforts consequently sought to summon the butterfly in silico, within the confines of computer simulations, and those reliant on physical quantum systems studied its properties using largely indirect measurements.Now, however, what may be the first-ever direct, real-world observation of the butterfly has emerged from the complex quantum dance of electrons sandwiched between two microscopic layers of graphene. The results, published recently in Nature, are all the more remarkable because they were unexpectedthe researchers involved werent even trying to hatch Hofstadters butterfly from its quantum chrysalis.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.I think it was happy accident, says study co-author Kevin Nuckolls, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I think this is common for physics experiments [in which] you see something weird. You spend a couple hours on it and decidelike, Ill give it a couple more days.At the time of their experiment, Nuckolls and his co-authors were all part of the same Princeton University lab, studying how superconductivitythe resistance-free flow of electricitymanifests in graphene, a two-dimensional crystal formed by a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. When two sheets of graphene are stacked one atop the other, with a slight rotational offset of about 1.1 degrees so that the hexagons dont exactly overlap, a so-called magic-angle configuration is formed. When subjected to a magnetic field, the electrons within each sheet zip back and forth between the carbon atoms, exhibiting superconductivity and other bizarre properties.Manufacturing such twisted bilayer graphene is as much art as science. It often yields off-kilter duds that dont have the proper angle. So for each attempt, the researchers checked their work by directly probing the sheets with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The resulting images show the flow of electrons through the material and can indicate whether any given assemblage has hit the magic angle.Generally when were making these devices, we dont know what angle this twisted bilayer graphene comes out at until we put it into our microscope, explains Dillon Wong, a co-author of the study and formerly a researcher at Princeton. And most of the time its at a completely wrong angle, and were just disappointed.As expected, things went wrong this time around, tooa first look showed that the graphene was undershooting the intended angle of 1.1 degrees. But because this particular graphene bilayer was closer to another known but slightly smaller magic angle, Nuckolls decided to keep imaging it anyway with the STM.This plot shows how the energies (vertical axis) of electrons change as a function of magnetic field (horizontal axis), and cluster into separated Hofstadter electronic bands (multi-colored shaded regions). Nuckolls and his colleagues were able to identify how the energy levels of electrons were self-repeating on different scales, as was predicted would be the case in the formation of "Hofstadter's butterfly," a type of quantum fractal.Yazdani groupThe first images werent that impressive, Nuckolls admits, but once the researchers zoomed out to see a fuller picture of the system, they became more intrigued. They only realized several days later, however, that the sandwiched electrons appeared to be fulfilling Hofstadters half-century-old prediction. Their delay isnt so surprising, given that they werent looking for the pattern in the first placeand that it only became apparent through careful tracking of the electrons collective behavior.The idea behind Hofstadters butterfly is that youre looking at how the [band structure of electrons] moves when you have the magnetic field on one axis and the electrons energies on the other, and plotted on that diagram, the band forms a fractal structure that looks like a butterfly, explains Myungchul Oh, study co-author and now a physics professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea. Past experiments were indirect, Oh says, in the sense that they werent looking at the actual energy transformations but rather proxy measurements, such as the spatial distributions of electrons.Once Nuckolls, Wong and Oh decided this particular system was worth deeper scrutiny, they tasked Michael Scheer, a graduate student in theoretical physics at Princeton, to come up with more robust models of the notional interactions at work to better understand exactly what was occurring and how.Hofstadters butterfly is kind of like a fingerprint, Scheer says. Its really detailed, informational and very sensitive to the model that you have and, on the other hand, to the material that youre measuring and its physical parameters. That interplay between theory and experiment can reveal an enormous amount of information that researchers can use to learn about the materials properties, Nuckolls adds. In other words, studying Hofstadters butterfly in twisted graphene bilayers could be of broader utility, opening the way for further enlightening