Browse Articles

A visualization tool for eye tracking time series analysis supporting teachers and psychologists

Abstract Eye Tracking (ET) can help improve understanding of visual attention in computer-supported interactive environments. In attention tasks, distinguishing between relevant target objects and distractors is crucial for effective performance, yet the underlying gaze patterns that drive successful task completion remain incompletely understood. Traditional gaze analyses provide limited insight into the temporal dynamics of attention allocation and the relationship between gaze behavior and task performance. When applied to complex visual search scenarios, current gaze analysis methods face several limitations, including the isolation of measurements in dynamic environments, visual stability, search efficiency, and the task-solving processes involved. This paper proposes an analysis tool, VisiTrail , that considers time-series eye-tracking data on task performance and gaze measures; temporal pattern analysis that reveals how attention evolves throughout task performance; object-click sequence tracking that directly links visual attention to user actions; and performance metrics that quantify both accuracy and efficiency of right actions. The proposed analysis is applied to data collected from the Mushroom Hunter serious game, a multilevel visual search task in which participants identify target mushrooms among distractors of increasing complexity across three difficulty levels. This tool focuses on two scenarios: subject-specific analysis and general analysis across all subjects from which a project collected data from Romania and Portugal. Subject-specific analysis uses only one participant’s data and yields two types of results: a first-level overall analysis that provides detailed insights and a multilevel analysis that compares performance across all three levels, where Level 1 presents the easiest task with few distractors, Level 2 increases difficulty by adding more similar distractors, and Level 3 is the hardest with many closely resembling distractors and more complex layouts. The generalized analysis reveals that gaze stability (Fixation %) was broadly consistent across both cohorts. Romanian participants exhibited faster median reaction times than Portuguese participants; however, given the small sample size (N=7 per cohort), the presence of data-quality anomalies in three Portuguese sessions, and the absence of inferential statistical testing, this difference should be regarded as preliminary and hypothesis-generating rather than conclusive. By using standardized parameters, the results reduce accidental interactions and hardware noise, providing a reliable methodological basis for preliminary analysis and highlighting the need for larger sample sizes to establish statistical validity.

Changes in wildlife activity patterns in response to war in Ukraine

Conflict zones are inherently hazardous and inaccessible for researchers, which results in a knowledge gap about the immediate effects of armed conflicts on the environment, particularly wildlife. We used camera-trap detections to investigate the impact of armed conflict on wildlife activity patterns before, during, and after the Russian occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine) in 2022 and compared it to the same period in 2021. Mammal species responded to armed conflict through immediate behavioral adjustments, including reduced activity during night and on dates when armed-conflict activities intensified. Our results provide insight into wildlife’s behavioral responses to armed conflict in real time and underscore the potential of camera trapping to quantify the ecological effects of war.

Revealing the lagged relationship between groundwater changes and land subsidence in Tianjin based on GRACE and InSAR observations

Ultrathin polymer membranes with locked intrinsic microporosity for hydrocarbon fractionation

Membrane technologies offer an energy-efficient alternative to conventional distillation for hydrocarbon fractionation, but they suffer from a trade-off between fast liquid transport and high molecular selectivity. We report a scalable approach to fabricate polymer membranes with stable interconnected pathways by locking in their intrinsic microporosity. This locking strategy reduces polymer swelling and preserves the subnanometer pore structure in hydrocarbon liquids, resulting in 10-fold higher permeance for synthetic crude oil compared with current state-of-the-art membranes. When applied to Arabian Extra Light crude oil, these membranes achieved excellent size- and class-based separation, removing 99.8% of hydrocarbons containing >15 carbon atoms and 93% of sulfur-containing components. These scalable membranes underpin processes providing rapid and selective hydrocarbon separation, enabling a more sustainable pathway toward crude oil refining.

Probing picometre-scale interlayer deformations via hyperbolic polaritons

Mitigation of transient beam loading in a compact high duty cycle injector via hardware upgrade and multi-objective optimization

CD4 ⁺ T cells impair tumor growth through IL-3 and TNF-dependent vascular damage

Most cancer immunotherapy strategies are focused on direct tumor killing by immune cells, especially T lymphocytes. Clinical and conceptual limitations of these approaches create a need for additional strategies. We identified a tumor stroma–targeting mechanism in which tumor antigen–specific CD4 + T cells inhibit tumor growth through myeloid cell and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–dependent vascular damage. Multiplex immunofluorescence and single-cell and tissue transcriptomics showed that CD4 + T cells trigger the formation of perivascular myeloid cell clusters containing “classically activated” macrophages that produce TNF in response to T cell–derived interleukin-3. TNF causes intratumoral endothelial damage and blood supply disruption, which are associated with localized tumor cell death. Thus, intratumoral antigen-triggered T cell activation can mediate antitumor effects without direct recognition of living tumor cells, thereby avoiding many of the inhibitory mechanisms that limit anti-tumor immunity.

