Socially-mediated activation in the snake social-decision-making network.

Brain areas important for social perception, social reward, and social behavior - collectively referred to as the social-decision-making network (SDN) - appear to be highly conserved across taxa. These brain areas facilitate a variety of social behaviors such as conspecific approach/avoidance, aggression, mating, parental care, and recognition. Although the SDN has been investigated across taxa, little is known about its functioning in reptiles.

Atomic-Layer Controlled Transition from Inverse Rashba-Edelstein Effect to Inverse Spin Hall Effect in 2D PtSe Probed by THz Spintronic Emission.

2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, are ideal platforms for spin-to-charge conversion (SCC) as they possess strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), reduced dimensionality and crystal symmetries as well as tuneable band structure, compared to metallic structures. Moreover, SCC can be tuned with the number of layers, electric field, or strain. Here, SCC in epitaxially grown 2D PtSe by THz spintronic emission is studied since its 1T crystal symmetry and strong SOC favor SCC.

Shaping Graphene Superconductivity with Nanometer Precision.

Graphene holds great potential for superconductivity due to its pure 2D nature, the ability to tune its carrier density through electrostatic gating, and its unique, relativistic-like electronic properties. At present, still far from controlling and understanding graphene superconductivity, mainly because the selective introduction of superconducting properties to graphene is experimentally very challenging. Here, a method is developed that enables shaping at will graphene superconductivity through a precise control of graphene-superconductor junctions.

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay to quantify plasma 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol and 27-hydroxycholesterol: A new approach integrating the concept of ion ratio.

Accurate quantification of 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol and 27-hydroxycholesterol holds substantial biological significance due to their involvement in pivotal cellular processes, encompassing cholesterol homeostasis, inflammatory responses, neuronal signaling, and their potential as disease biomarkers. The plasma determination of these oxysterols is challenging considering their low concentrations and similarities in terms of empirical formulae, molecular structure, and physicochemical properties across all human endogenous plasma oxysterols. To overcome these sensitivity and specificity issues, we developed and validated a quantification method using liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometry instrument.

Behavioral evidence for two distinct memory systems in rats.

Serial reaction time tasks, in which subjects have to match a target to a cue, are used to explore whether non-human animals have multiple memory systems. Predictable sub-sequences embedded in the sequence of cues are responded to faster, demonstrating incidental learning, often considered implicit. Here, we used the serial implicit learning task (SILT) to determine whether rats' memory shows similar effects.