investigations of the phenomenon in other systems and materials.One of the biggest merits of this work is that its ... really managed to go in a very special regime of parameters to be able to see new physics, says Cristiane Morais Smith, a condensed matter physicist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who wasnt involved in the new work. What was very special was that [they] could go to a situation in which these small magnetic fields [like those of an STM] were enough to probe what [they] wanted to probe, she says, which should allow other groups to easily replicate and elaborate on the experiment.Hofstadter, now age 80, politely declined Scientific Americans request for comment about the new result, noting that he had only rarely revisited his prediction ever since making it about half a century ago and would be unlikely to properly comprehend the paperwhich, he added, he had no plans to read. Over the years I have seen many claims of experimental replication of the [predicted] recursiveness, he says. But they are all extremely coarse-grained, and none of them has come close to detecting a genuine recursively nested structure. That will perhaps happen in another few decadesif humanity still exists at that point.Even so, the new work takes humanity at least several footsteps (or wing flaps?) toward realizing Hofstadters predictions. This initial result is ripe for follow-up studies, Oh says, such as examining whether Hofstadters butterfly will still take flight in graphene sandwiches subjected to far stronger magnetic fields. Id love to see how and whether the Hofstadter pattern would be emulated on higher-scale magnetic fields, he says.Theres something very satisfying about us working on this problem 50 years after Hofstadters calculation, Nuckolls says. In Hofstadters original paper, he basically concludes that what Ive calculated and predicted is really awesome, but no ones ever going to see it because the necessary magnetic fields are never going to be achieved. Yet 25 years after that, researchers started seeing the first evidence supporting his calculations. Now our work is able to probe exactly what he had predicted.

March 28, 20253 min read76 Ways Pregnancy and Giving Birth Change a Person's BodyData from 300,000 births reveal how essential biological measurements are altered by carrying and delivering a babyBy Celeste Biever & Nature magazine Womens bodies undergo vast physiological changes during pregnancy that can last for more than a year after birth. Catherine Delahaye/Getty ImagesBiologists have built up one of the most detailed pictures ever of the changes that occur in womens bodies before and after pregnancy, by pooling and studying around 44 million physiological measurements from more than 300,000 births.The gigantic study1, which used the anonymized results of blood, urine and other tests taken before, during and more than a year after pregnancy, reveals the scale of the toll that carrying a baby and childbirth take on the body from the myriad changes made to support a fetus to the effects of its abrupt departure from the body during birth. The research was published in Science Advances on 26 March.The study suggests that the postnatal period in the body is much longer than people tend to assume, says Jennifer Hall, who researches reproductive health at University College London. Theres a societal expectation that you bounce back quickly after childbirth, she says. This is like the biological proof that you dont.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The results also suggest that it might be possible to identify women at risk of certain common complications of pregnancy including the blood-pressure condition pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes before conception. Currently, these conditions are diagnosed during pregnancy.The power of dataThe researchers used anonymized data from medical records supplied by Israels largest health-care provider, and spanning the period from 2003 to 2020. To build up a picture of a typical pregnancy, they used test results only from women aged 2035 years who were not taking medication or experiencing chronic disease.NatureThe team gathered results from 76 common tests including measures of cholesterol, immune cells, red blood cells, inflammation and the health of the liver, kidneys and metabolism taken up to 4.5 months before conception and up to 18.5 months after childbirth. This allowed them to establish average values for each test for every week in that period.It took my breath away to see that that every test has this dynamical profile that is so elaborate, week by week, and has never been seen before, says Uri Alon, a systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute for Science in Rehovot, Israel, who led the study.The researchers found that, in the first month after birth, 47% of the 76 indicators stabilized close to their pre-conception values. But 41% of the indicators took longer than 10 weeks to stabilize. These included several measures of