Deep residual networks for short-term load forecasting: an empirical study on the impact of network depth

A space telescope is falling to Earth. NASA is racing to rescue it

Vehicle will attempt a daring capture-and-boost mission to extend the life of the Swift observatory

A lightweight graph-enhanced deep learning framework for explainable cucumber leaf disease diagnosis

Russia plans deep quest for ‘endless oil’

Soviet-era theory touted by Putin’s former campaign manager claims oil deposits can form without organic matter

Graph attention network-enhanced multi-agent reinforcement learning for dynamic interception task allocation in counter-drone defense

Reanimating ELIZA, the world’s first chatbot <b>Inventing ELIZA</b> <i>Sarah Ciston, David M. Berry, Anthony C. Hay, Mark C. Marino, Peter Millican, Jeff Shrager, Arthur I. Schwarz, Peggy Weil</i> The MIT Press, 2026. 350 pp.

A simple program created in the 1960s laid the groundwork for future conversational computers

Energy harvesting potential of LiHfIrZ (Z = Si, Ge) quaternary Heusler alloys: a first-principles computational study

Making the most of your time at work <b>80,000 Hours: How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good</b> <i>Benjamin Todd</i> Harmony, 2026. 384 pp.

Thinking strategically from the start could help you do more good over the course of your career

Exploration of key stress granule-related genes in chronic sinusitis based on transcriptomics

Abstract Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) frequently induces the formation of intracellular stress granules (SGs). This study aims to identify key genes linked to both CRSwNP and SGs, offering novel perspectives for improving CRSwNP treatment and management. Data from GSE136825, GSE179265, and SG-related gene sets were retrieved from public databases. Key genes were identified via machine learning, ROC analysis, and expression validation. Subsequently, nomogram construction, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), immune infiltration analysis, and drug prediction were performed to explore the regulatory mechanisms of these genes. Three candidate genes—ANG, CRYAB, and FBP1—passed ROC and expression validation and were ultimately identified as key players. GSEA revealed that these genes collectively participate in the cell cycle pathway. Immune infiltration analysis showed 23 differentially abundant immune cell types between the CRSwNP and control groups, with ANG, CRYAB, and FBP1 all exhibiting significant positive correlations with Type 2 T helper cells. Furthermore, estradiol, copper sulfate, and trichostatin A were identified as drugs interacting with all three key genes. These findings provide valuable insights for advancing CRSwNP diagnosis.

Transistors on a roll: 3D circuits built from stacks of flexible membranes

Age and early life adversity shape heterogeneity of the epigenome across tissues in macaques

Age and early life adversity (ELA) are key determinants of health, but whether they affect similar physiological mechanisms across tissues is unknown. We generated DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles across 14 tissues in 237 semi–free-ranging rhesus macaques with naturally occurring ELA. Age-associated DNAm was predominantly tissue dependent, yet tissue-specific epigenetic clocks showed that epigenetic aging was relatively consistent within individuals. ELA effects were adversity dependent, but each ELA exerted coordinated effects across tissues. Although ELA targeted many of the same loci as age, the directions of effects differed, which indicates that ELA does not uniformly increase epigenetic age. Instead, ELA leaves a coordinated, cross-tissue epigenetic signature that is distinct from—yet intertwined with—age-related differences, which advances our understanding of how early environments sculpt the molecular foundations of aging and disease.

Symptom phenotypes and their associations with fear of cancer recurrence and social support among breast cancer patients: a latent profile analysis

Britain’s next research choice

Ten years ago, the Brexit referendum began the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union (EU), forcing British science to confront a serious question: What place should the UK occupy in European research? No longer qualified to be a full-fledged member of Horizon Europe, the matter of whether to rejoin as an associate member became a totemic issue for the UK. There were serious questions around whether rejoining would be worth the money, especially if it had to pay in more funding than it could win back in grants. UK researchers, however, insisted that association was the best way to protect their access to the most prestigious and attractive funding opportunities. So, when the UK eventually associated in 2024, it was to sighs of relief. But times have changed.