Neural Navigations #68

It’s been a tough week—and the weekend hasn’t brought much relief for any Turk. In addition to the ongoing economic crisis we’ve been enduring for the past few years, we are now facing a crisis of democracy—something that, sadly, has never been a strong point for Turkey.

As I publish this edition, we’re still waiting for the court’s decision in the case against the Mayor of Istanbul, who is also the leading presidential candidate.

While my beloved country continues to lose valuable time to these crises, the rest of the world keeps moving forward—with remarkable breakthroughs worth celebrating.

Science, Technology & Space

Chinese automaker BYD made headlines this week by announcing that its upcoming Han L sedan can gain up to 399 kilometer of range in as little as five minutes, marking a major leap forward in EV charging technology.

People keep putting fake walls in front of Teslas.

A meteorite discovered in northwest Africa in 2023 doesn’t match any known asteroid or planet in our solar system. Researchers believe it may have originated from a planet that was destroyed long ago, making it a rare relic of a lost world.

Despite a rough landing that left it toppled over and much of its equipment unusable, the Odysseus spacecraft successfully enabled NASA to conduct its first-ever radio telescope observations on the Moon. The onboard instrument, ROLSES-1, managed to collect valuable data, marking a milestone in lunar-based astronomy.

The European Space Agency has unveiled the first set of large-scale images from the Euclid space telescope, revealing an astonishing 26 million galaxies. Astronomers have already used the data to identify hundreds of strong gravitational lenses, marking a major step forward in exploring the structure of the universe.

Brain, Body & Mind

Revitalizing the brain’s lymphatic vessels can enhance memory in aging mice by improving the clearance of waste products from the brain. The findings suggest that targeting the meningeal lymphatics—vessels located outside the brain—could offer a novel approach to treating age-related cognitive decline without the need to cross the blood-brain barrier.

A new study underscores the placenta’s influence on brain development, revealing that DNA methylation in the placenta affects gene expression linked to psychiatric disorders. Researchers found strong associations between placental DNA methylation and conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.

Spending time outdoors is known to help prevent or slow the progression of myopia (nearsightedness), but it’s not always a practical solution. New research suggests that classrooms decorated like woodlands may offer a creative alternative—bringing the outdoors inside to support eye health in children.

Fruit flies with genetic mutations that drastically reduce sleep surprisingly perform better on olfactory memory tasks, challenging long-held assumptions about sleep’s role in cognition. This paradox seems to be driven by increased protein kinase A (PKA) signaling in the mushroom body, a brain region involved in both memory and sleep regulation.

The rubber hand illusion can decrease the intensity of pain caused by heat. Researchers found that when participants saw a rubber hand illuminated while their real hand (hidden from view) was exposed to a heat stimulus, they reported feeling less pain.

Nature, Environment & Culture

Coca-Cola is set to install what it claims are the world’s first hydrogen-powered vending machines at World Expo 2025, opening to the public on April 13, 2025, in Osaka, Japan. Co-developed with Fuji Electric, the machines operate without needing a power outlet, instead using replaceable hydrogen cartridges to fuel a chemical reaction that generates electricity.

Even the presence of just 10 vehicles on an island is enough to affect the behavior of genetically distinct Galápagos songbirds. New research shows that traffic noise is making these birds more aggressive, highlighting the far-reaching effects of human activity on wildlife.

Chemical analysis suggests that Prototaxites, a 400-million-year-old fossil, was neither plant, animal, nor fungus—pointing to a mysterious life form that went extinct long ago. Living between 420 and 375 million years ago, Prototaxites was the first giant terrestrial organism, growing trunk-like structures up to 8 meters tall and 1 meter wide.

Young female black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys often try to hold other females’ infants, but mothers are more likely to allow access to those with parenting experience. The findings suggest that monkeys choose babysitters based on caregiving skills, prioritizing infant safety.

A dinosaur fossil discovered in Mongolia features the largest complete claw ever found, but despite its fearsome appearance, the herbivorous dinosaur likely used its enormous claws to grasp and eat vegetation, not for hunting.