liver function and cholesterol that took around six months to settle, and an indicator of bone and liver health, which took a year (see The bodys slow recovery from childbirth). The remaining 12% took 410 weeks to stabilize.Several measurements including a marker for inflammation and several indicators of blood health settled but did not return to their pre-conception levels even after 80 weeks, when the study ended. Whether such long-lasting differences result from pregnancy and birth themselves or from behaviours changing after the arrival of a child is a question for future research, say the scientists.The researchers classed the indicators into four groups according to their trajectories. Some measures rose during pregnancy, then dropped post-partum; others did the opposite. Others still didnt just drop or rise to meet pre-conception levels: they over- or undershot their pre-pregnancy values at delivery, before settling at roughly their pre-conception levels. That could be explained by the body overcompensating for changes.Pre-conception changesThe scientists found distinct changes in the body that began even before conception. Some of these including a reduction in a marker of inflammation and increases in folic acid were beneficial. The researchers attribute this to the tendency for people to take supplements and live more healthily when trying to conceive.The researchers also isolated tests from women who developed complications that are currently not diagnosed until pregnancy, including gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, a condition that results in high blood pressure and can be life-threatening. They found that these women had different profiles for certain markers compared with tests from healthy pregnancies, and in some cases, the differences were most significant before conception.This finding is exciting, says Hall, because it raises the possibility of being able to identify and help women at risk of these conditions before they conceive.The findings show the power of anonymized biomedical information to uncover fresh insights, says Alon. His team is now taking a similar approach to studying menopause. We can ask any statistical question we want, he says. It's like paradise.This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on March 26, 2025.

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You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereHelldivers 2 has been one of the biggest success stories for Sony on PlayStation and PC, but it has not been completely free of controversy. In the past, there was the whole PSN debacle on PC, and now theres another controversy as Helldivers 2 has literally become unplayable for some on PC due to a new hard requirement.Helldivers 2 becomes unplayable for some on PCAs reported by Eurogamer, Helldivers 2 has become literally unplayable for some on PC due to a new hard requirement. This new hard requirement comes despite no change to the minimum system requirements on the games Steam page.However, as relayed by the outlet, HD2 now requires AVX2 support to run thanks to recent optimisations. The problem with this is that it has resulted in some PC players no longer being able to play the game due to old CPUs.Per Eurogamer, AVX2 (or Advanced Vector Extensions) essentially allows for fast and efficient CPU usage and was first supported by Intel in 2013 CPUs released prior to this wont have AVX2 and therefore will no longer be able to run Helldivers 2.Arrowhead has not responded to this debacle on Discord or any other platform as of writing. However, some impacted players are understandably miffed due to having paid a premium price to play a game that now no longer works.While Arrowhead hasnt responded to players, Discord moderator, Birby, has in messages relayed by Eurogamer. These messages include the moderator saying that processor does not support AVX2, which is now a hard minimum requirement for processors. Unfortunately, you will require a system upgrade.Another message from the moderator exemplified how heated some discontent has become. The moderator wrote, I dont like to have to tell people their 13 year old processor is out of date, and I get youre venting, but as I keep saying it is up to you as the consumer to confirm your system meets spec before purchase, and you should never be surprised if your out of spec machine cant run the game.Image credit: Helldivers DiscordSome people unable to play the game now were able to for over 600-hours as stated in one message from the community. However, it is a complicated situation as the minimum requirements do list Intel Core i7-4790K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, which both support AVX2, meaning players now locked out of HD2 were able to bypass the minimum requirements at the time of purchase. Image credit: Helldivers DiscordIts unclear how Arrowhead will, or even could, help the few players who are now locked out of fighting for democracy. No longer being able to play a game after over a year without issues is obviously not good, but, at the same time, the minimum system requirements have not changed, AVX2 has just become a hard requirement. For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to thebest warbonds ranked, along with thebest stratagemsandbest throwables. We have also a guide to thebest weapons, and, if youre coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch oftips and tricksto help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.Helldivers 2Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5Genre(s):Action, Shooter, Third Person8VideoGamerRelated TopicsHelldivers 2 Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here3D Realms aging FPS protagonist Duke Nukem has come out of retirement in a brand-new mod for Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. Giving the war-torn Captain Demetrian Titus a well-earned break, the true-blooded American has come to teach Xenos scum to Hail to the King. (Heresy?)Duke Nukem in Space Marine 2Created by modder yesimWillem, the new Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 mod is a very simple model replacement for the awesome co-op game. Available here on Nexus, its a very simple way to crack a smile on a bad day, aka any work day. From the early game Deathwatch sections to the epic finale Saber had to fight to keep, Titus is completely absent. Instead, Duke takes his place, firing bolters at Tyranids and ripping heads off the forces of Chaos.To install the mod, players simply need to drag and drop the local folder into Space Marine 2\client_pc\root\. While the game will claim you have corrupted files, the mod should launch the game just fine.Hail to the King, Xenos Scum!With Duke Nukem pretty much dead since the release of the pretty rancid Duke Nukem Forever, fans have been waiting for a new game. At the time of writing, the rights for the lovable douchebag sit with Gearbox, a studio currently making Borderlands 4. While Duke has cameoed in Bulletstorm and received some remasters, its about time for the King to return.Until that day, this Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 mod will satiate us fans for the time being. After all, the Xenos scum are just another bunch of alien b*stards that will pay for shooting up our ride.For more Space Marine 2 coverage, read about how Sabers in-development third game aims to be bigger and better with larger-scale fights. Additionally, read about the years of support still coming to the second game. Hell, you can even check out Sabers comments on its Knights of the Old Republic remake thats still in the works.Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):ActionRelated TopicsSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Hows their absorbency? My one gripe was that it was a little confusing figuring out which side I needed to use to dry off. The dual terry side of the Cozy Earth towel is meant to make it more absorbent than your average waffle weave, so the terry side is the one youre meant to dry off with. I preferred the waffle side and found it dried me off in a few seconds less than the terry side.The absorbency of the towel honestly felt abstract to me until I dunked a corner of it in a bowl of water to test how well it soaked up water. I could literally see as the parts of the towel that were not submerged soaked up the water, and it made me realize just how well this cotton could mop up liquid.How quickly do the towels dry off? I left one hanging out to dry post-shower and found it took about an hour to get mostly dry. Id say total drying time is about two and a half hours, which seems to be the average for most waffle weave towels. So, yeah, these really are the best of both worlds for your everyday use.Audrey LeeMatouk Milagro TowelsSpecsMaterial: 100% cottonSizes Available: Bath towel, hand towel, wash cloth, bath sheet, finger tipColors: Azure, grass, petal, hot pink, platinum, charcoal, night, dune, pool, sterling, navy, ivory, linen, aqua, periwinkle, steel, white, aegean, cerulean, jade, Bahama blue, peacock, canaryTester: Audrey Lee, commerce editorHow do they feel and look? These are some seriously soft towels. Its such a treat to use them after a shower. The towels dont shed when youre using them, but I did notice after an initial wash a few of the terry cloth strings had pulled loose. Nothing major, but Im curious to see how sumptuous theyll stay and how the color might change after many washes. I did also notice quite a bit of blue lint in the dryer after the first wash, but Im hoping to see less in the future.Hows their absorbency? Since these towels are plush, theyre great at absorptionyou can dry your whole body in under a minute or two, even if youre soaking wet. So far, theyve stayed ultra soft and the fibers havent matted or gotten stuck together.How quickly do the towels dry off? With all that plushness youd think the towels take forever to dry, but theyre surprisingly quick-drying as wellafter using the towel post shower and to put my wet hair up, the towel was moderately damp but was able to fully dry in about an hour and a half.Charlotte CollinsBoll & Branch Plush Bath TowelSpecsMaterial: 100% organic cottonSizes Available: Standard bath towelColors: White, pewter, stone, shore, mineral, sageleafTester: Charlotte Collins, digital features editorHow do they feel and look? This towel is 100% organic cotton and it is sooo fluffyreally just heavenly soft. I dont think its just because Im used to my current towels, which were a quick and thoughtless Bed Bath & Beyond purchase upon move-in. These Boll & Branch ones were in a different league. Unfortunately now I hate my other towels.I did experience the towel shedding just a little bit, but the material has maintained fine through several washes, no pulls or changes in quality. With some towels and blankets Ive experienced them losing some of that initial softness after the first washer/dryer runs, but this one stays soft as ever after every cycle.Hows their absorbency? The towels have a sponge-like, very absorbent material. Its a quicker drying process than with any non-hotel towel Ive ever used.How quickly do the towels dry off? It dries pretty quickly after a shower and is so plush it never really gets that soaked to begin with. After using it to wash my hands for a day, it is nearly bone-dry after an hour.More AD-Approved Bath TowelsPhoto: Nashia BakerPhoto: Nashia BakerLuxome Plush Performance Bath Sheet SetBest forIf youre looking for an oversized towel set.Tester: Nashia Baker, senior commerce editorThese are some of the biggest and softest towels Ive ever used in my bathroom, says Baker. These are primarily made of a blend between cotton and polyester, leaving them with a lightweight yet cozy feel. And thanks to their oversized towel size (about 50% more fabric than a standard bath towel!), she says it's like wrapping herself in a lavish blanket after stepping out of the bathtub. It takes a couple of hours for the towels to feel near-dry after using them, which is an impressive switch up from standard bath towels that can feel wet for hours on end. I have noticed the ever-so-slight fraying of a few threads, but its hard to notice at first glance, Baker adds.Buffy Deluxe Cotton Bath TowelsBest forIf you want a thick towel.Tester: Zo Sessums, senior digital design editor

How did Kenneth Montague become both a dentist and one of the worlds most notable private collectors of Black art? The answer has everything to do with his Jamaican immigrant parents, who exposed him to the worlds of medicine and design. My mom was a dietitian and my father was an industrial arts teacher who made beautiful furniture that I grew up with and still live with now, Montague explains. Its not that strange that Ive ended up being this dentist that collects art.The final piece of the puzzle is the location of Montagues upbringing: Windsor, Ontario, a small Canadian city situated just across the river from Detroit, Michigan. That place had a really vibrant, rich African American culture, which I was not getting growing up in Canadawe were the only Black family on the street, he remembers. But in Detroit, I got to go to the Institute of Arts, where I saw the photograph The Couple in Raccoon Coats by James Van Der Zee. That Harlem Renaissance image impacted Montague, who at just 10 years old wished to live among such artworks. Half a century later, he has fulfilled his dream in the Toronto home he shares with his wife, visual artist and educator Sarah Aranha, and their two sons. The 1919 Arts and Crafts house, which was originally built by Eden Smith, was reimagined by architect Tura Cousins Wilson of SOCA to highlight Montagues art collectionThe Wedge Collectionand facilitate modern life.Montague poses in front of his dynamic staircase. We didnt want to do a new build, he says. We really liked the idea of going with an existing footprint and giving a house a second life, the idea of taking history and adding to it. We were looking for something that had good bones but the ability to still be renovated.Over the years, Kenneth and I bonded over art and architecture chatting in his dental chair during appointments, so in many respects our synergy for design and style began long before this project, says Cousins Wilson. As the home doubles as a gallery for Kenneths Wedge art collection and Sarahs home studio, select art pieces were often the starting point for how we wanted a room to look and feel. Throughout the design process we were continually exploring ways the collection could be viewed to create moments of intrigue for visitors and comfort for the Montague family.Montague likens the home to a hobbit house. It has a peaked sloping roof, a chimney, and ivy on the front. But it was in complete disarray on the insideeverything was cracked and brokenso we had this ability to really redo it. Cousins Wilson restored the historic faade, stripped the damaged interior to make way for contemporary finishes that support the art, and added a back extension to accommodate an eat-in kitchen, a family room, and a primary suite.